A critical review of characterization in the fourth Gospel's structure of anonymous disciple allusions /

• Main Author: Casimir, Stephen P., 1936-
• Other Authors: Henderson, Ian (advisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 2003
• Subjects: Characters and characteristics in the Bible.
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=79829

This investigation is about characterization in the Fourth Gospel as it relates to the "disciple"---the mysterious, anonymous figure that pervades the structure of allusions in this narrative. The question as to who this character is and what s/he does in this gospel text has both attracted and intrigued generations of biblical scholars. === The first part of the investigation examines divergent views of premodern, modern and reader-oriented criticism with regard to the "disciple's" identity and function, highlighting the respectively allegorical, historical and reader-oriented understanding of his/her character as proposed by these three critical approaches. === The second part of the investigation re-examines the question with a novel approach. The approach involves a detailed analysis of the structure of allusions. This analysis concludes that the allusions constitute a set of interactive linguistic phenomena which are meant to shed light on the anonymous figure within them. On the basis of this finding, the investigation proposes a new understanding of the structure of allusions and of the question of identity and function that it raises.