A paradigm shift in Johannine studies

Abstract

A brief survey on the Johannine question establishes that a number of Johannine scholars are interested in the “diachronic” way of looking at the Fourth Gospel. This approach involves a careful analysis of the various stages through which the text has presumably evolved in order to rediscover the original historical situation. The historical critical way of reading the Fourth Gospel has come under increasing attack from alternative voices emerging in the 1970s and early 1980s who looked for the synchronic stance of the Fourth Gospel. Within this paradigm shift in Johannine studies, the experience of how the narrative text affects its readers, is more important than understanding the history of its composition. Readers are invited to find the meaning by investigating the formal features of the narrative and the use of various literary devices, strategic concerns and aims, and intertextual references. These include point of view, voice, characterization, conflict, settings, irony, and symbolism, among many others. The result of this holistic approach reveals the evangelist as being a masterful storyteller in full command of his material.