This reminded me of Fr. Ernesto Cardenal's book The Gospel of Solentiname. He was a Nicaraguan priest who recorded conversations among his parishioners about the gospel reading of the day. Their insights are so different than those I hear from white Americans. Social location matters. Thanks for this!
We watched a video about social location in seminary that astounded me. Here's the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb9Tc4quI7Q I can't wait to read the book you shared. Thank you!
I just watched the video. Amazing differences in what was focused on in the parable by the three different groups! Maybe people closer in social location to the writers of the Bible (poor/oppressed) are more likely to pick up the point the writer was trying to make. Thanks for sharing this with me!
If you’ll indulge my habit of playing “six degrees of the Gospel of John,” this syncs up well with a new commentary on John I just started reading, by Martinus de Boers. He argues that “A Johannine school of writers is thus responsible for G[ospel of]John and E[pistles of]John. The activities of this school included, as did the activities of any ancient school, ‘teaching, learning, studying, and writing.’ The conclusion that the Gospel in its final form is part of the literary legacy of a Johannine school means that more than one individual had a hand in the completion of the Gospel, as indicated by 21:24-25.” He then says in a footnote, “There are reasons for thinking that women as well as men could well have been members of this school.” I’m convinced that is the case. The sensitivity John shows to the unique emphasis on and perspective of women makes most sense from the hypothesis that women contributed, in some manner, to the Gospel text. If this is true, or at least plausible, it provides a great biblical reason for reading the bible in a diverse community: it was composed in and by a diverse community.
This reminded me of Fr. Ernesto Cardenal's book The Gospel of Solentiname. He was a Nicaraguan priest who recorded conversations among his parishioners about the gospel reading of the day. Their insights are so different than those I hear from white Americans. Social location matters. Thanks for this!
We watched a video about social location in seminary that astounded me. Here's the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb9Tc4quI7Q I can't wait to read the book you shared. Thank you!
I just watched the video. Amazing differences in what was focused on in the parable by the three different groups! Maybe people closer in social location to the writers of the Bible (poor/oppressed) are more likely to pick up the point the writer was trying to make. Thanks for sharing this with me!
That sounds like an incredible book. Going to look it up now!
If you’ll indulge my habit of playing “six degrees of the Gospel of John,” this syncs up well with a new commentary on John I just started reading, by Martinus de Boers. He argues that “A Johannine school of writers is thus responsible for G[ospel of]John and E[pistles of]John. The activities of this school included, as did the activities of any ancient school, ‘teaching, learning, studying, and writing.’ The conclusion that the Gospel in its final form is part of the literary legacy of a Johannine school means that more than one individual had a hand in the completion of the Gospel, as indicated by 21:24-25.” He then says in a footnote, “There are reasons for thinking that women as well as men could well have been members of this school.” I’m convinced that is the case. The sensitivity John shows to the unique emphasis on and perspective of women makes most sense from the hypothesis that women contributed, in some manner, to the Gospel text. If this is true, or at least plausible, it provides a great biblical reason for reading the bible in a diverse community: it was composed in and by a diverse community.
Ohhh, I am super interested in this commentary. Thank you so much for sharing this!
You’re welcome! It’s massive and massively expensive ($115, 804 pages, only on John 1-6.) The first 219 pages are introduction, which could and should be its own book! For a short overview of gender in John, which accords with his comment above, see this post: https://open.substack.com/pub/onceaweek/p/they-were-amazed-that-he-was-talking?r=16589c&utm_medium=ios
I love considering possibilities like this. Thanks for sharing!