“Dematerializing” Religion: Reading John 2–4 as a Chiasm 527 series of examples of faith” (3). Moloney lines up Jesus’ different dialogues and miracles as Jewish (2,12–3,36) and non-Jewish (4,1- 42) journeys from “no faith” to “partial faith” and finally to “complete faith” (4), framed by Mary and the official as another two Jewish and Gentile examples of complete faith. Two comments are interjected at the same place in both journeys, the first one by the narrator, criticizing faith based on signs (2,23-25), and the second one by Jesus commending the essential “work” of mission (4,31-38). The movement of the text forms a “synthetic parallelism” (a, b, c / a1, b2, c2) (5) that can be charted as follows: Miracle in Cana: Complete faith in a Jewish context: example of the mother of Jesus (2,1-11) JEWS (2,12–3,36) A No faith: Jews (2,12-22) Comment: criticism of faith based on signs (2,23-25) B Partial faith: Nicodemus (3,1-21) C Complete faith: John the Baptist (3,22-36) NON-JEWS (4,1-42) A’ No faith: Samaritan woman 1 (4,1-15) B’ Partial faith: Samaritan woman 2 (4,16-26) Comment: recalling the essential ‘work’ (4,31-38) C’ Complete faith: Samaritans (4,27-30.39-42) Miracle in Cana: Complete faith in a non-Jewish context: example of the official (4,43-54) 2. Evaluation of Moloney’s View Although this innovative proposal is now thirty years old and stems from one of the “premier Johannine authorities of our day” (6), it has, to my knowledge, never been discussed in any detail. There is nothing new in defining the textual unit by the inclusio of the two miracles or in noticing the shift within John 2–4 from Jewish to non- Jewish interlocutors (see discussion below). Yet where Moloney is the most creative, in the postulate of two parallel journeys from “no faith” to “complete faith” (2,12–3,36; 4,1-42), that’s where questions arise. (3) MOLONEY, “From Cana to Cana”, 202. (4) Ibid., 200-201; The Gospel of John, 64-65. (5) F.J. MOLONEY, Belief in the Word. Reading John 1-4 (Minneapolis, MN 1993) 199, n. 9. (6) So P. ANDERSON in a review in RBL 12 (2006) on Moloney’s The Gospel of John. Text and Context (Leuwen 2005).