Mimesis in the Johannine Literature: A Study in Johannine Ethics

by Cornelis Bennema, Chris Keith (Editor)

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 believer's identity and behaviour within the context of the divine family. Besides being instrumental in people's moral transformation, mimesis is also a vital mechanism for mediating the divine reality to people

246 pages, Paperback

Published March 21, 2019

Reviews

[Parker Friesen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good writing.

This was my first time reading a monograph cover-to-cover. It was thorough, thoughtful and practical.

[Drake Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent scholarly book on imitation. It also provides a significant contribution to the field of Johannine ethics.