InterfIgural readIngs of the gospel of John

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early ChrIstIanIty and Its lIterature

shelly Matthews, general editor

Editorial Board:Jennifer a. glancyJoseph a. Marchalanders runesson

Janet spittlerMatthew Thiessen

number 26

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InterfIgural readIngs of the gospel of John

Ingrid rosa Kitzberger

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Copyright © 2019 by Ingrid rosa Kitzberger

all rights reserved. no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permit-ted by the 1976 Copyright act or in writing from the publisher. requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the rights and permissions office, sBl press, 825 hous-ton Mill road, atlanta, ga 30329 usa.

library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication data

names: Kitzberger, Ingrid r., author.title: Interfigural readings of the gospel of John / by Ingrid rosa Kitzberger.description: atlanta : sBl press, 2019. | series: early Christianity and its literature; 26 |

Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: lCCn 2019032650 (print) | lCCn 2019032651 (ebook) | IsBn 9781628372533

(paperback) | IsBn 9780884144014 (hardcover) | IsBn 9780884144021 (ebook)subjects: lCsh: Bible. John—Criticism, interpretation, etc. | Bible. gospels—Criticism,

interpretation, etc. | Intertextuality in the Bible.Classification: lCC Bs2615.52 .K5675 2019 (print) | lCC Bs2615.52 (ebook) | ddC

226.5/066—dc23lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032650lC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019032651

printed on acid-free paper.

Atlanta

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Contents

acknowledgments ...........................................................................................viiabbreviations ....................................................................................................xi

foreword a Call to personal, transformative, autobiographical Criticism: reflections on the Work of Ingrid rosa Kitzberger

Fernando F. Segovia ....................................................................................1

Introduction .....................................................................................................27

part 1. reading strategies

“how Can This Be?” (John 3:9): a feminist-Theological rereading of the gospel of John ....................................................................43

how Can you read John?! The pains and pleasures of reading the fourth gospel ............................................................................................67

part 2. reading Characters in John, the synoptics, and the hebrew Bible

Mary of Bethany and Mary of Magdala—two female Characters in the Johannine passion narrative: a feminist, narrative-Critical reader response ..............................................................................................81

stabat Mater? rebirth at the foot of the Cross ..........................................107

The Three Marys and the fourfold gospel ................................................127SBL Pres

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aging and Birthing: open-ended stories and a hermeneutics of promise .......................................................................................................141

part 3. Characterization and gender

untying lazarus—a sisters’ task? revisioning gender and Characterization in John 11 .........................................................................167

transcending gender Boundaries in John.................................................179

part 4. Characters in John and My self-text

“The truth Will Make you free” (John 8:32): The power of the personal Voice and readings of/from the gospel of John ................219

reading and rereading the samaritan Woman’s story: Characterization and social location .........................................................237

flowing Identities ..........................................................................................249

part 5. teaching strategies

Models of discipleship and teaching strategies: learning from John ........................................................................................................269

a response: Where from and Where to?Francis J. Moloney, SDB .........................................................................281

Bibliography ...................................................................................................291ancient sources Index ..................................................................................307Modern authors Index .................................................................................316subject Index ..................................................................................................320

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acknowledgments

Without the encouragement of many people, colleagues and students, this volume would not be. since my work was published in diverse places, on three continents, it has not always been accessible to interested readers. on the other hand, there has been interest in reading papers I presented at various conferences that have remained unpublished. I thank all those who suggested and supported my decision to compile a collected volume.

I especially thank david g. horrell from the university of exeter, the series editor, and the editorial board members of early Christianity and Its literature for graciously accepting my proposal and for their encour-aging positive responses, practical help, and suggestions for revising my original plan. Without horrell’s patient and faithful support through the various stages, this volume would not have taken the shape it has. Thus, he also guaranteed the smooth transition to the new series editor shortly before manuscript submission. I thank shelly Matthews from Brite divin-ity school at texas Christian university for her kind reception of my newborn.

Bob Buller and nicole tilford from sBl press have been the most encouraging and patient supporters, too, from the very first to the final stages. It was Buller’s great response to my initial contact presenting my idea for this volume that put me on track. tilford, and later heather McMurray, provided precious practical help with the details of getting the volume published. I am most grateful to all three of them, who give such a kind face to sBl press.

fernando f. segovia (Vanderbilt university, nashville) and fran-cis  J. Moloney, sdB (university of divinity, Melbourne) have been a great source of support, in many ways, in this multidimensional process of compiling such a volume. I graciously thank them for sharing their editorial expertise, besides their encouragement at various stages in my professional career and their unfailing friendship, regardless of the tide

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being in or out. It was, therefore, very special and a great joy to meet both again, after many years, on austrian home ground, at the International Meeting of the society of Biblical literature in Vienna in 2014. I am most grateful for their kind willingness to write the foreword and response. due to their own locations in the united states and australia, respectively, and my own in between, in europe, the global, intercontinental perspec-tive of this volume is underscored.

The essays included here would not have come into being without numerous colleagues, men and women from around the globe, whom I encountered and worked with beginning in the early 1990s, with whom I shared exciting discussions at conferences on both sides of the atlantic and cooperated on various projects. I am grateful for and to all of them, too many to be named individually here. however, some are mentioned in the introduction and in the essays, including footnotes, as well as in the publications referred to in this volume.

Besides my colleagues, my special gratitude is extended to my stu-dents at different universities from whom I have learned as much as they might have learned from me. My students at the graduate theologi-cal union in Berkeley, however, have a very special place in my heart as well as in my scholarly career. The invitation extended to me by the Jesuit school of Theology to teach as visiting professor of new testament in the academic year 2001–2002 turned out to be the most wonderful experi-ence, which provided the unique opportunity to work with students from across the world and very different cultural and religious backgrounds. These were truly transformative encounters in the global village class-rooms on holy hill.

I gratefully acknowledge reprint permission granted by the following publishers (in chronological order of publication):

Cambridge university press and the society for new testament studies for “Mary of Bethany and Mary of Magdala—two female Characters in the Johannine passion narrative: a feminist, narrative-Critical reader response,” NTS 41 (1995): 564–86.

scholars press (now sBl press) for “ ‘how Can This Be?’ (John 3:9): a feminist-Theological re-reading of the gospel of John,” in Literary and Social Readings of the Fourth Gospel, vol. 2 of “What Is John?,” ed. fernando f. segovia, syms 7 (atlanta: scholars press, 1998), 19–41.

viii acknowledgments

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lumen-Isedet for “aging and Birthing: open-ended stories and a hermeneutics of promise,” in Los caminos inexhauribles de la Palabra: Relecturas creativas en la Biblia y de la Biblia; Homenaje a J. Sever-ino Croatto, ed. guillermo hansen (Buenos aires: lumen-Isedet, 2000), 387–411.

deo publishing (now Blandford forum, uK) for “flowing Identi-ties,” in Autobiographical Biblical Criticism: Between Text and Self, ed. Ingrid rosa Kitzberger (leiden: deo, 2002), 79–96.

Bloomsbury publishing for “transcending gender Boundaries in John,” in A Feminist Companion to John, ed. amy-Jill levine with Marianne Blickenstaff (sheffield: sheffield academic, 2003), 1:172–206.

Brill academic publishers for “stabat Mater? re-birth at the foot of the Cross,” in Biblical Interpretation, Jubilee Volume 11.3.4, Texts, Cur-rents, Hermeneutics, ed. J. Cheryl exum (leiden: Brill, 2003), 468–87.

due to the profound changes in the publishing business, besides differ-ent style sheets and various computers I or volume editors worked with, every single chapter included in this volume had to be retyped, just as one colleague had prophetically foreseen. Thanks to him for encouraging me to “go gently” when facing such a challenge. It was a unique experience to be my own secretary, reconnected to my former selves at the time of the original writings and their respective contexts. I have grateful memories of all those who shared these with me.

acknowledgments ix

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abbreviations

aarsr american academy of religion studies in religion seriesaB anchor BibleaBrl anchor Bible reference libraryAnn. tacitus, AnnalesAnt. Josephus, Jewish Antiquitiesatd das alte testament deutschBetl Bibliotheca ephemeridum Theologicarum lovaniensumBibInt Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary ApproachesBibInt Biblical Interpretation seriesB&l The Bible & liberationBls Bible and literature seriesBN Biblische NotizenBTB Biblical Theology BulletinBZ Biblische ZeitschriftCBQ Catholic Biblical QuarterlyCC Cultural CritiqueConBnt Coniectanea Biblica. new testamentda die altertumswissenschaftedf erträge der forschungeJl early Judaism and Its literature ETL Ephemerides Theologicae LovaniensesfCB feminist Companion to the Bibleffnt foundations and facets. new testamentgBs guides to Biblical scholarshipgCt gender, Culture, TheoryHaer. Irenaeus, Adversus haeresesJAAR Journal of the American Academy of ReligionJBL Journal of Biblical LiteratureJJS Journal of Jewish StudiesJR Journal of Religion

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JSNT Journal for the Study of the New TestamentJsntsup Journal for the study of the new testament supplement

seriesJSOT Journal for the Study of the Old TestamentJsotsup Journal for the study of the old testament supplement

seriesKst Kohlhammer studienbücher TheologielXX septuagintNeot NeotestamenticaNLH New Literary History: A Journal of History and InterpretationNovT Novum Testamentumnovtsup supplements to novum testamentumnrsV new revised standard VersionNTS New Testament Studiesntts new testament tools and studiesÖeh Ökumenische existenz heutePR Psychoanalytic ReviewQd Questiones diputataersV revised standard VersionRT Revista de Teologiartt research in text TheorysBaBnt stuttgarter Biblische aufsatzbände: neues testamentsBlds society of Biblical literature dissertation seriesSBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar PaperssBs stuttgarter Bibelstudiensemeiast semeia studiessfshJ south florida studies in the history of Judaismsir sirachsntsMs society for new testament studies Monograph seriessntW studies of the new testament and Its WorldsWr studies in Women and religionsyms society of Biblical literature symposium seriesTib. suetonius, TiberiusTS Theological StudiesutB uni-taschenbücherWunt Wissenschaftliche untersuchungen zum neuen testamentZsnt Zacchaeus studies: new testamentZTK Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche

xii abbreviations

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