Mimesis in the Johannine Literature: A Study in Johannine Ethics

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Mimesis is a fundamental and pervasive human concept, but has attracted little attention from Johannine scholarship. This is unsurprising, since Johannine ethics, of which mimesis is a part, has only recently become a fruitful area of research. Bennema contends that scholars have not yet identified the centre of Johannine ethics, admittedly due to the fact that mimesis is not immediately evident in the Johannine text because the usual terminology for mimesis is missing. This volume is the first organized study on the concept of mimesis in the Johannine literature. The aim of the study is to establish that mimesis is a genuine Johannine concept, to explain its particulars and to show that mimesis is integral to Johannine ethics. Bennema argues that Johannine mimesis is a cognitive, creative process that shapes the believers identity and behaviour within the context of the divine family. Besides being instrumental in peoples moral transformation, mimesis is also a vital mechanism for mediating the divine reality to people

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Bennemas study makes an important contribution to the ongoing discussion of Johannine ethics. His writing is clear and well organized, making his argument easy to follow. Because of the technical nature of the discussion, this book will primarily be of interest to Johannine scholars and specialists in the study of ethics in the New Testament. For this group, Bennema makes a compelling argument, one worthy of attention. * Biblical Theology Bulletin *

Author Bio

Cornelis Bennema is Senior Lecturer in New Testament at Union School of Theology, UK. He is the author of The Power of Saving Wisdom: An Investigation of Spirit and Wisdom in Relation to the Soteriology of the Fourth Gospel (2002), A Theory of Character in New Testament Narrative (2014) and Encountering Jesus: Character Studies in the Gospel of John, 2nd edn (2014).