Ecclesiology and Theosis in the Gospel of John

For the fourth evangelist, there is neither a Christless church nor a churchless Christ. Though John’s Gospel has been widely understood as ambivalent towards the idea of ‘church’, this book argues that ecclesiology is as central a Johannine concern as christology. Rather than focusing on the community behind the text, attention is
directed to the vision of community prescribed within the text. This vision is presented as a ‘narrative ecclesiology’ by which the concept of ‘church’ gradually unfolds throughout the Gospel’s sequence. The theme of oneness functions within this script and draws on the Jewish theological language of the Shema. To be ‘one’ with this ‘one God’ and his ‘one Shepherd’ involves the believers’ corporate participation within the divine family. Such participation requires an ontological transformation that warrants an ecclesial identity expressed by the bold assertion found in Jesus’ citation of Psalm 82: ‘you are gods’.