Figure of Abraham in John 8

About this book

"This is the first volume to extensively explore the intersection between Johannine anti-Judaism and Abrahamic allusions, using the theoretical lens of poststructuralism and intertextuality theory. Ruth Sheridan's study yields new insights into how the metaphors of 'sin', 'slavery' and 'vision' are constructed in the text, producing an interpretation consistent with figurations of Abraham in Early Judaism as a paternal figure of vicarious merit. John 8.31-59 is often categorised in New Testament scholarship as one of the most polemical texts illustrating nascent Christianity's anti-Jewish trajectory, as Jesus debates with 'the Jews' about their reputed diabolic paternity, sidelining their own selfidentifications that are steeped in biblical traditions. Another defining feature of the text is its repeated reference to the figure of Abraham, displaying a condensed network of intertextual allusions to Abraham seen nowhere else in the Fourth Gospel. Sheridan seeks instead to rehabilitate the Jewish voice of the text, working with the narrative intertext of 'the Jews'' self-characterisation as the 'seed of Abraham' to counteract particular pejorative readings of John 8 found in the secondary literature."--