READING THE FOURTH GOSPEL IN THE SOUTH ASIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

This article introduces some of the themes and structural dynamics of the Fourth Gospel in closer integration with the religio-cultural aspects of the South Asian context. As John’s Gospel has the potential to appeal to and accommodate the spirituality of South Asia, a re-reading of the Gospel is possible through the means of a crosspollination of ideas. The four major parts of the Gospel, i.e., the Prologue, the Book of Signs, the Book of Glory, and the Epilogue, demonstrate several cultural and ideological parallels with that of the South Asian realities. A reading that encourages religio-cultural sensitivity can be a required formative factor in the process of interpreting the Fourth Gospel. Some of the key aspects of the Gospel such as the theme of discipleship, the sign language, the “I AM” Sayings, the characters and the characterization, mystical expressions, and dualistic tendencies can be dynamically interlocked within the South Asian ideological and cultural aspects. The universalistic language of the Gospel can have a special appeal to the common realities of the South Asian people.