Hyper-Intertextuality: The Temple Cleansing-Rebuilding Tradition as a Compositional Framework in John’s Gospel

Abstract

Abstract The term ‘intertextuality’ has been in use in biblical studies for over three decades. However, the study of the relationship of biblical elements (e.g. theme and pattern) in the ot and how it functions as a compositional framework in the nt seems to have gained less attention. This paper, thus, aims to investigate whether the temple cleansing-rebuilding tradition in the ot underlies John’s Gospel as a compositional framework by: (1) introducing the term ‘hyper-intertextuality’; (2) discussing the distinctive pericope of Jesus’ temple cleansing in John’s Gospel; and (3) formulating a comparative method adapted from Halliday’s sociolinguistic theory of context of situation as a heuristic tool.