Dialogue and Drama: Elements of Greek Tragedy in the Fourth Gospel

Dialogue and Drama: Elements of Greek Tragedy in the Fourth Gospel. By Jo-Ann A. Brant (Hendrickson, $19.95). This engaging book argues that the Fourth Gospel owes much to elements of Greek drama, even though it is not an actual drama, since there is a large role for a narrator. Through comparisons with the classical Greek tragedies, Brant sheds light on the unique Johannine presentation of Jesus.

In four chapters she covers the dramatic structure of the Gospel, the method of showing action by speech, the creation of identity through dramatic action and dialogues, and the death of Jesus. Brant convinced me that much in the Fourth Gospel can be appreciated more clearly if the conventions of drama are understood. I found especially helpful her demonstration that the Fourth Gospel presents the death of Jesus as the beautiful death of a hero, through an insightful comparison with Iphigenia at Aulis. She argues that this dramalike writing invites the audience to praise Jesus and to emulate him in living out the love commandment. However, the implications Brant draws from her insights are not totally convincing. She argues that the Gospel was generated more by the conventions of the dramatic genre than by the history and experience of a community. For example, the negative role of the Jews can best be compared to the chorus in Greek tragedy, a conventional device pitting tradition against new revelation. She is reluctant to see anything like a church behind the Gospel, preferring a picture of readings among a circle of friends. To be sure, one cannot read the community straight out of the plot and characters of the Gospel, but Brant goes too far in divorcing the writing from any social context. This book will provoke much new genuine insight on the Fourth Gospel, but it is not a book for quick interpretation for sermon preparation. It is a serious and partly successful attempt to change the way one reads the Fourth Gospel. David W. Kuck, United Theological College, Kingston, Jamaica

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