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Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2008-07-14 About the Gospel of John: Considering P66: A Literary History, or a Categorical Hermeneutic Christopher Ryan Haney Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Classics Commons, and the Comparative Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Haney, Christopher Ryan, "About the Gospel of John: Considering P66: A Literary History, or a Categorical Hermeneutic" (2008). Theses and Dissertations. 1704. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1704 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 1 ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF JOHN: CONSIDERING P66: A LITERARY HISTORY, OR A CATEGORICAL HERMENEUTIC by Christopher R. Haney A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature Brigham Young University June 2008 2 Copyright © 2008 Christopher R. Haney All Rights Reserved 3 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Christopher R. Haney This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found to be satisfactory. Date Steven P. Sondrup, Chair Date Roger T. Macfarlane Date Thomas A. Wayment 4 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY As chair of the candidate‟s graduate committee, I have read the thesis of Christopher R. Haney in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; (2) its illustrative materials including figures, tables, and charts are in place; and (3) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library. Date Steven P. Sondrup Chair, Graduate Committee Accepted for the Department Date Michael J. Call, Chair Accepted for the College Date Joseph D. Parry, Associate Dean 5 ABSTRACT ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF JOHN: CONSIDERING P66: A LITERARY HISTORY, OR A CATEGORICAL HERMENEUTIC Christopher R. Haney Department of Humanities, Classics, and Comparative Literature Master of Arts New Testament text critics are fueled by a search for origins. But in the absence of an autograph, questions of origins are complicated at best. The fruit of that search for origins has resulted in the creation of hypothetical, eclectic texts—texts which have left us translating and interpreting the Bible in a form that no community in human history has before. Far from being failed projects, however, these eclectic versions aptly represent the problem of the One and the many, a problem not easily solved: When faced with hermeneutic duties, can we effectively speak of New Testament texts without speaking of their thousands of various and actual instantiations in the world? The answer, of course, is both yes and no; but the timid no has typically taken a back seat to the boisterous yes. This thesis develops a new literary historical hermeneutic based on the Categories of C. S. Peirce, a philosophical approach that will demonstrate the need for both an ideal (the yes) and a concrete (the no) approach to New Testament criticism. After this need has been demonstrated, the Gospel of John will then be under examination, both in its ideal and in one of its more concrete forms: P66, a second century Greek papyrus manuscript of the Gospel. The nature of the interpretive communities that have made use of the Gospel will also be considered. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Deepest thanks to my own Peircean Triad: to Steven Sondrup, the First of Third with an unsurpassed ability to synthesize literatures and philosophies; to Roger Macfarlane, the First of Second with the heart to lead and the brilliant head to create; and to Thomas Wayment, the Second of Third with a plenary of academic and personal integrity, and an unerring scholarly wisdom. To all three for layer upon layer of charity; each has been more than a mentor to me. A special thanks to Carolyn Hone, whose motherly persistence and care kept me active and hopeful. To A. A. Melyngoch, my Peircean missionary and best friend. And to Brick Haus, without whom none of this would have happened: you have always kept me nourished: gratias in perpetuum. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF DIAGRAMS.................................................................................................................. 8 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................... 9 A PRELIMINARY WORD ABOUT THE TITLE(S)............................................................... 16 ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.................................................................................... 16 CONSIDERING P66...................................................................................................... 17 A LITERARY HISTORY, OR A CATEGORICAL HERMENEUTIC...................................... 18 THE TITLE(S) REVISITED; A NOTE ABOUT EACH SECTION............................................. 29 §1.1 THE PRE-THEMATIC GOSPEL OF JOHN.......................................................................... 31 §1.2 THE INTENTIONAL P66................................................................................................... 37 §2.2 P66................................................................................................................................... 48 §2.3 THE RECEIVED P66......................................................................................................... 58 §1.3 THE GENERAL/INVARIANT GOSPEL OF JOHN............................................................... 69 §3.3 THE LIVED GOSPEL OF JOHN......................................................................................... 75 SOME WORDS ON THE ‚DIVINE TITLE‛ IN REVELATION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN...................................................................................... 76 A. THE TEXTUAL ...................................................................................... 78 B.I. PEIRCE AND THE PARTICIPLE.......... ....................................................................... 85 B.II. THE CONTEXTUAL ............................................................................ 87 C. THE EXTRA-TEXTUAL ........................................................................... 93 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................... 103 APPENDIX A: IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, HERMAS, AND THE HEBREW BIBLE............................................................................................................................ 106 APPENDIX B: P66 (ALPHA)...................................................................................................... 110 APPENDIX C: THE DISPUTED VERSIFICATION ZONE OF JOHN 1:3-4......................................... 111 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................ 112 8 LIST OF DIAGRAMS FIGURE A: PEIRCEAN CATEGORIES.......................................................................................... 24 FIGURE B: PEIRCEAN SEMIOTIC: SIGN, OBJECT & INTERPRETANT............................................ 27 FIGURE C: PEIRCEAN ANALYSIS OF STREET SIGNS.................................................................... 28 FIGURE D: PEIRCEAN ANALYSIS OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN...................................................... 29 9 ABOUT THE GOSPEL OF JOHN: CONSIDERING P66: A LITERARY HISTORY, OR A CATEGORICAL HERMENEUTIC1 INTRODUCTION New Testament text critics are fueled by a search for origins. But in the absence of an autograph, questions of origins are complicated at best. The end result of this search—which search manifests itself most patently in the task of collating thousands of manuscripts and fragments, comparing their unique readings, and selecting, according to text critical assumptions, the most likely original readings—is the creation of an eclectic text of the New Testament upon which more detailed philological and narrative analyses, as well as modern translations, are then based. That critical endeavor raises the question: When faced with hermeneutic duties, especially those phenomenological and historical in nature, can we effectively speak of New Testament texts without speaking of their various and actual instantiations in the world? To quote Bruce Metzger on the problem: Most commentaries on the Bible seek to explain the meaning of words, phrases, and ideas of the scriptural text in their nearer and wider context; a textual commentary, however, is concerned with the prior question, What is the original text of the passage? That such a question must be asked—and answered!—before one explains the meaning of the text [and, I would add, before one can begin to reconstruct possible sources for a text or to inductively reconstruct possible communities around which that text was 1 The purpose of the coloration and triadic nature of the title will be made clear through the course of the project. It conforms to the three Categories of C. S. Peirce, which Categories

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