JOHN’S GOSPEL AS HERMENEUTICAL SOURCE FOR A MISSIONAL THEOLOGICAL PARADIGM

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THE PARABLE OF THE OTTERS

Once upon a time, eons ago, there was a family of ancient animals who lived in the primordial forest. They were small fur-covered animals who lived on fish from the babbling brooks that meandered through the forest. They were docile, warm-hearted little creatures who wouldn’t hurt a flea, except for the food they ate to survive. They cared for their young very diligently and they stayed together in groups for comfort and safety. Because they felt they were so different from the other animals around them, they eventually came to call themselves “The Odders.” Actually, they weren’t really that odd, but sometimes they felt like that.
For hundreds of years they went about their business of raising their young, hunting for food and building their nests in the forest. And then one day the Chief Odder assembled all of them together solemnly and made a proclamation. With his black little nose quivering and his whiskers twitching, he said, ‘Fellow Odders, something is happening to our world. Grave changes are in the wind. The weather is shifting. The forest is changing. Some trees are dying while other new trees are sprouting up everywhere. I fear that if we do not respond to this crisis in our environment, our entire race will be obliterated from the face of the earth.’ The eyes of his fellow Odders were riveted to his face, their ears straining to hear his every word.
His face grew sad and tired. ‘And, my fellow Odders, I am growing old and tired. Soon I will become sick and die. Therefore, I am asking two of you to step forward to act as new leaders. And to make sure that some of us survive, we need to have two different kinds of leaders who try to survive in two different parts of the forest. I believe we need to face this challenge by starting two tribes of Odders – and hopefully, one of these tribes will endure.’ His words enveloped the assembly of Odders like a heavy dark fog. The thought of dividing up and leaving their friends and relatives was heartbreaking. They all sat in deep silence for a long time as the wisdom of his strategy began to sink in. Over the next few days and weeks, the Odders began the painful process of choosing their two new leaders and separating into two different tribes. Finally, after two months, the members of the two new tribes said their goodbyes, gathered up their young and their belongings and sadly went off to two distant parts of the forest.
The first few years were filled with hard work, arguments, fighting and lots of grieving about their loss as each tribe tried to settle into a new life and a new way of surviving. Each tribe had to struggle to find a new identity, to develop new customs and to make it in a rapidly changing world. After a few years it was clear that they had indeed picked two very different leaders and that they were evolving into two very different kinds of animals. They still looked the same. But the way they lived on the planet was very different. The leader of one tribe had decided that the only way to survive was to take this business of survival seriously. He and his Advisors developed an ingenious, intricate 10-year Survival Plan.
Their young were taught from birth to be hard-working and industrious. They mapped out their territory and made detailed observations of the behavior of their most dangerous predators. They took pride in their organization and adaptability. Their society began to run smoothly and efficiently. They all came to know that their survival was secure. Young and old alike agreed that they felt good and safe whenever they would hear their leader or one of his advisors say, ‘You ought to get over there by that stream today and watch for wolves,’ or ‘You ought to start getting ready for winter’ or ‘You ought to gather some more food.’ In fact, they all liked the direction and structure so much that eventually they came to call themselves ‘The Oughtas,’ which delighted them greatly

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

• CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION
  • 1.1 THE PARABLE OF THE OTTERS
  • 1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
  • 1.3 RESEARCH-PROBLEMATIC: AN EMERGING PARADIGM AND ITS IMPACT ON THE WORLD
  • 1.3.1 The Church in an Apostolic Paradigm
  • 1.3.2 Premodernity and the Christendom Paradigm
  • 1.3.3 The Christendom Paradigm in a modernistic society
  • 1.3.4 Technological contours of the Emerging Paradigm
  • 1.3.5 Epistemological Implications of the Digital Revolution
  • 1.3.6 A Comparative synopsis of the different paradigms
  • 1.3.7 The church as a modern institution in a postmodern world
  • 1.3.8 A new understanding of being church emerges
  • 1.3.8.1 Theological Contours of the Emerging Movement
  • 1.3.8.2 Diversity in the Emerging Movement
  • 1.3.8.3 Growing unease with the Emerging Movement
  • 1.3.9 The Quest for an Emerging Theological Paradigm
  • 1.3.9.1 Understanding the nature of paradigm shifts
  • 1.3.9.2 The birth of a theological paradigm shift
  • 1.3.9.3 Towards a postmodern theological epistemology
  • 1.3.9.4 Exercising missional leadership
  • 1.3.10 Defining Ecclesiology
  • 1.3.11 Conclusion
  • 1.4 JOHN’S GOSPEL AS HERMENEUTICAL SOURCE FOR A MISSIONAL THEOLOGICAL PARADIGM
  • 1.4.1 Why the Gospel of John?
  • 1.4.2 Marturiva and The Gospel of John
  • 1.5 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER TWO – A HERMENEUTICAL APPROACH
  • 2.1 A FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH
  • 2.2 UNDERSTANDING EXEGESIS
  • 2.3 SOME HERMENEUTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
  • 2.3.1 Narratology
  • 2.3.2 Diachronical insights
  • 2.3.3 Metaphoric Theology
  • 2.4 AN OVERVIEW OF JOHN’S GOSPEL
  • 2.5 A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF THE MARTURIvA LEXEME
  • 2.6 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER THREE – JOHN THE BAPTIST (JOHN 1-4)
  • 3.1 REVISITING THE STRUCTURE OF JOHN’S GOSPEL
  • 3.2 INTRODUCING THE FIRST WITNESS
  • 3.2.1 Retelling the Story
  • 3.2.2 Investigating the Prologue
  • 3.3 INVESTIGATING THE BAPTIST (John 1:19-51)
  • 3.3.1 The Unity of the Narrative Sequences
  • 3.3.2 Drama over Eschatology, while it’s all about Jesus
  • 3.3.3 Testimony, Hearing, Seeing and Believing – An Alternative Interpretation
  • 3.4 OF MIRACLES AND TESTIMONY (John 2)
  • 3.5 IN CONVERSATION WITH NICODEMUS (JOHN 3)
  • 3.5.1 A Nocturnal Confusion
  • 3.5.2 The Use of Marturiva
  • 3.5.3 How to Become Part of God’s World
  • 3.5.4 Loving a World that is Lost
  • 3.6 RETURNING TO THE TESTIMONY OF THE BAPTIST (JOHN 3:22-36)
  • 3.6.1 Setting the Passage in Context
  • 3.6.2 A Conflict over Baptism
  • 3.6.3 Concluding the Testimony of the Baptist
  • 3.7 IN CONVERSATION WITH A SAMARITAN WOMAN, A VILLAGE AND A ROYAL OFFICIAL (JOHN 4)
  • 3.7.1 Jesus and the Woman from Sychar
  • 3.7.2 Jesus and the Townspeople of Sychar
  • 3.7.3 Healing the Royal Official’s Son
  • 3.8 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER FOUR – THE SECOND PART OF JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY (JOHN 5-12)
  • 4.1 A POSSIBLE SCHEME FOR UNDERSTANDING JOHN
  • 4.2 SETTING THE SABBATH AS BACKDROP FOR AN ARGUMENT (JOHN 5-6)
  • 4.2.1 What happened
  • 4.2.2 What John wants us to understand
  • 4.2.3 Witnesses that confirm Jesus’ relationship with the Father
  • 4.2.4 Continuing the story
  • 4.3 THE STORY OF THE FESTIVAL OF THE SHELTERS (JOHN 7-8)
  • 4.3.1 Jesus is rejected by his own family
  • 4.3.2 Continuing the Story
  • 4.3.3 Determining the truthfulness of Jesus’ testimony (John 8:12-20)
  • 4.3.4 Continuing the Story
  • 4.4 JESUS IS REJECTED … AGAIN – JOHN 10:
  • 4.4.1 Some background remarks
  • 4.4.2 Still more rejection of Jesus
  • 4.5 MARTURIvA IN THE FINAL PASSAGES OF JESUS’ PUBLIC MINISTRY
  • 4.5.1 Some background remarks
  • 4.5.2 The Entry into Jerusalem
  • 4.5.3 Continuing the Story
  • 4.6 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER FIVE – JESUS’ CONVERSATION WITH HIS DISCIPLES (JOHN 13-17); THE PASSION NARRATIVE (JOHN 18-20); THE EPILOGUE (JOHN 21)
  • 5.1 AN OVERVIEW OF JESUS’ MINISTRY TO HIS DISCIPLES
  • 5.2 MARTURIvA IN JESUS’ MINISTRY TO HIS DISCIPLES
  • 5.3 MARTURIvA IN THE PASSION NARRATIVE
  • 5.3.1 Some Background Remarks on John
  • 5.3.2 Finding the pivotal point of the Crucifixion
  • 5.3.3 Jesus before the High Priest – John 18:
  • 5.3.4 Jesus before Pilate – John 18:
  • 5.3.5 Witnessing Jesus’ death – John 19:
  • 5.4 MARTURIvA IN THE EPILOGUE
  • 5.4.1 Some Background Remarks
  • 5.4.2 The sharing of the testimony as final thoughts – John 21:
  • 5.5 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER SIX – TOWARDS AN EMERGING, MISSIONAL ECCLESIOLOGY
  • 6.1 TOWARDS AN ANCIENT FUTURE
  • 6.2 FIRST MISSIONAL PURPOSE: WORSHIPING GOD THROUGH KNOWING CHRIST
  • 6.2.1 Hermeneutical Framing
  • 6.2.2 The ministry of corporate, public worship and testimonial preaching
  • 6.2.3 The ministry of facilitating prayer
  • 6.3 SECOND MISSIONAL PURPOSE: BEING OPEN AND INVITING
  • 6.3.1 Hermeneutical Framing
  • 6.3.2 Ministries of hospitality
  • 6.3.3 Ministries of caring, kindness and compassion
  • 6.4 THIRD MISSIONAL PURPOSE: LOVING ONE ANOTHER JUST AS CHRIST DID
  • 6.4.1 Hermeneutical Framing
  • 6.4.2 Small group ministries
  • 6.4.3 Intentional faith development
  • 6.5 FOURTH MISSIONAL PURPOSE: SHARING THE MINISTRY
  • 6.5.1 Hermeneutical Framing
  • 6.5.2 Leadership development
  • 6.5.3 Testimony through Public Discourse
• CHAPTER SEVEN – CONCLUSION
  • 7.1 MISSIONAL ECCLESIOLOGY AND AN EMERGING THEOLOGICAL PARADIGM
  • 7.1.1 At its core, the community of believers finds its identity in the revelation of God’s identity
  • 7.1.2 Faith Communities share in the testimony of the witnesses to Jesus
  • 7.1.3 Faith communities share in the attitude of Jesus
  • 7.1.4 The church has no message if they do not accept the reality of Jesus’ glorification
  • 7.2 DID THIS STUDY REACH ITS INTENDED RESEARCH PURPOSE?
  • 7.2.1 A shift from exposition to narrative
  • 7.2.2 A shift from cognitive teaching to holistic faith formation
  • 7.2.3 A shift from designated offices to missional leaders
  • 7.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THIS RESEARCH
  • 7.4 RETURNING TO THE PARABLE OF THE OTTERS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY

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MARTURIA IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN