Alicia D. Myers, «Prosopopoetics and Conflict: Speech and Expectations in John 8», Vol. 92 (2011) 580-596
This article explores the conflict of John 8 within the larger context of the Gospel and in the light of the ancient rhetorical practice of prosopopoiia: the creation of speech for characters. These speeches add to the credibility of a narrative by being «appropriate» for both the person speaking and the situation in which the speech is given. Although perhaps not prosopopoiia in the traditional sense of speeches from Greek histories, this essay argues that the Gospel nevertheless includes prosopopoetics by creating appropriate, albeit unnerving, words for Jesus that elevate the audience and add to the persuasiveness of the work.
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PROSOPOPOETICS AND CONFLICT: SPEECH AND EXPECTATIONS
The confrontation between Jesus and the “believing†Jews in our
main passage also conforms to this pattern. In John 8 Jesus unleashes
what has been considered the most negative invective against the
Jews in the entirety of the New Testament 26. Jesus’ description of
the Jews as the “children of the devil†has been used repeatedly
throughout history as a justification for Jewish persecution, and con-
tinues circulation in neo-Nazi propaganda to this day 27. Such facts
have led numerous scholars to try and rehabilitate the text, arguing
that Jesus’ words are not representative of his own thoughts, but of a
later struggle in the Johannine community. Theories range from sug-
gestions that the community was reacting to persecution endured
from non-Christian Jews 28 or non-Johannine Christian Jews 29, that
the verse is not really calling the Jews children of the devil, but only
the children of Cain 30, to understanding the inclusion of these words
in the Gospel as a product of the human sin of the author 31. While
these reactions show how shocking Jesus’ words are for a modern
audience, they nevertheless fail to grasp fully the significance of this
passage for the Gospel’s rhetorical goals. John 8,31-59 acts as one
more inappropriate speech, in which Jesus shocks his interlocutors
26
R.A. BONDI, “John 8:39-47: Children of Abraham or of the Devil?†JES
34 (1997) 787; A. REINHARTZ, “John 8:31-59 from a Jewish Perspectiveâ€, Re-
membering for the Future. The Holocaust in an Age of Genocide (eds. J.K.
ROTH, et. al.) (New York 2001) II, 787; G. REIM, “Joh. 8.44 – Gotteskinder/
Teufelskinder wie Antiudaistisch ist ‘Die Wohl Antijudaistischste Äusserung
des NT’?†NTS 30 (1984) 619.
27
REINHARTZ, “John 8:31-59â€, 788.
28
T.B. DOZEMAN, “Sperma Abraam in John 8 and Related Literature: Cos-
mology and Judgmentâ€, CBQ 42 (1980) 343; M. DE BOER, “The Depiction of
‘the Jews’ in John’s Gospel: Matters of Behavior and Identityâ€, Anti-Judaism
and the Fourth Gospel (eds. R. BIERINGER – D. POLLEFEYT – F. BANDECAS-
TEELE-VANNEUVILLE) (Louisville, TN 2001) 156.
29
J. DE JONGE, “ ‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of Johnâ€, Anti-Judaism and the
Fourth Gospel, 122-123; S. MOTYER, Your Father the Devil? A New Ap-
proach to John and ‘the Jews’ (Carlisle, CA 1997) 164-165.
30
N.A. DAHL, “Der Erstgeborene des Satans und der Vater des Teufels
(Polyk. 7,1 und Joh 8,44)â€, Apophoreta Festschrift für Ernst Haenchen zu
seinem siebzigsten Geburtstag am 10. Dezember 1964 (ed. U. EICKELBERG)
(ZNW 30; Berlin 1964) 70-84; REIM, “Joh. 8.44â€, 622-623.
31
R. BIERINGER – D. POLLEFEYT – F. BANDECASTEELE-VANNEUVILLE,
“Wrestling with Johannine Anti-Judaismâ€, Anti-Judaism and the Fourth Gos-
pel, 3-37.
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