Neotestamentica

Christina Petterson offers a revolutionary reading of the Gospel of John, especially with regard to John 1:14 and 6:51. She puts a completely new perspective on the table regarding how the concept of σάρξ ("flesh") should be viewed and how this shapes the total perspective of the Gospel on flesh and body.

Petterson deconstructs the generally accepted idea that the Gospel of John highlights and appreciates the humanness of Jesus Christ on the grounds of John 1:14. The doctrine of the two natures of Christ found solid support and substantiation from this introductory verse, which was [End Page 501] believed, since it formed part of the prologue, to outline the author's perspective that Jesus was the fleshly manifestation of God among us. Petterson challenges this view by arguing that "becoming flesh" is rather a spiritual experience that takes place within the believer as the message of the gospel becomes internalised. The phrase ἐν ἡμῖν ("in us") in John 1:14 is indicative of how the gospel becomes part of humans who respond to it and produce texts as a result of this. In the words of Petterson, "[t]he gospel creates matter from the realm of the spiritual." Petterson finds support for this idea in the work of Stephen D. Moore, God's Gym: Divine Male Bodies of the Bible (London: Routledge, 1996), arguing that the gospel materialised the belief in an empty tomb and a risen Christ in the composition of the Gospel of John. The extension of the gospel beyond the tomb is the written Gospel, and so the book becomes Jesus's risen body. Writing makes ideas present. The confessing church, those who testify to the risen Christ, replaced the body by becoming the body. In the discourses of the early church, the presence of Jesus Christ is mediated. This is how the Word becomes flesh. For this process to be consummated, language is essential. Language becomes the means through which the ecclesial corpus, born from the crucified and risen Christ, replaces the body of Christ. Petterson draws on Graham Ward (1999, 163–181), "Bodies: The Displaced Body of Jesus Christ" in Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology, edited by John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock and Graham Ward (London: Routledge), arguing that the mediation of narration and stories is the literal Word of God that "supplements the incarnate Word of God."

Petterson sets out to prove that the text of the Gospel of John functions as a pleromatic presence by "shedding the body." By "pleromatic presence" she means the "absolute presence of the divine," which not only crystallises in the presence of Christ, but is extended to include the text.

I find Petterson's argument provocative and extremely exciting, and I am of the opinion that it is worthy of our attention, especially the insight that John 1:14 demands a revisit. Her insights into the functioning of language and its persuading power are valuable. It liberates the text from being reduced to a historical account of Jesus's life, for it rediscovers the existential value and meaning of the gospel within the very existence of the believer. It also re-evaluates the inherent power and influence of the church to continue practising the ideals of the gospel through continuous discourse and creative use of language. In my opinion, it re-affirms the [End Page 502] importance of the preaching of the gospel, both within and outside the church, as well as the emancipation of ordinary believers to become agents of inspiration.

To my mind, Petterson offers a brave and controversial but extremely valuable contribution to NT studies, especially with regard to the Gospel of John, which should be considered by all scholars and exegetes of the NT.