Browsing by Author "Van Deventer, Cornelia"

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    Embracing vulnerability : a drama analysis of the Johannine prologue and crucifixion scenes
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-11) Van Deventer, Cornelia; Mouton, Elna; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The author of the Fourth Gospel introduces Jesus’ life as a display of glory (δόξα), communally witnessed (θεάομαι) by its audience (1:14). Moreover, the same author testifies of an experience of the divine (which was heard, seen with the eyes, looked upon, and touched with the hands – 1 Jn. 1:1), and which asks for a response from its audience (Jn. 20:30-31). Various scholars have speculated about the possible link between the Fourth Gospel and drama, arguing that its structure, characterisation, dialogue, plotline, and many other elements mimic the ancient Greek drama to strengthen its rhetorical impact on the audience. If such a connection is valid, there ought to be a methodological lens with which one could read the Fourth Gospel to explore and enhance its dramatic elements and their rhetorical impact. While the exegetic field of biblical performance criticism has done much to bring the performative and oral elements of biblical texts into the conversation, an attempt to formulate a methodology for a drama analysis of the text still needs to be made. Moreover, while the Johannine prologue identifies the protagonist as the one who will reveal God through the drama (1:18) and display his glory (1:14b), the narrator also describes his entrance into the earthly realm with the word σάρξ (flesh – 1:14a): a term denoting frailty and vulnerability. This peculiar marrying of σάρξ and δόξα seems to play itself out through the life of Jesus and climaxes at his death on a Roman cross. The Fourth Gospel was probably composed in a milieu where a glorious and divine display would have been marked by honour, power, strength, masculinity, health, resilience, control, and prosperity. Considering this, the use of σάρξ, how it plays into the plot and divine performance of the protagonist, and the effect thereof on a first-time hypothetical audience’s satisfaction and understanding of the drama, could make for a rhetorically powerful analysis. This study, therefore, sets out to read the Fourth Gospel’s prologue (as beginning) and crucifixion (as climax) through a drama lens in order to explore its point of view on vulnerability and the rhetorical effect thereof on a first-time hypothetical audience immersed in the first-century Mediterranean culture of honour, power, and dominance. The appropriation of biblical drama criticism holds the potential to illuminate the audience’s own journey of vulnerability with the performance, and to instil hope in various vulnerable audiences, including the Johannine community and contemporary communities, as it affirms that vulnerability is included in the good and abundant life (Jn. 10:10; 20:30-31) and that the glory of God is revealed in vulnerable vessels.