Full Description
Teaching and researching the Gospel of John for thirty years has led author Mary L. Coloe to an awareness of the importance of the wisdom literature to make sense of Johannine theology, language, and symbolism: in the prologue, with Nicodemus, in the Bread of Life discourse, with Mary and Lazarus, and in the culminating "Hour." She also shows how the late Second Temple theology expressed in the books of Sirach and Wisdom, considered deuterocanonical and omitted from some Bible editions, are essential intertexts. Only the book of Wisdom speaks of "the reign of God" (Wis 10:10), "eternity life" (Wis 5:15), and the ambrosia maintaining angelic life (Wis 19:21)—all concepts found in John's Gospel.
While the Gospel explicitly states the Logos was enfleshed in Jesus, this is also true of Sophia. Coloe makes the case that Jesus's words and deeds embody Sophia throughoutthe narrative. At the beginning of each chapter Coloe provides text from the later wisdom books that resonate with the Gospel passage, drawing Sophia out of the shadows.
Contents
Contents
List of Abbreviations ix
Author's Introduction xiii
John 11:1-54 Sophia Is Justified by Her Works: The Raising of Lazarus 313
John 11:55-12:50 Sophia's Testing Begins 333
John 13-17 Sophia's Banquet: Overview 353
John 13:1-38 Sophia's Gifts 359
John 14:1-31 Sophia's Household 381
John 15:1-17 Sophia's Friends 401
John 15:18-16:4a Sophia's Friends to Be Tested by the Synagogue 431
John 16:4b-33 Sophia's Friends to Be Tested by the World 443
John 17:1-26 Sophia's Prayer for Her Friends 457
John 18:1-19:42 Sophia's Hour Arrives 473
John 20:1-31 Sophia's Radiance 507
John 21:1-25 Sophia Has Built Her House— The Gospel Continues 537
Afterword 551
Works Cited 553
Index of Scripture References and Other Ancient Writings 571
Index of Modern Authors and Subjects 585
