Johannes Nissen, The Gospel of John and the Religious Quest: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Eugene, Ore., Pickwick Publications, 2013, 210 pp.

Abstract

Johannes Nissen, The Gospel of John and the Religious Quest: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Eugene, Ore., Pickwick Publications, 2013, 210 pp. In his introduction, Johannes Nissen explains that his concern in writing this book to consider how from a Christian perspective, and in particular via the fourth gospel, we may be engaged in a dialogue with the diversity of our (p. 1). He places the emphasis on the religious quest, that is, the personal aspect of faith meeting faith, rather than the encounter between religions as faith systems. In the context of the contemporary landscape, he finds a study of the fourth gospel particularly relevant to address the question of how we can maintain genuine Christian integrity while at the same time being open to people of other faiths (p. 3). His book does not interpret the whole gospel as would a commentary, but addresses contemporary questions and challenges on the basis of selected readings. Nissen explains the rationale for the choice of texts by their special relevance for dealing with the contemporary quest and encounter, and their key role for an interpretation of the theology of the fourth gospel. Why the passion narrative would be excluded may be questioned in view of the second criterion mentioned. However, the commentary never neglects to point to the cross as the cornerstone of John's theology. Part one of the book explains in its first chapter the significance of the language of symbols and metaphors in John, drawn not so much from social and political life as in the Synoptics, but mainly from biological realities, such as birth, life, growth. Nissen then chooses to treat some of the most important symbols in John: the Word, Rebirth, Water, Bread, Light, Truth, Love, Way, Tree. All these chapters have a similar structure. The reader first learns about some of the major historical and exegetical issues in the text of the gospel, then is introduced to contemporary perspectives and texts by seekers in the North and South, with particular references to publications documenting inter-religious dialogue experiences in Denmark. Both in his exegetical remarks and the dialogue with contemporary authors, Nissen refers to important missiological issues in a careful and detailed way. Issues thus addressed are, among others, the relation and distinction between inculturation and syncretism, old or modern gnostic understandings of John's gospel, and the insistence on incarnation, continuity and discontinuity between human longings for salvation and John's understanding of Christ's message. A pivotal point in the encounter of Eastern and Western spirituality is the uniqueness of Jesus' incarnation --it is not one among many. Belief in resurrection as opposed to the idea of reincarnation is likewise presented as a core part of Christianity. In the second part of the book, Nissen addresses issues of dialogue brought about by a study of John's gospel in thematic chapters. He summarizes insights drawn from detailed studies and relates them to missiological challenges. Chapter 12 highlights questions of inculturation and contextualization. Nissen understands John as responding to people influenced by a pre-Gnostic syncretistic feeling, and he shows how John takes up the concerns of his contemporaries and deliberately makes a portrait of Jesus that is attractive to readers in such a context. The consequence has been that some biblical scholars have not hesitated to consider the fourth gospel as gnostic or docetic. However, John's insistence on the historicity and reality of the incarnation, as well as his emphasis on the reality of Jesus' death on the cross, make such a misunderstanding impossible. Chapter 13 provides a good introduction to the debates on models of dialogue with religions. After an accurate description of Christocentric exclusivism, Christocentric inclusivism, and theocentric pluralism, Nissen argues that no comprehensive solution is available from the Bible, except that it seems that the biblical texts in general would not justify a pluralist nor a radical exclusivist position. …