Embedded Polarization in the Fourth Gospel: Overt Pronominal Subjects as a Rhetorical Summons to Take Sides

Abstract

Engaging with the latest in Johannine scholarship, this article zeroes in on a largely unexplored topic within Johannine language and style, namely, the very frequent and consistent use by the evangelist of overt pronominal subjects throughout his gospel. Against the background of a brief discussion of Johannine style in recent scholarship, Martin-Asensio reviews and evaluates the treatment of overt pronominal subjects in NT Greek and Modern Greek linguistics. Martin-Asensio then proposes an interpretation that, on one hand, coheres with the recent Modern Greek study by Pavlidou and, on the other, stresses the rhetorical and oral performance import of these forms in the Fourth Gospel. Overt pronominal subjects (OPS) in the Fourth Gospel are found to support the redefining of subjects by marking them as new. OPSs serve to constantly question and redefine the identity of the participants in relation to Jesus, to truth, to Moses and Abraham, to the law and the temple and to God. More than merely emphasizing one subject or another, these OPSs are encoding the interplay of identities in flux and conflict throughout the FG and call for a decision in the face of that conflict. Additionally, Martin-Asensio draws attention to the rhetorical usefulness of these OPS patterns in the context of oral performance. In Greek, as in many other languages, the marked or new element of the clause carries tonic prominence when spoken or read, that is, the marked element is prosodically prominent. Such prominence would have been exploited by oral performers and would have powerfully drawn in audiences to the Fourth Gospel’s call to take sides.