Bible Study - John 4:1-42
By Deborah Krause, Associate Professor of New Testament
Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO
Comments or questions? Write to Deb at dkrause@eden.edu
Step 1 - Assess Traditional Interpretations (as Power)
How have you traditionally understood the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman? What role has her sex and/or her ethnicity played in these interpretations? Who is Jesus in this perspective and how is his power revealed? What is the purpose of their conversation? What kind of a character is the woman in these interpretations? What kind of a character is Jesus?
Step 2 - Re-orient Your Perspective (for Power)
Now return to the text and keep track of all the ways in which gender is evoked. How is Jesus described? How is the woman? What is the content of their conversation? List the range of issues and subjects that they discuss. How would you characterize their conversation? How do they react to one another? How do the disciples react? What does this say of their expectations of the woman? How does Jesus react to this? How do the townsfolk react to the woman?
Step 3 - Stay with the Concrete Elements of the Text - Avoid Spiritualizing
What are the concrete concerns of the woman and Jesus? Note, they both want water. How does the theological weight of their conversation connect with the concrete necessities of water and food? Who are Jesus and the Samaritan woman to one another? How do their differences in terms of gender, religion and ethnicity come into play? What else comes up in their conversation? What does the woman's history with men and husbands reveal about her situation? What does the woman do in the text, and how do the townspeople respond?
Step 4 - Analogize to "Real Life" Contexts and Situations Today
How do theological revelations come about through engagements with those considered "others" in our church and our world? What kinds of risks are necessary for deep theological learning and growth? In what ways do you see the church or individual Christians taking these risks and/or avoiding them? What are the perceived "costs" of these risks? What role do you see the disciples playing in this text? How are their concerns like or unlike the concerns of people and communities that you know?
Step 5 - Claim, with authority, what the Bible says anew
Compare this reading of the text with the assumptions and understandings of the text you voiced in Step 1. How are the issues of gender and power relations between people relevant for theological discussion? What new claim about God, Christ, revelation, or the church might you make on the basis of your "power sensitive" interpretation of John 4?
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