Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 57:2 (Fall 1995)
Article: The Composition of the Prologue of John’s Gospel: The Historical Jesus Introducing Divine Grace
Author: Jan G. van der Watt

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WTJ 57:2 (Fall 1995) p. 311

The Composition of the Prologue of John’s Gospel:
The Historical Jesus Introducing Divine Grace*

Jan G. van der Watt

* This article expands and reworks material originally published in Afrikaans: J. G. van der Watt, Ewige lewe in die Evangelie volgens Johannes (Pretoria: University of Pretoria, 1986) 59-72; id., “Die strukturele komposisie van die Proloog van die Johannesevangelie heroorweeg,” Skrif en Kerk 8 (1987) 68-84.

I. Introduction

Efforts to describe the composition of the prologue of John’s Gospel are numerous and varied.1 Some three decades ago, the insights of literary theories were increasingly integrated into the study of the NT. Structuralism in particular became a favorite way of approaching and analyzing texts. At first there was a tendency to discover the (single) structure of a specific text. Soon, however, it was realized that a specific text does not

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have a (single) structure, but that the textual material may be structured in different ways according to different criteria.2 Different structures may even complement one another. This is not to say that the “structure of a text” simply exists in the creative mind of the reader, as Deconstruction or even some of the more radical reader-response theories would like it to be. Structuring words, ideas, and phrases is part and parcel of the conventions of communication through language. It is one of the important mechanisms at the author’s disposal to “guide” the reader to a proper understanding of what he wants to communicate.3

In this article the composition of the prologue will be reconsidered, taking seriously the possibility that it contains several interrelated and complementary structures.

II. Examples of Previous Attempts

Numerous efforts have been made to determine the composition of the prologue. As an orientation, a brief consideration of some of the most important approaches seems necessary.4

1. Treatments within the Historical-Critical Paradigm5

Structuring a text is primarily a synchronic activity. Within the historical-critical paradigm the prologue is, however, approached diachronically. In the hypothetical reconstruction of the different phases of development, structural arguments nevertheless have a central place. The structure as such is not in itself important, but structural

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