REFRAMING, TRANSFORMING AND DEEPENING FAITH: JOHN‟S PASTORAL RESPONSE TO A COMMUNITY IN CRISIS by CLAIRE GABRIELLE NYE HUNTER A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY in THEOLOGY at the SOUTH AFRICAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY in MARCH 2016 SUPERVISOR: DR WILLIAM DOMERIS The opinions expressed in this [thesis/dissertation] do not necessarily reflect the views of the South African Theological Seminary. DECLARATION I hereby acknowledge that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work and has not previously in its entirety or in part been submitted to any academic institution for degree purposes. Claire Gabrielle Nye Hunter. Grahamstown March 2016 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Throughout the writing of this thesis, I have been both humbled and overwhelmed by the prayer, support, encouragement and enthusiasm I have received from so many people. Special thanks to the following, without whom this thesis would not have been possible: The Bishop of Grahamstown, the Rt Revd Ebenezer Ntlali for his support and for allowing me five months sabbatical leave. The Dean of Grahamstown (my colleague and husband) for releasing me from clerical duties and standing in for me on occasion so I could focus on my thesis. The Cathedral Meditation Group and parishoners for their keen interest, support and prayer. The Rector and staff at the College of the Transfiguration, for the use of an office and access to the library. The ACSA Advisory Board for Theological Education for their generous financial assistance. My parents, the late Bishop Mark and Gabrielle Nye, for instilling in me a deep love for the Lord and for the scriptures, and for bringing me up and nurturing me in the Christian faith. Thanks to my mother for her unwavering encouragement and prayer support right until her dying day, as well as her generous financial contribution to this thesis. My supervisor par excellence, role model, mentor, colleague and friend – Bill Domeris. You were the one who challenged me to begin; encouraged me to persevere; and inspired me to complete this thesis. Thank you for your extraordinary gift of encouragement, your support, wisdom, insight, patience, guidance, creative thinking, meticulous eagle eye and for the use of your own Johannine library. To you and your wife, Shona – thank you for investing in my life in so many ways, and for your invaluable friendship and generous hospitality. Words will never be adequate to express the extent of my enormous gratitude. 3 My beloved husband Andrew, and our daughters Rachel and Nicola. Without your unwavering support, interest, enthusiasm, encouragement and practical help (Greek and computer assistance) along the way this thesis would never have been completed! You have been absolutely wonderful. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! DEDICATION The success of one is the success of all, so I dedicate this thesis to the people of God in the Anglican Diocese of Grahamstown. Claire Gabrielle Nye Hunter Grahamstown, March 2016 4 SUMMARY This thesis begins with the observation that the Fourth Gospel presents a markedly different picture of Jesus compared to the one found in the Synoptic Gospels. This is clearly seen in the evangelist‘s selection of material, unique use of language and imagery, and his particular presentation of the Jesus tradition. How do we account for these differences? I begin by looking at what scholars have said concerning the community behind the Gospel, and highlight reasons to suggest that this was a community in crisis. The hypothesis I propose is that the Fourth Gospel is different to the Synoptics because the evangelist has reshaped the Jesus tradition in such a way as to address the spiritual and pastoral needs of this community in crisis. The core of this thesis is an exploration of the evangelist‘s strategic pastoral response to the Johannine community in crisis. Referring to the work done by the U S Department of Justice in their online publication of The Community Crisis Response Team Training Manual (Young 1998), I reflect on the effects of crises on spiritual beliefs. Young suggests that crises can serve as an attack on meaning systems and cause people to re-examine their beliefs. As a result, a person‘s faith can remain unchanged, or may be rejected, or it may become transformed (1998b). Applying these and other insights from the field of Social Work, Pastoral Counselling and Sociology, I show how we can use some of these concepts to understand something of what the evangelist is doing in the writing of John‘s Gospel. I present a simple three part model to demonstrate the evangelist‘s strategic pastoral response to the community in crisis – namely the reframing, transforming and deepening of faith. I select and exegete specific passages from the Gospel of John which I believe best illustrate these concepts. I end with what in my view is the glue that holds the evangelists three-fold pastoral response together – namely his presentation of ‗the other Paraclete‘. This, I suggest, is the evangelist‘s ultimate, unique and special contribution to the Jesus tradition. He (the Paraclete) is given as the rhetorical 5 fulcrum of John‘s strategic pastoral intervention to address the needs of his community in crisis. I conclude that one of the possible reasons for John‘s Gospel being so different to the Synoptics is because at the heart of the Gospel we hear the voice of a pastor – his Gospel is fundamentally a pastoral document. He has reshaped the Jesus tradition and written a strategic response to the pastoral and spiritual needs of his community in crisis. In this way the Gospel itself fulfills the pastoral commission given to the early church in its concluding chapter: ―Feed my lambs‖; ―Tend my sheep‖; Feed my sheep‖ (Jn. 21:15-17). 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ......................................................................................................... 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... 3 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................... 13 1.1 A Unique Gospel ............................................................................................. 13 1.1.1 The ‗Spiritual Gospel‘ ............................................................................... 13 1.1.2 The Maverick Gospel ............................................................................... 13 1.2 The relationship between John and the Synoptic Gospels. ............................ 14 1.2.1 Why the differences? ............................................................................... 14 1.3The ‗Johannine Problem‘ ................................................................................. 15 1.4 The Purpose of the Fourth Gospel .................................................................. 16 1.4.1 The final Gospel ....................................................................................... 16 1.4.2 John‘s purpose statement ........................................................................ 16 1.4.3 Missionary/ Evangelistic purpose? ........................................................... 17 1.4.4 Encouraging believers to continuing in the faith? ..................................... 18 1.4.5 Other possible purposes .......................................................................... 18 1.6 An additional purpose ..................................................................................... 19 1.7 Motivation for undertaking this study .............................................................. 20 1.8 Methodology ................................................................................................... 21 Chapter 2: The life-situation and audience of the Fourth Gospel ...................... 24 7 2.1 Behind the Gospel – The significance of the historical situation ..................... 24 2.2 Summary of Johannine Scholarship ............................................................... 26 2.2.1 Historical setting of the Gospel: Conflict with ‗the Jews‘ ........................... 27 2.2.1.1 The contribution of J. L. Martyn ............................................................. 29 2.2.2 John‘s audience – a specific ‗Johannine community‘ or a ‗General audience‘? ......................................................................................................... 41 2.2.3 Definition of a Community ........................................................................ 43 2.2.4 The nature of the Johannine community .................................................. 45 2.2.5 Composition of the Johannine community ............................................... 52 2.2.6 The marks of the Johannine community .................................................. 53 2.3 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 3: A Community in Crisis ........................................................................ 58 3.1 Definitions and causes of a Crisis ................................................................... 59 3.2 Critical Incidents potentially leading to a crisis ................................................ 60 3.2.1 Conflict with Judaism ............................................................................... 60 3.2.2 Persecution by the Romans ....................................................................