What do you think?
Rate this book
Reading John in Ephesus
This study describes the embedding of the Gospel of John in the city life of Ephesus. It uses the epigraphical and historical materials of first-century Ephesus as the point of reference for a reading of John.
The study is a specific demonstration of the linguistic supposition that the use of the same (combination of) words in different co-texts evokes semantic similarities and dissimilarities which influence the process of giving meaning to a text. Reading John against the background of Ephesus influences its impact.
Five topics have been the use of names; the use of the titles for the emperors and Artemis in relation to the titles used for Jesus; the social city life; the group formations; and the function of the high priests in relation to the imperial cult.
The study is a specific demonstration of the linguistic supposition that the use of the same (combination of) words in different co-texts evokes semantic similarities and dissimilarities which influence the process of giving meaning to a text. Reading John against the background of Ephesus influences its impact.
Five topics have been the use of names; the use of the titles for the emperors and Artemis in relation to the titles used for Jesus; the social city life; the group formations; and the function of the high priests in relation to the imperial cult.
232 pages, Leather Bound
First published February 1, 1996
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 20, 2024
The concept of this book is an intriguing one. Given that most scholars tend to believe that John's Gospel and letters were written in the city of Ephesus, Van Tilborg sets out to explore what readers in Ephesus would have thought of the works. In that effort, he looks at concepts like kings, gods, temple, and teachers and students, comparing the Christian and Jewish concepts with those that would have been common among residents in Ephesus. To make such comparison, Van Tilborg examines more than anything else the epigraphs that reside among the city's surviving architecture.
The results, however, I found somewhat underwhelming. One thing is that Van Tilborg writes very much for the scholarly audience. Many quotes from epigraphy are left in Greek, leaving one without a strong understanding of Greek with a lot to wonder what's being said. The cases where parallels are drawn prove generally not to be as paradigm shifting as one might wish. Ephesians respected the gods; Christians respected Jesus. Emperors were thought of like gods; Jesus was thought of like a god. And so on.
Of course, as with most books, there were occasional gems of interest, like the large number of epigraphs with John's name featured versus the much smaller number with Paul's name, suggesting that indeed John had a larger role in the city.
The results, however, I found somewhat underwhelming. One thing is that Van Tilborg writes very much for the scholarly audience. Many quotes from epigraphy are left in Greek, leaving one without a strong understanding of Greek with a lot to wonder what's being said. The cases where parallels are drawn prove generally not to be as paradigm shifting as one might wish. Ephesians respected the gods; Christians respected Jesus. Emperors were thought of like gods; Jesus was thought of like a god. And so on.
Of course, as with most books, there were occasional gems of interest, like the large number of epigraphs with John's name featured versus the much smaller number with Paul's name, suggesting that indeed John had a larger role in the city.
Displaying 1 of 1 review