Continuing Seminar:                                              John's Gospel and Letters 

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Description:

The goal of this continuing seminar is to stimulate a broad conversation on features in the Fourth Gospel and the Letters of John that challenge interpreters with respect to translation, exegesis, hermeneutics, theology, interrelations among the Gospels, intertextuality, and so on. All methodologies are welcome.

Seminar Leader in 2026

• Convener: Gilberto A. Ruiz, Saint Anselm College

Program for 2026

• Eric Christian Zito, Loyola University Chicago

"Anonymous and Anonymized: A Differentiated Reading of Unnamed Characters in the Fourth Gospel"

Abstract: Against readings that treat namelessness in the Fourth Gospel as a single literary device (e.g., William Watty; David R. Beck), this paper argues that John employs the rhetorical strategy of namelessness in two distinct ways, corresponding to two character groups and two narrative aims. On one hand, previously unknown figures, such as the Samaritan woman (John 4) and the man born blind (John 9), function within formal recognition scenes that progressively disclose Jesus’s identity. Their anonymity invites audience identification and aligns with patterns observed in ancient drama (cf., Florence Yoon), where nameless characters serve to illuminate the named protagonist to whom they are attached. On the other hand, John renders figures known within the tradition, such as the mother of Jesus and the Beloved Disciple, nameless via the rhetorical device of antonomasia. Here, the withholding of names does not obscure identity but transforms these figures into symbolic embodiments of discipleship, reconfiguring the audience’s own self-understanding. By distinguishing anonymous from anonymized characters, this paper reframes Johannine namelessness. Anonymous characters reveal Jesus, while anonymized ones redefine his followers.

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• Sherri Brown, Creighton University

"Relationality in 1 John and the Role of the Johannine Letters in the New Testament"

Abstract: The original historical, social, literary, and ecclesiastical contexts of the three letters of John continue to be debated in current scholarship. Scholarly positions in the discussion range from the more traditional attribution of the letters to John the son of Zebedee or some form of a Johannine school or circle in the late first or early second century to suggesting the letters are products of disguised authorship written for disparate purposes centuries into the early Christian movement. The present essay takes the canonical identification of these letters as extensions of the late first century Gospel of John as a starting point and explores their particular role in the New Testament canon. With a focus on relationality as expressed in 1 John, I explore how this plays out in 2 and 3 John, then suggest the impact of the collection for Christians in differing temporal contexts.

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• Gilberto A. Ruiz, Saint Anselm College

"Eucharist and Hospitality in John 6:1-15 and 12:1-8"

Abstract: This paper treats two meal scenes as a mutually informing narrative pair: the feeding of the multitude in 6:1–15, and the dinner at the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in Bethany in 12:1–8. First, I chart similarities and links between the meal which Jesus coordinates when he miraculously feeds the crowd in 6:1–15 and the meal held for Jesus in 12:1–8. Then I identify a thematic element in each scene—Eucharist in 6:1–15 and hospitality in 12:1–8—and explore how the corresponding passage also develops this theme.

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HISTORY

• 2025

  • Seminar Leaders:
    Mary Kate Birge S.S.J, Mount Saint Mary's University & Seminary
    Peter Judge, Winthrop University, emeritus
  • A discussion of Christopher Seglenieks & Christopher Skinner (eds.), The Johannine Community in Contemporary Debate (2024). Skinner (Loyola, Chicago) will open with a general overview;  Seglenieks (Bible College of South Australia) will summarize his approach for a positive view of the Johannine community context. Contributor Hugo Méndez (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) will present his more negative outlook; Alicia Myers (Baylor University) will conclude with a summary of her response chapter and her own viewpoint. 
  • A tribute to Professor Francis J. Moloney. Several former students and colleagues of Frank will present on their own current work (especially as it has been influenced by Frank), their experience of working alongside Frank, or under his guidance as their "Doktorvater".
    Presenters: Christopher Skinner, Toan Do, Mary Coloe, Frank Matera, and Sherri Brown.
  • Presenters: Eric Wyckoff, Tim Friedrichsen, and Mary Kate Birge.

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• 2024

  • Presenter: Alessandro Cavicchia, O.F.M., Studium Biblicum Franciscanum 
    "Casting out the 'Ruler of this world' (John 12:31): Apocalyptic, Eschatology and the Dualistic Literary Devices in John 18:36; 19:16b-42"
    Abstract
    This paper is a follow up of two previous researches (cf. A. Cavicchia “Il linguaggio della «glorificazione» di Gesù Nazareno nella passione giovannea (cf. Gv 19,16b-42)”, La trasfigurazione e il Monte Tabor. Letteratura storia archeologia [ed. Carafa, P. et alii], Milano – Roma 2021, 31-58; Id., “«Vedrete i cieli aperti…» (Gv 1,51). Escatologia e apocalittica nel vangelo di Giovanni”, Parole di vita 68/4 (2023) 15-19).
    After a brief introduction regarding Apocalypticism and Eschatology in the Gospel of John, this presentation will consider the way in which the “Ruler of this world has been cast out” (cf. John 12:31) through Jesus’ glorification (cf. John 12:28.32). John 18:36, in which Jesus’ kingdom is described as not being “from down here” (ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐντεῦθεν) will be analyzed as a narrative program of the subsequent passion account. The presentation will then deal with the actualization of such a kingdom in John 19:16b-42 by means of the Johannine “dualism” and its literary devices: the misunderstandings, the structure itself of John 19:16b-42, the double entendre, the johannine irony and, above all, the fulfillment of the Scriptures in John 19:23-24.31-37.

  • Presenter: Rodolfo Felices Luna, Oblate School of Theology
    ‘"Reading About Life in 1 John: Can the Epistle Sustain an Ecocritical Interpretation?’"
    Abstract
    The times are dire, as we move steadily into what scientists are calling the 6th mass extinction of life forms on Earth. Ecological diversity is diminishing at an alarming rate, as humans multiply, colonize, plunder, and lay the planet barren. In such a context of annihilation, how may one decently read the lofty statements on eternal life as they relate to the purpose of the First Johannine Letter? “I have written these things to you, so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God” (5:13). Since the turn of the century, ecocritical readings challenge the anthropocentric bias of the Bible (Habel 2000) or attempt at retrieving a concern for the care of Creation in key Scriptural passages (Horrell 2010). The newly released Oxford Handbook of the Bible and Ecology (Marlow and Harris, editors, 2022) details those efforts in the past twenty years. While a chapter there focuses on ecocritical research on the Gospel of John (Miller 2022), the Johannine Letters are left unattended to. Margaret Daly-Denton’s Supposing Him to Be the Gardener (2017), published in the T&T Clark’s Earth Bible Commentary series, is the only full-blown monograph applying the ecocritical lens to the Fourth Gospel. I have submitted to Orbis Books a monograph proposal on an ecocritical reading of 1 John. During my 2024 sabbatical, I will attempt to deploy in it a wider and more nuanced understanding of the concept of life than heretofore in current scholarship on the epistle. I will argue that 1 John’s interplay of zōē, psychē, and bios, allows for a more generous interpretation of the Letter, along the lines of Pope Francis’ Integral Ecology. This communication will give a research report on progress on this work, as of August 2024. Special attention will be paid to methodology, to stir up discussion on current approaches.

  • Presenter: Gilberto A. Ruiz, Saint Anselm College
    "Narration, Characterization, and the Search for Identity and Purpose in John 20:1-18 and in Jennine Capó Crucet’s 'Resurrection'”
    Abstract
     In this paper, an exercise in Latinx hermeneutics, I place Cuban-American author Jennine Capó Crucet’s short story “Resurrection” in conversation with John 20:1-18. Crucet’s “Resurrection” serves as a point of departure for examining John’s characterization of Mary Magdalene and the dynamics of her encounter with the risen Jesus, and for reevaluating her actions against the tendency in Johannine scholarship to view Mary negatively. Reading John 20:1-18 in tandem with Crucet’s “Resurrection” helps us better to appreciate the complexity of John’s characterization of Mary Magdalene as an earnest seeker and disciple of Jesus.

  • Presenter: Sherri Brown, Creighton University
    Book project on ‘Women in the Gospel of John’

     

• 2023 

  • Theme/Focus: Mary Coloe’s John in the Wisdom Commentary Series

• 2022

  • Papers
    • Eric John Wyckoff, S.D.B., Salesian Pontifical University, Jerusalem Campus
      "The Character Syncrisis in John 4 "
      Respondent: Felix Just, S.J., Archdiocese of Los Angeles
    • Sherri Brown, Creighton University
      Discussion of Christology in the Gospel of John
    • Hugo E. Mendez, University of NC, Chapel Hill
      "The Relationship between Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles"
      Respondent: Francis J. Moloney, S.D.B., Catholic Theological College (Australia)

• 2021

  • Papers:
    • Michael Whitenton, Baylor University
      “Configuring Nicodemus”
    •  James Barker, Western Kentucky University
      “John's use of Luke”
    • Elizabeth Shrader, George Washington University
      “One Sister or Two? Differing Depictions of the Lazarus Story in John's
      Gospel”
    • Alessandro Cavicchia, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum
      “Preserving the Servant/Son of YHWH. John & 4Q372”

• 2020

The Continuing Seminar did not convene because of the COVID19 pandemic

• 2019

  • Focus: Ambiguities, Anomalies, and Aporias
  • Papers:
    • Frank Moloney, S.D.B., Catholic Theological College, University of Divinity, Melbourne
       "Making sense of Johannine Aporien. Reading John 13:1-38."
    • Felix Just, S.J., Loyola House Jesuit Community
      “Translation challenges in John's Gospel"
    • Sherri Brown, Creighton University
      “Imperatives and Invitations in John; Implications for Discipleship” 
    • Mark Matson, Milligan College
      “Reviving the Priority of John”
    •  Hugo Mendez,Univeristy of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
      “Questioning the Existence of the Johannine Community.” 

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