-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Christopher W Skinner, Ethics in the Gospel of John: Discipleship as Moral Progress. By Sookgoo Shin, The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 70, Issue 2, October 2019, Pages 786–788, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flz132
Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
Recent years have witnessed a surging scholarly interest in the question of Johannine ethics. Eschewing the long-held consensus that the Fourth Gospel lacks ethical material, recent treatments of the question have approached the subject with greater nuance and imagination than in previous decades. The present volume situates itself in that context and aims to discuss Johannine ethics against the conceptual backdrop of ‘moral progress’, which Shin defines here as ‘a total reorientation of worldview and of the understanding of the self which is effected by one’s growing knowledge of Jesus’s identity and mission, and which further enables one to grow in the likeness of Jesus by embodying the moral traits exemplified by Jesus himself’ (p. 53). The book—a revised Cambridge doctoral thesis directed by Judith Lieu—is divided into two major sections. The first is titled ‘Moral Transformation in Worldview’ and consists of five chapters; the second is titled ‘Moral Transformation in Behaviour’ and consists of two chapters. Chapter 1 represents an incomplete but representative overview of the status quaestionis. Conspicuous by its absence is direct reference to the recent volume Sherri Brown and Christopher W. Skinner (eds.), Johannine Ethics: The Moral World of the Gospel and Epistles of John. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017), especially where the book might inform Shin’s analysis of the status quaestionis. This is an odd omission, considering that Shin incorporates other material devoted to Johannine ethics published contemporaneously with that volume, including the work of Lindsey Trozzo and Cornelis Bennema. That complaint aside, Shin does an able job of hitting most of the highlights in recent discussions of Johannine ethics. Shin’s analysis leads him to make several critical points: (1) the study of Johannine ethics is still in a relatively embryonic stage, which means that (2) there are few consensus positions, and (3) there must be a more definitive move to demonstrate that John has an undergirding ethical dynamic shaping his moral structure. Shin, of course, argues that this dynamic is ‘moral progress’. Chapter 2 is entitled ‘Exploring Ancient Moral Landscapes’, and explores how a genre-sensitive approach to the gospels would also yield a genre-sensitive understanding of ethics. It should be clear from the foregoing description that this chapter interacts heavily with the writings of Plutarch, the closest analogue to our New Testament gospels. To my mind, this is a helpful path for Shin to explore and it carries with it potentially productive prospects for doing ethics with the Fourth Gospel going forward. Chapters 3–5 primarily employ a narrative-exegetical approach, with a view to drawing out ethical emphases in the story of Nicodemus (John 3), the Samaritan Woman (John 4), and the man born blind (John 9) respectively. In places Shin rehearses well-worn exegetical ground but does so without his treatment becoming tedious or overly mired in exegetical minutiae.
