S. M. SCHNEIDERS - John's Gospel begins not with “In the beginning was God” but with “In the beginning was the Word”. In other words, God is not a self-enclosed monad, knowing and loving “himself” from all eternity and only later deciding to let others in on the divine secret. Rather ,in the Johannine view, God's very nature is self-communication , self-opening, self -gift, that is creative of the other. Divine Wisdom, which had poured herself out in creation, in the salvific history of the chosen people, in the testimony of the prophets and the teaching of the sages, and which had been at times received and at times rejected by humanity , goes to the very limit in entering human history in the person of Jesus. The Word, Holy Wisdom, God's self- revelation becomes human, incarnate, in order to speak to humanity in a language we could understand . Revelation in John is the dialectic betwen Jesus' self – giving through his witness to himself and to God and the receptivity through believing and reciprocal self – giving of the disciples . It is never a one-way communication but always an interchange, a mutual self- giving, leading to an ever – deepening sharing of lefe and love. Revelation in John is the dialectic between Jesus' self - giving through his witneess to himself and to God and the receptivity through believing and reciprocal self – giving of the disciples.It is never a one – way communication but always an inerchange , a mutual self -giving , leading to an ever – deepening sharing of life and love. Revelation is therefore never “complete”. Ones does not collect the requisite information about God and then go on to live one's Christian life accordingly. Rather, Jesus' self – revelation is his ongoing and progressive opening to his disciples of his own inner life, the life of divine filiation, which is infinite in its depth and breadth and richness. Discipleship, or the life of believing, is correspondingly progessive. The Fourth evangelist developed a quasi – technical theological vocabulary to talk about this ever – deepening relationship between jesus and his disciples . It is captured in the terms 'witness' (divine self – gift), believing ( the human response), life – light – love ( the dinamic of shared life), and discipleship ( the living of the vocation to divine life).
S. M. SCHNEIDERS - John's Gospel begins not with “In the beginning was God” but with “In the beginning was the Word”.
RispondiEliminaIn other words, God is not a self-enclosed monad, knowing and loving “himself” from all eternity and only later deciding to let others in on the divine secret. Rather ,in the Johannine view, God's very nature is self-communication , self-opening, self -gift, that is creative of the other. Divine Wisdom, which had poured herself out in creation, in the salvific history of the chosen people, in the testimony of the prophets and the teaching of the sages, and which had been at times received and at times rejected by humanity , goes to the very limit in entering human history in the person of Jesus.
The Word, Holy Wisdom, God's self- revelation becomes human, incarnate, in order to speak to humanity in a language we could understand .
Revelation in John is the dialectic betwen Jesus' self – giving through his witness to himself and to God and the receptivity through believing and reciprocal self – giving of the disciples . It is never a one-way communication but always an interchange, a mutual self- giving, leading to an ever – deepening sharing of lefe and love.
Revelation in John is the dialectic between Jesus' self - giving through his witneess to himself and to God and the receptivity through believing and reciprocal self – giving of the disciples.It is never a one – way communication but always an inerchange , a mutual self -giving , leading to an ever – deepening sharing of life and love.
Revelation is therefore never “complete”. Ones does not collect the requisite information about God and then go on to live one's Christian life accordingly.
Rather, Jesus' self – revelation is his ongoing and progressive opening to his disciples of his own inner life, the life of divine filiation, which is infinite in its depth and breadth and richness. Discipleship, or the life of believing, is correspondingly progessive.
The Fourth evangelist developed a quasi – technical theological vocabulary to talk about this ever – deepening relationship between jesus and his disciples . It is captured in the terms 'witness' (divine self – gift), believing ( the human response), life – light – love ( the dinamic of shared life), and discipleship ( the living of the vocation to divine life).