Ecclesiology and Theosis in the Gospel of John

Description

For the author of the fourth Gospel, there is neither a Christless church nor a churchless Christ. Though John's Gospel has been widely understood as ambivalent toward the idea of 'church', Andrew Byers argues that ecclesiology is as central a Johannine concern as Christology. Rather than focusing on the community behind the text, John's Gospel directs attention to the vision of community prescribed within the text, which is presented as a 'narrative ecclesiology' by which the concept of 'church' gradually unfolds throughout the Gospel's sequence. The theme of oneness functions within this script and draws on the theological language of the Shema, a centerpiece of early Jewish theology and social identity. To be 'one' with this 'one God' and his 'one Shepherd' involves the believers' corporate participation within the divine family. Such participation requires an ontological transformation that warrants an ecclesial identity expressed by the bold assertion found in Jesus' citation of Psalm 82: 'you are gods'.

Andrew Byers serves as a Lecturer in New Testament and a Free Church Tutor at Cranmer Hall, University of Durham. He has an MDiv from Beeson Divinity School, Alabama, a ThM from Duke University, North Carolina, and a PhD the University of Durham. Ordained by Baptists in North Carolina, he has served for thirteen years in pastoral ministry, most recently as Chaplain of St Mary's College, University of Durham. He is the author of TheoMedia: The Media of God and the Digital Age (2013) and Faith without Illusions: Following Jesus as a Cynic-Saint (2011). He has a personal website at hopefulrealism.com.

'This sophisticated study refocuses the study of the Fourth Gospel, moving away from conjectural reconstructions of a sectarian Johannine community and moving towards an expansive account of John's vision for the church as a community bound together in union with God through Jesus. Byers's work offers a significant contribution to Johannine studies, a refutation of individualistic spiritual interpretations of John's Gospel, and a salutary stimulus to theological reflection on New Testament ecclesiology.' Richard B. Hays, Duke University, North Carolina 'Andrew J. Byers argues that John's theological vision includes a narrative ecclesiology of transformative participation in the divine community that is appropriately characterized as corporate theosis. Byers both breaks new ground and prepares the exegetical and theological soil for others to cultivate. Creative and provocative, this is a major advance in Johannine studies that echoes, paradoxically but appropriately, patristic interpreters of John.' Michael J. Gorman, St Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore '... provides an intriguing apology that the church fathers, in their reading of John in terms of theosis, were not off the mark.' Charles R. Schulz, Concordia Journal