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Francis J Moloney. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. Washington: Jul 2001. Vol. 63, Iss. 3; pg.
554, 3 pgs
Abstract (Summary)
"A Literary Reading of John 5: Text as Construction" by Francisco Lozada, Jr. is reviewed.
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Copyright Catholic Biblical Association of America Jul 2001
FRANCISCO LOZADA, jR., A Literary Reading of John 5:. Text as Construction (Studies in
Biblical Literature 20; Frankfurt am Main/Bern/New York: Lang, 2000). Pp. [x] + 138. $40.95.
This study of John 5 is the published version of Lozada's doctoral dissertation, completed at
Vanderbilt University under the direction of F F. Segovia. The date of publication is 2000, and
no work after 1995 is considered. The first two chapters are dedicated to selected English-
language scholarship (Bultmann is used in translation) to show the shift in Johannine scholarship
from traditional historical criticism to narrative and reader-oriented approaches. This shift,
however, has not included sufficient attention to the flesh-and-blood reader. L. correctly points
out that the so-called "implied readers" traced by many of the narrative critics are images of
themselves. He argues that more must be done to show that the text constructs the reader, and a
situated, flesh-and-blood reader constructs the text: "Neither the text nor the reader is neutral in
the ongoing constructed interchange" (p. 40). This is an important agenda.
The third and fourth chapters of the study form its heart. After a survey of contemporary
approaches to the plot of the Fourth Gospel, L. provides his own, aware of the limitations of any
proposed plot. "Readings of any plot are not stable, but rather a plot, per se, is always read and
interpreted by different readers across history and cultures" (p. 50). But one must stand
somewhere, and thus L. develops his understanding of the plot of the Fourth Gospel guided by a
theory of journeys that culminate in successful or unsuccessful anagnorisis, that is, in recognition
or nonrecognition. Within the overall plot, John 5 is an example of a double anagnorisis: the
cured man and the Jews do not recognize Jesus. A narrative of action (vv. 1-9a) leads to a
narrative of accusations (vv. 9b-18). The rest of the chapter is a judicial process, based upon a
narrative of defense (vv. 19-47) with three scenes: Jesus' defense of himself (vv. 19-30), the
defense of witnesses (vv. 31-40), and a defense by way of condemnation of the Jews (vv. 41-47).
Despite a lack of dialogue with much classical and contemporary Johannine scholarship, L.
presents a clear narrative-critical exposition of John 5. The conflict between belief and unbelief
warns the implied reader "to make the right choice regarding Jesus: namely, belief and loyalty to
the Son, or else" (p. 104). Only in the final chapter does the flesh-and-blood Francisco Lozada
enter the fray, and I suspect that this is too late. From his situation as a member of the minority
Hispanic community of the United States, he suggests that the either/or scheme runs the danger
of an inclusive/exclusive society. The constructed reader asks that the text exact a careful
analysis of "the idealogical rules of exclusion and inclusion" (p. 128). But how do we get here,
chap. 5, from the work on the text provided in chaps. 3 and 4? L. raises important theoretical and
exegetical questions concerning the text's construction of a reader and a reader's construction of
the text. But I did not find them answered here.
Whatever our approach, we cannot deal honestly with a first-century text without asking some
questions about the world behind the text. How does L. know that "only one person is allowed in
the pool at a time," and why that pool (p. 77)? What does Jesus say in v. 17 that generates the
response of "the Jews" in v. 18? Why is Jesus' deed on a Sabbath "an illegal act" (pp. 85-87)?
What sort of "judicial process" is going on across vv. 19-47? On what basis does L. claim, "The
Son of man possesses authority to judge because he is the one sent by the Father" (p. 93). Where
in the Fourth Gospel is the Son of Man "sent by the Father"?
I must express my concern with the fact that only English-language scholarship is cited. Many
doctoral dissertations from universities in the United States suffer from this defect. L. claims that
historical-critical scholarship has "reluctantly" moved aside to allow center stage to be taken by
more literary approaches to the Fourth Gospel. Attentive use of JOrgen Becker, Das Evangelium
each Johannes (2 vols.; OTK 4/1-2; Giitersloh/WUrzburg: Mohn/Echter, 1984-85), and Michael
Labahn, Jesus als Lebensspender: Untersuchungen zu einer Geschichte der johanneischen
Tradition anhand ihrer Wundergeschichten (BZNW 98; Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1999)
would indicate that such is not the case.
[Author Affiliation]
Francis J. Moloney, S.D.B., The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064