title: Representations of trauma in the Fourth Gospel
Creators: name: Wong, Edward
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: The Gospel of John
subject: Trauma Theory
subject: Trauma Studies
subject: The Fourth Gospel
subject: Group Conflict
subject: Social Identity
subject: Biblical Studies
subject: Psychology
subject: FOS: Psychology

description: The Fourth Gospel, renowned for its profound theological significance in Christianity, is also the subject of a contentious hermeneutical debate due to its overwhelmingly negative portrayal of “the Jews.” The fundamental question often boils down to: how could an apparently Jewish evangelist be so hostile towards “the Jews”? Examining the impact of trauma on the composition of the Gospel, this study argues that the perceived experience of distress and conflict derived from intra-group tensions contributes to the shaping of the text’s polemical rhetoric and the narrative it presents. The first chapter of this thesis begins by addressing the FG’s seemingly anti-Jewish rhetoric and previous scholarly debates surrounding it. I show that the subjective nature of the text makes it challenging to reconstruct an exact history of conflict, yet the presence of the text’s largely antagonistic characterisation of “the Jews” suggests that it did not arise in isolation. This chapter highlights the need for further investigation into the potential impact of intra-group tensions and the disruptive effects of trauma on language and identity in order to gain insight into the Gospel’s peculiar rhetoric and narrative construction. Chapter 2 lays the study’s theoretical framework by tracing the development of trauma theory and its application in literary analysis. I show that trauma narratives often encapsulate the tension between trauma's resistance to representation and the impulse to narrate, in which the former can be displayed through aesthetic features such as fragmentations, aporias, and metaphors, while the latter involves the construction of a politicalised story. My analysis of the FG, as such, follows the framework of exploring the inexpressibility (Chapters 3-4) and expressibility (Chapters 5-6) of trauma. Chapter 3 establishes the baseline for the traumatic nature of the FG by analysing its psycholinguistic characteristics and evaluating editorial stress. The study finds that passages involving “the Jews” exhibit significant linguistic features associated with trauma as the narrative presence of the Johannine Jews predicts substantial linguistic variations related to attention, affect, and cognitive processing. Chapter 4 delves into the manifestation of trauma within the narrative structures and literary tropes of the FG. Specifically, I show how the spatial inconsistencies and aporias could be understood as aesthetic representations of conflict-related trauma. I also demonstrate that the utilisation of certain bodily-centred metaphors (i.e., food, light, and darkness) serves as a means of communication to convey the perceived reality of trauma through visceral sensations. Chapter 5 examines the interruptive impact of trauma on social identity and language, and analyses how the FG negotiates and claims trauma through its narrative. The chapter argues that the text could be read as a trauma narrative to the extent that it constructs victimhood, attributes responsibility, and performatively reshapes collective identities. Chapter 6 explores how specific passages and theological motifs in the FG function to provide consolation, guidance, and hope in the face of perceived traumatic circumstances, while also unravelling how the text at times ironically mimics the actions of the alleged opponents through envisioned judgement, condemnation, and exclusion. The concluding chapter summarises the contributions of this study and considers the hermeneutical implications concerning the FG’s enigmatic rhetoric and narrative.