BibleScholar

 This study we have embarked on over the past few weeks has been essential to understand the narrative of John's Gospel. It builds on the work of R. Alan Culpepper and James L. Resseguie, who have shown that the Gospel of John is carefully written and uses literary techniques such as irony, point of view, and reader involvement to shape its message. Their studies have made an important contribution to understanding how John's narrative works. However, both scholars assume that the Gospel ultimately leads readers to a stable understanding of its meaning. Whether this comes through the implied author's design (Culpepper) or through the reader's process of making sense of the story (Resseguie), both approaches expect the narrative to produce a coherent interpretation in the end. This study has argued that the Gospel of John does not work this way. Instead of moving readers toward a single, settled meaning, the Gospel continually keeps important questions open. It invites r...