Recognizing the stranger : recognition scenes in the Gospel of John / by Kasper Bro Larsen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Larsen, Kasper Bro.

Series:

Biblical interpretation series ; v. 93.

Biblical interpretation series, 0928-0731 ; v. 93

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Recognition in literature.

Bible. John--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (279 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Recognizing the Stranger is the first monographic study of recognition scenes and motifs in the Gospel of John. The recognition type-scene ( anagnōrisis ) was a common feature in ancient drama and narrative, highly valued by Aristotle as a touching moment of truth, e.g., in Oedipus’ tragic self-discovery and Odysseus’ happy homecoming. The book offers a reconstruction of the conventions of the genre and argues that it is one of the most recurrent and significant literary forms in the Gospel. When portraying Jesus as the divine stranger from heaven, the Gospel employs and transforms the formal and ideological structures of the type-scene in order to show how Jesus’ true identity can be recognized behind the half-mask of his human appearance.

Contents:

Introduction

Odysseus' scar and Jesus' wound marks

Previous studies in Johannine recognition

The present study : aim, method, and outline

Anagnorisis in a theoretical and historical perspective

Anagnorisis in Aristotle's poetics

The embarrassments of recognition

Anagnorisis and the cognitive dimension of John's Gospel

The semiotics of recognition

The dual appearance of the observed

How to display the recognition Mark : showing, telling, and whispering

Aspects of recognition : identification and social recognition

Anagnorisis as a type-scene in ancient literature

The meeting

The move of cognitive resistance

The move of displaying the token

The moment of recognition

Attendant reactions and physical (re-)union

Anagnorisis and arrival (John 1-4)

Anagnorisis within the matrix of John's narrative

Prologue and prejudice : prefatory whisperings

The prologue's web of identity relations

The logos changes its guise

Recognizing a stranger : comparing Jesus with Odysseus

Establishing Jesus' presence in the story-world (1:19-51)

John the Baptist : recognizing the wrong man (1:19-28)

Jesus and John the Baptist : from baptismal scene to recognition scene (1:29-34)

Jesus and the disciples : call narratives in the form of recognition scenes (1:35-51)

Semeia as Semata : tokens of Jesus' divine doxa

Jesus and the Samaritan woman (4:4-42) : betrothal and recognition

Recognition in conflict (John 5-19)

John 5:1-18 : a recognition parody

"I am" : a recognition formula

John 9 : blindness and insight

The recognition scenes of the hour

The exposure of Judas as traitor (13:18-30)

Jesus' arrest : from discovery to self-disclosure (18:1-12)

Peter's denial (18:15-18, 25-27)

Jesus judged by Pilate : by what law? (18:28-19:16a)

Death as arrival : God's recognition of Jesus

Recognition and departure (John 20-21)

John 20-21 : bridging the horizons

The race to the empty tomb : acknowledging the absent one (20:10-)

Mary Magdalene and the Gardener-Rabbi (20:11-18)

The disciples : recognizers on a mission (20:19-25)

Jesus and recognizing Thomas (20:26-29)

John 21:1-14 : community with the absent Jesus

The reader as Anagnostes.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [225]-242) and indexes.

ISBN:

1-283-06092-2

9786613060921

90-474-3344-0

OCLC:

711004345

Publisher Number:

10.1163/ej.9789004166905.i-265 DOI