Descrizione
Come nasce una religione. Antropologia ed esegesi del Vangelo di Giovanni. Readers interested in the use of the social sciences for the study the Second Testament wil enjoy reading this book. Adrianadestro and Mauro Pesce, who three years ago published a volume representative of their approach to the origins of Christianity: ANTROPOLOGIAdElE ORIGINI CRISTIANI (Rome 1997), now offer us a study more compact and unified as much in its objectives as in the methodology employed. The authors state their aim in the introduction and outline some of the methodological principles that have guided their inquiry. The purpose of the book is to show how Johannine Christianity as a religious system was born and was understood. According to them Johannism (a neologism that better expresses the authors'' perspective)did not consider itself a phase in the formation of Christianity, but an autonomous and complete religious system. With this supposition in place, three things remain to be clarified: (1) what a religious system is and when it can be said to be new; (2) how to analyze the texts in which this new religious system is expressed; (3) from what presuppositions we interpret the Gospel of John. They answer these questions saying that: (1) a religious system is a group of people who share a view of the world and of the superior powers and have common norms and guidelines for behavior; the newness of Johannism isdefined against Judaism, which is the root from which it is born; (2) the texts in which this new religious system is expressed are the product of culture, and so to adequately understand them it is necessary reconstruct the social imagination that they presuppose; (3) the basic text of Johannism is the Gospel of John, which the authors study, above al, in its final phase of redaction. The thesis which gradualy emerges from the reading of the book is that the Gospel of John mirrors the process through which Johannine Christianity isdefined as a new religious system. In this process a series of rites play a central role and, through an initiation process, configure a groupdistinct from Judaism and alsodistinct from the general social surroundings (the world). The new rites that guide the initiation process are addressed to the group ofdisciples. The Gospel is therefore both a memory of the historical process from which Johannism came about and a paradigm of the initiation process through which it was perpetuated. The first two chaptersdescribe the context of the initiation process and the group that wil take part in it. The context of the new ritual is that of the Jewish rites. The attention paid to the Jewish rites reveals the importance of ritual when coming todescribe the new group. The initiation process is addressed to thedisciples. The entire Gospel contains a structure of initiation of which they are the protagonists. This process begins with the expulsion from the Synagogue and tends towards a new form of gathering,defined by unity with Jesus. The initiation process isdescribed thoroughly in chapters three and four, centering on the study of John 13-17. In these chapters ail other charactersdisappear from the scene. Jesus is alone with hisdisciples in an isolated place, and he instructs them. The instruction and the gestures contained in these chapters take the form of a process in various phases. The first of these takes place in the triclinium and consists of two moments: the washing of the feet and thedialogue which folows it (Jn 13-14). The second takes place in another room in the house and takes a step beyond the first moment. The authors propose the understanding of the enigmatic order of John 14:31
Dettagli Bibliografici
EAN ISBN-13:9788842059622
ISBN-10:8842059625
Titolo:Come nasce una religione. Antropologia ed esegesi del Vangelo di Giovanni
Autore: Adriana Destro , Mauro Pesce
Editore:Laterza
Data Pubblicazione:2000
Collana:Percorsi Laterza
Pagine:228
Genere:bibbia
Classificazione:Nuovo Testamento
Argomenti :Vangelo di GiovanniAntropologia
