In Johannine Social Identity Formation after the Fall of the Jerusalem Temple Christopher Porter reads the Fourth Gospel through the lens of social identity theory as means of reconciling the social dislocation and trauma of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. Analysing the Fourth Gospel in conversation with other temple-removed texts of Qumran, Philo, and Josephus the gospelâs intent to renegotiate cultic life without the temple can be seen. Through this analysis it is argued that the Fourth Gospel primarily functions as an intra-mural Jewish text, attempting to negotiate the formation of a Jesus-follower social identity in direct continuity with earlier Jewish shared social narratives. Finally, this work reviews the Johannine Community as an outcome of the Gospel identity formation.
Christopher A. Porter, Ph.D. (2019), Ridley College (ACT), is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Trinity College Theological School, University of Divinity. Previously working in socio-cognitive psychology, his focus is on the application of social identity theory to socio-religious groups.
Acknowledgements Lisrt of Figures Abbreviations Glossary
1 Introduction
â1.1âScope of the Problem
â1.2âNeed of the Study
â1.3âResearch Question
â1.4âImplicit Sociological Approaches to the Fourth Gospel
â1.5âOther Socio-Scientific Approaches to Biblical Texts
â1.6âMethodology
â1.7âProcess of This Study
2 Reference Models of Temple-Removed Jewish Social Construction
â2.1âSocial Category Formation in the Damascus Document (CD)
â2.2âSocial Category Formation in Community Rule (QS)
â2.3âDiscussion: Social Category Differentiation in Temple-Removed Jewish Subgroups
3 Prolegomena to the Fourth Gospel Analysis
â3.1âIntroduction to the Fourth Gospel
â3.2âOral Performance and Codification of Identity
â3.3âApproach to Reading the Fourth Gospel
4 Christological Social Identity Confrontation through SAGA Constructions
â4.1âThe Prologue
â4.2âSAGA Constructions
â4.3âDiscussion: The Î¿Î¹Ì ÎÌÎ¿Ï Î´Î±Î¹Íοι and the Outcome of SAGA Analysis
â4.4âSAGA Conclusions
5 Christological Social Identity Confirmation in the Extended Discourses of the Fourth Gospel
â5.1âIntroduction
â5.2âInter-subgroup Dialogical Discourses
â5.3âIn-Group Discourses
â5.4âInter-subgroup Conflict
â5.5âIn-Group Reconstruction
â5.6âDiscussion: The εÌÎ³Ï ÎµÎ¹Ìμι Statements
â5.7âConclusion of the Discourses
6 Social Category Engagement in the Johannine Epistles
â6.1âThe First Epistle
â6.2âThe Second Epistle
â6.3âThe Third Epistle
â6.4âDiscussion: The Johannine Community
â6.5âConclusion to Epistles Analysis
7 Contemporaneous Parallels to Johannine Social Identity Formation
â7.1âPhiloâs Apologies
â7.2âJosephusâ Antiquities and Jewish War
â7.3âConclusion to Parallels
8 Conclusion
â8.1âOverview
â8.2âDiscussion
â8.3âOutcome
Bibliography Index
Those interested in reading the Fourth Gospel within Judaism and all readers focused on the application of social identity theory to biblical studies.