Archetypes and the Fourth Gospel: Literature and Theology in Conversation

✍ Scribed by Brian Larsen

• Publisher: T&T CLARK
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 232
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book explores the interaction of literature and theology by means of archetypal criticism with specific reference to certain characters in the Fourth Gospel. Northrop Frye’s system of archetypal literary criticism (Anatomy of Criticism, 1957) consisting of the four mythoi or archetypes of romance, tragedy, irony and satire, and comedy offers a compelling summary of literature and forms the governing framework and means of exchange between literature and theology. This synchronic interaction is centered on Jesus, an innocent man acting on behalf of others, as romance; Pilate, unable or unwilling to act justly in an unwanted and unavoidable particular circumstance, as tragedy: Thomas and the Jews, variations on the theme of seeing and not seeing as irony; and Peter, who denies Christ and later recovers, as comedy. These characters function as points of exchange, each reaching their defining literary and theological climax during the crucifixion events. Within the Fourth Gospel’s narrative, these characters also serve as imaginative points of contact and identification for the reader at which the reader’s own faith response may be placed within the literary and theological milieu of the Fourth Gospel. Conceptually, Jesus and romance; Pilate and tragedy; Thomas, the Jews, and irony; and Peter and comedy may be characterized by representation, reduction, negation, and integration, respectively. The variable between these four mythoi and between these characters is the relationship between a belief or an ideal and experience or reality assumed by the work as a whole and/or assumed and displayed by each character.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half-title
Title
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
I. Introduction
I.A. Opening remarks
I.B. Experience, archetype, and archetypal literary criticism
I.C. Theology, archetype, and conceptual prefigurement
I.D. Archetypal criticism and the Fourth Gospel
I.E. Goals, objectives, and qualifications
II. The Fourth Gospel, Jesus, and Romance
II.A. Introduction
II.B. Romance, the Fourth Gospel, and Jesus
II.B.1. The Fourth Gospel as romance in critical opinion
II.B.2. Basic elements of romance
II.C. Romance motifs and the Fourth Gospel
II.C.1. Dramatic qualities of marvel, risk, and triumphant adventure
II.C.2. Emphasis on generation differences
II.C.3. Abundant use of pageantry
II.C.4. Claims to historical relevancy
II.C.5. The wandering journey toward ``home''
II.C.6. The essential piety of the main character
II.C.7. The idealized male-female relationships
II.C.8. The protagonist's mental agility
II.C.9. Ever-present mingling of blessings and sorrows
II.C.10. The directing influence of a supernatural higher power
II.C.11. A distinguishing token or scar by which the hero or heroine will eventually be recognized
II.C.12. Shipwreck or apparent loss
II.C.13. Magical wonders
II.C.14. Interlacing narrative
II.C.15. An ending when the disparate strands are drawn together in a final reunion scene
II.D. Structural/conceptual elements: Setting, plot/story, character
II.D.1. Setting: Romance and realism in the FG
II.D.2. Plot and story in romance
II.D.3. Characters in romance
II.D.3.a. Identity and self-determination
II.D.3.b. Representation
II.D.3.c. Other characters in the FG: Personal and theological encounters
II.E. Conclusion
III. Tragedy and Pilate
III.A. Introduction
III.B. Pilate in the Fourth Gospel
III.B.1. Pilate as a dynamic character
III.B.2. The trial narrative as interpretative paradigm
III.C. Narrative analysis 18:15-19:22
III.C.1. Preface: The narrative context: 18:15-27
III.C.2. Scene 1: Judicial concerns: 18:28-32
III.C.3. Scene 2: From politics to truth: 18:33-38a
III.C.4. Scene 3: Return to innocence: 18:38b-40
III.C.5. Scene 4: Desperate measures: 19:1-3
III.C.6. Scene 5: Revelation of divinity: 19:4-8
III.C.7. Scene 6: Confirmation of divinity: 19:9-11
III.C.8. Scene 7: Capitulation: 19:12-16
III.C.9. Epilogue: 19:22
III.D. Tragedy and Pilate
III.D.1. Elements of audience reaction
III.D.1.a. Fear and pity
III.D.1.b. Catharsis
III.D.2. Structural elements of tragedy
III.D.2.a. Plot
III.D.2.b. Character
III.D.2.c. Hamartia
III.D.3. Tragedy in Greek and Christian perspective
III.E. Conceptual elements of tragedy
III.E.1. Introduction
III.E.2. The tragic clash
III.E.3. Relative values: Knowledge and ignorance in tragedy
III.E.4. Absolute values: Moral order in tragedy
III.F. Conclusion
IV. Irony, Thomas, and the Jews
IV.A. Introduction
IV.B. Thomas and the Jews in the Fourth Gospel: Variations on the ironization of irony
IV.B.1. Thomas and the ironization of the ironist: Seeing and not seeing and seeing
IV.B.2. The Jews and the ironization of irony: Seeing without seeing
IV.B.2.a. The Jews and symbolic narrative
IV.B.2.b. The Jews in 4:43–6:71: The ironization of irony
IV.C. Conceptual issues in irony
IV.C.1. Survey and classification of studies of irony in the FG
IV.C.2. Values and beliefs in irony
IV.C.3. Positive, equivocal, and negative irony
IV.C.3.a. Positive irony
IV.C.3.b. Equivocal irony
IV.C.3.c. Negative irony
IV.D. Conclusion
V. Comedy and Peter
V.A. Introduction
V.B. Peter in the Fourth Gospel
V.B.1. Peter as follower
V.B.2. Peter as leader
V.B.2.a. Peter in chapter 13
V.B.2.b. Peter in chapter 18
V.B.2.c. Peter in chapter 20
V.B.3. Peter as follower and leader
V.B.3.a. Peter in chapter 21
V.B.3.b. Peter and the status of chapter 21
V.C. The comic and Peter
V.C.1. Introduction
V.C.2. Elements of audience reaction
V.C.2.a. Comic emotions: Sympathy and ridicule
V.C.2.b. Laughter
V.C.3. Structural elements of comedy
V.C.3.a. Character
V.C.3.b. Plot
V.D. Conceptual elements of comedy
V.D.1. Introduction
V.D.2. Beliefs and frames of reference
V.D.3. Frames of reference in conflict
V.D.4. Comic reality
V.D.5. Comedy and Christianity
V.E. Conclusion
VI. Conclusion
VI.A. Retrospect
VI.B. Review
VI.C. Results
VI.D. Prospects
Bibliography
Index