The Gospel According to St. John in the Light of Targum Neofiti 1 to the Book of Genesis

Abstract

In the present article the author tries to answer on the questions: What is the importance of Targum texts for a better understanding of the proclamation of the Gospel according to St. John? Is there any connection between the Targum terms „Memra”, „Yeqara”, „Shekinah” and the terms which appear in the Prologue and narrative of the Gospel of John: „logos”, „doksa”, „skenoo”? How did the first followers of Jesus from Nazareth understand these terms? Could the traditions contained in Targum synagogue readings have had a bearing on the thought of the author of the Fourth Gospel? The article consists of two parts: (1) Characteristics of the Targumic tradition based on Targum Neofiti 1; (2) The terminological and conceptual convergence between Targumic tradition and the Fourth Gospel. In the present article the author tries to show that Targumic traditions enables a better perception of the New Testament writings which can often be better explained thanks to Targumic traditions rather than to the Masoretic text.