Een historisch-hermeneutische studie van παροιμία en παρρησία in het Johannesevangelie. Een bijdrage aan de interpretatie van Johanneïsche taal in haar antieke retorische context

John's figurative world seems confused and incoherent. Jesus is presented as the lamb (Jn 1,29), the shepherd of the sheep (10,1-16), and even as the door of the sheep pen through which that same shepherd enters and leads the sheep out to the pasture (10,1-9), etc. This imagery resists formal classification and comprehensive description. No single theory has managed to explain the origin, the literary form and treatment, or the theological significance and function of this imagery in a way all can agree upon. More recent scholarly literature, therefore, has searched for John's views on language. However, its synchronic approach to John's characterization of Jesus' language with the terms παροιμία and παρρησία has failed to cope with a vast number of difficulties in the literary context of John's Gospel. We will deal with these difficulties by providing a broader historical-contextual framework to interpret παροιμία and παρρησία in John: 1. the treatment of παρρησία in Philodemus' Περὶ παρρησίας and Plutarch's Πῶς ἄν τις διακρίνειε τὸν κόλακα τοῦ φίλου; 2. the treatment of παροιμία in Proverbs (LXX); 3. the use of παροιμία and παραβολή by the translators Aquila and Symmachus to correct the Septuagint's translation of the Hebrew māšāl in the Hebrew Bible. This historical-contextual framework will also enable us to compare John's understanding of language with Mark's. Mark uses the terms παραβολή and παρρησία to characterize Jesus' language. This historical-contextual approach will lead to a more precise interpretation of John's theology (esp. Christology and soteriology) and provide a better understanding of the nature of his relationship with Mark.

Publication year:2021

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