Encountering Jesus

Encountering Jesus

This book highlights how John's gospel seeks to challenge its readers, past and present, about where they stand in relation to Jesus. The last thirty years have seen an increased interest in the Bible as literature and story. Yet character appears to be neglected in both literary theory and narrative criticism. Indeed, there is not even agreement amongst scholars on how to approach, analyze and classify characters. This book is the first full-length treatment of all the characters in The Gospel of John that encounter and respond to Jesus. Applying a comprehensive theory of character to John's gospel, Bennema provides a fresh analysis of both the characters and their responses to Jesus. While the majority of scholars view most Johannine characters as 'flat' or more complex, developing and 'round'. John's broad array of characters and their responses to Jesus correspond to people and their choices in real life in any culture and time.

[Publisher]

People are interested in people and like to hear their stories. The appeal of a good novel, movie or biography is that it draws one into the story so that we identify with one or more of the characters. Some authors write simply to entertain readers, while others write in order to persuade their readers of a particular viewpoint. The author of John's gospel falls in the latter category. John explicitly states his purpose in 20:30&-31:

In order to accomplish this purpose John deliberately puts on the stage various characters that interact with Jesus, producing an array of belief responses.

This book too has a specific purpose: to present the Johannine characters, especially their responses to Jesus, in order to challenge readers to evaluate their stance regarding Jesus. Having studied the Gospel of John in recent years, Bennema recognized the relevance and universality of John's appeal for his readers on the subject of Jesus. For John, Jesus is the central figure in human history who came into the world to provide divine, everlasting life and to reveal God (cf. 1:1&-18). John 1:4 states that 'in him was life',

[Publisher]

People are interested in people and like to hear their stories. The appeal of^a good novel, movie or biography is that it draws one into the story so that^we identify with one or more of the characters. Some authors write simply^to entertain readers, while others write in order to persuade their readers^of a particular viewpoint. The author of John's gospel falls in the latter^category. John explicitly states his purpose in 20:3031:

^In order to accomplish this purpose John deliberately puts on the stage^various characters that interact with Jesus, producing an array of belief responses.

^This book too has a specific purpose: to present the Johannine^characters, especially their responses to Jesus, in order to challenge readers^to evaluate their stance regarding Jesus.^Having studied the Gospel of John in recent years, Bennema recognized the relevance^and universality of John's appeal for his readers on the subject of^Jesus. For John, Jesus is the central figure in human history who came into^the world to provide divine, everlasting life and to reveal God (cf. 1:118).^John 1:4 states that 'in him was life', and the rest of the gospel substantiates^this claim. Jesus is the protagonist in John's story and various characters^interact with him. Since peoples' response to Jesus is crucial we must study^these characters. This book is the first full-length treatment of all the Johannine^characters who encounter Jesus.

^There is another important rationale for this book. In the last thirty years^there has been an increased interest in the Bible as literature and story.^Literary methods have been applied to John's gospel mainly in the form of^narrative criticism and reader-response criticism and have proven fruitful.^John's gospel, then, is the story of Jesus Christ a story with a plot

[Publisher]