Review article

Faith in the Gospel of John

Silvana Fužinato ; Catholic Faculty of Theology in Đakovo, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Đakovo, Croatia

Abstract

One of the great pillars of Johannine theology and the common thread of the Gospel, often called „the Gospel of faith“, is faith as a positive response of the human being to the revelation of God in his Son. Unlike the Synoptics and above all differently from the Pauline corpus, the noun pistis – „faith“ never occurs in the Gospel of John. Instead, it contains the verb pisteuō – „believe“ which means abandoning oneself, entrusting one’s existence to another who deserves trust. Used in different ways („believe in“, „believe in the name“, „believe that“, „believe to“, „believe“), it indicates several fundamental aspects of the Johannine conception of faith. Following the narrative path of the Gospel in which the author offers different indications on his own conception of faith, we can identify the following fundamental aspects: faith as relationship, faith and listening, faith and knowledge, the faith that gives life, faith and testimony, faith and responsibility. By examining the journey of faith of various paradigmatic figures, we can say that for the author of the Fourth Gospel believing is not a simple intellectual act, not even a superficial act of adhesion to the person of Jesus, but a true and authentic existential act in which a human being completely engages his being and his action, his freedom and his responsibility.

Keywords

John’s Gospel; Faith; Relationship; Life; Responsibility

Hrčak ID:

235931

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/235931

Publication date:

28.2.2020.

Article data in other languages: italian

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