Theme: Fullness of Life in the Gospel of John. Cultural Interpretations.
Date: December 3, 2022 Venue: Online
Life and life in its fullness arguably constitutes a core value for both the Johannine Gospel and the Christian communities in Africa. The overwhelming forty-seven occurrences of ζωή from the prologue through to the ending of the gospel indicates a motif that the author carefully concentrated more attention, probably due to its significance to the Johannine community (3:15-16; 8:12; 10:10; 13:37-38; 17:2-3: 20: 30-31 etc.). For the Johannine community, the coming of the Messiah, who is the Son of God must give hope of eternal “life”, which others could not establish. Life in all its expressions and associations is the evidence that the “seed” of God lives in the believer.[1] There had been some introductory works concerning the central issue of Life in relation to resurrection, eternal, and bread. Not that the study of Life was limited to the Johannine gospel, others have undertaken an intertextual study between life in John and the creation narratives of Genesis 1-2 to emphasize the importance of “Life” to the Johannine community as having influences and resemblances of Life in the creation narratives.[2] This project concerns the meaning of fullness of life to the Johannine community and how can it be achieved.
In many religio-cultural communities of Africa, life is critical and significant in all human endeavours, particularly in religious communities. John S. Mbiti states that Africans “…do not sit down meditating upon life. Instead, they put it into action: they dance life, they sing life, they ritualize life, they drum life, they shout life, they ceremonize life, they festivize life, for the individual and for the community.”[3] This is an assertion that almost everything rises and falls on life. Life is mutually aided in many Africa communities through social, cultural, and religious behaviours.[4] How does life in African church culture interface with fullness of life in the Johannine gospel?
While using different interpretive methods, the current research efforts aim at pointing out the similarities and differences between the concept of life in some parts of the gospel of John and particular Church contexts in Africa for the sake of a better understanding of life and its implications. Indeed, life in Africa is threatened by anti-values such as poverty, conflict, division, violence, war, corruption, injustice, ignorance, tribalism, insecurity or xenophobia. It is expected that the findings of this research will support Churches in preaching positive values like love, justice and peace, reconciliation, social cohesion, security, education, development, and human dignity.
Areas to explore but not limited to are:
- Life and resurrection in John and in the African church;
- Bread of Life in John and the church in Africa;
- Eternal life in John, the Early church, and the African church;
- Fullness of life in John, and the church in Africa;
- Life, miracles in John, and the church in Africa;
- Longevity in John and the church in Africa
Important dates
Submission of 150 words abstract October 15, 2022
Notice of acceptance of abstracts October 30, 2022
Submission of full (draft) article December 5, 2022
Presentation at IBSA – West Africa meeting December 3, 2022
Publication June 2023
Click this link to submit an abstract – https://forms.gle/C3eSG9evpXQEqXo7A
All inquiries should be sent to admin@ibsafrica.org
Notes
[1] Dieter Mitternacht and Andres Runesson (eds.), trans. Rebecca Runesson and Noah Runesson, Jesus, The New Testament, Christian Origins: Perspectives, Methods, Meanings (Grand Rapids, MI: Williams B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2021), 443-444
[2] John N. Suggit, “Jesus the Gardener. The Atonement in the Fourth Gospel as Re-creation,” Neotestamentica 33 (1999), 161-168.
[3] John S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion 2nd Ed. (Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1991), 200-201.
[4] Kwame Gyekye, African Cultural Values: An Introduction (Accra: Sankofa Publishing Company, 2003), 44-45.