Ethnicity and the Spirit in John 1-7

• Main Author: Estrada, Rodolfo Galvan
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2018
• Subjects: Articulation; Biblical studies; Cultural factors; Cultural heritage; Cultural identity; Ethnic studies; Interpersonal relations; Stereotypes; Theology
• ISBN: 0438179536; 9780438179530

This study examines how the Greco–Roman world of ethnic views, prejudices, and stereotypes inform our reading of the pneumatic references within Jesus’ public ministry in the Fourth Gospel. This exploration does not assume that theological issues or synagogue tensions noticed by scholars are irrelevant. It adopts the premise that the theology of the Spirit was a contextual expression for a diverse community that was aware of Greco–Roman prejudices and phobias. Although this dissertation recognizes that Johannine pneumatology is influenced by how one perceives the social–cultural context of the Fourth Gospel, what has not been explored is how a multiethnic context shapes the articulation and understanding of the Spirit within the Fourth Gospel. The challenges of race relations are not something solely limited to our contemporary society. As we will discover, this was also part of the Greco–Roman world. This compels us to probe how a diverse ethnic context of the Fourth Gospel would hear and understand such articulation of the Spirit. We find that the articulation of the Spirit was written in such a way that it aimed to inform the various readers about the role that the Spirit in an ethnically diverse world. Fundamental to this exploration is the belief that the ethnoracial background of the Greco–Roman world will not only inform how we reconstruct the context of the Fourth Gospel but help us understand the emergence of its pneumatology. Within this dissertation we will observe that the Spirit is described with ethnoracial concerns in mind. From the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, the Spirit is the divine Spirit of God that commissions Jesus for the redemption of an ethnic world. The Spirit grounds all ethnic identity in the common birth of believers, which recognizes no genealogical privilege or prestige. The Spirit draws all people despite ethnic lineage and heritage. Since the Spirit is actively involved in the life of a diverse ethnic Johannine community, this also means that the community must reject violence, ethnic prejudices, and stereotypical views that were common of the Greco–Roman world and reflective in Samaritan–Jewish relations. The Spirit is also involved in a life–giving activities and thus, must shape how one views kinship relations, including its ethnic privilege and benefits to descendants. Lastly, we will explore how an ethnic inclusive invitation to partake of the Spirit is proclaimed despite intra–ethnic conflict and rejection.