The self-understanding of the Johannine community : the world of the Fourth Gospel in the Prologue and John 17

Abstract

The question this thesis seeks to answer is: How did the Johannine community view its κόσμος, (world) and how, in turn, was this view shaped by the self- understanding of the community? It is argued (hat the answer to this question can he uncovered through a socio-literary analysis of the use of κόσμος. in the Fourth Gospel. Such an analysis shows that whole thematic complexes -- for example, the Prologue and John 17 — bear directly on the question of how the community undeiitands itself and its κόσμος. Morevoer, an examination of how the narrative is developed in the Fourth Gospel indicates that it mirrors a social reality: the community has moved from a position of inclusion in the Hellenistic Jewish world to one of exclusion and alienation.