Rhetoric and Theology: Figural Reading of John 9

This monograph on John 9 makes extensive use of premodern Christian exegesis as a resource for New Testament studies. It draws on ancient Christian ways of reading Scripture in a "more-than-literal” or "figural” way to critique the modern trend to understand John’s Gospel as recounting the history of the evangelist’s community. This study also examines a variety of premodern interpretations of John 9 for insight into the chapter’s theological and rhetorical dimensions. Building upon the premoderns’ observations, it argues that John 9 resembles a mode of Greco-Roman rhetorical argumentation and expression to present Jesus as the Light of the World. This analysis illustrates the inseparability of form and content, rhetoric and theology, in the Fourth Gospel.