Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I THE METHOD OF NARRATIVE CRITICISM AND THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
- PART II AN APPLICATION OF THE METHOD OF NARRATIVE CRITICISM TO JOHN 18–19
- Introduction
- 5 A practical criticism of John 18–19
- 6 A genre criticism of John 18–19
- 7 A sociological reading of John 18–19
- 8 A narrative-historical approach to John 18–19
- Conclusion
- References
- Index of names and subjects
8 - A narrative-historical approach to John 18–19
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- PART I THE METHOD OF NARRATIVE CRITICISM AND THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
- PART II AN APPLICATION OF THE METHOD OF NARRATIVE CRITICISM TO JOHN 18–19
- Introduction
- 5 A practical criticism of John 18–19
- 6 A genre criticism of John 18–19
- 7 A sociological reading of John 18–19
- 8 A narrative-historical approach to John 18–19
- Conclusion
- References
- Index of names and subjects
Summary
Narrative and history
My aim in this chapter is to explore the journey from narrative history through narrative source to narrative gospel. As with the corresponding chapter in part I (chapter 4), my headings to each section reflect this tradition history. In this section I shall be looking at the issue of narrative and history in John 18–19, and in doing so I shall be asking the same two questions which I asked about John in general in chapter 4: (1) In what sense can we speak of history at the heart of John 18–19? (2) In what sense was this history already narrative in form? In the second section I will want to take the reader on the journey from history to source. Having argued in this first section that John is narrating valuable historical data in John 18–19, I shall show in the second section how this history was very early on redescribed in the form of a primitive passion narrative, the general character of which can be discerned by distinguishing between tradition and redaction. The reader will have already spotted that I detect two main narrative sources behind John's gospel: a catena of miracle stories from Galilee and, most significantly, a primitive gospel narrative based on the reminiscences of Lazarus, the disciple whom Jesus loved. The question left unanswered in my hypothetical reconstruction is this: where does the passion fit into this picture?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- John as StorytellerNarrative Criticism and the Fourth Gospel, pp. 168 - 196Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992