The prophetic vision of the Son of Man in the fourth gospel in the light of the religious tensions between Judaism and the Johannine community in the late first century C.E.

Abstract

This thesis is a typological study of the Fourth Gospel in the light of its Son of man sayings, paying particular attention to their context within the Gospel; within the four canonical Gospels; and within the Judeo-Christian tradition. It shows the importance for the Fourth Gospel of an aspect within apocalyptic Judaism concerning the vision of the open heaven. The Johannine Son of man theme reflects disputes within Judaism surrounding the vision of God. The Fourth Evangelist reinterprets the Synoptic Son of man tradition, using Old Testament texts central to these disputes with reference, to Jesus the vision of God. Our Evangelist engages on the one hand in an internal dispute with other Christians, and an the other hand in an external dispute with Jews. He retells the gospel story with reference to his own situation. Through his Gospel we see the relation between the Johannine church and the synagogue. My first three chapters show how the Evangelist links his Son of man theme to Old Testament vision texts to interpret Jesus as the prophetic vision of the heavenly Son of man (Jn. 1: 51; 3: 13,14; 5: 27). The remaining chapters show how this interpretation affects the community's worship and its relation with the synagogue. The Fourth Gospel is -. different from the Synoptic Gospels. The Son of man theme is common to all four Gospels, and to apocalyptic Judaism. Therefore the conclusions drawn from a reading of the Fourth Gospel can be tested by a comparison with the Synaptic tradition and with the Jewish apocalyptic tradition.