Dissidents and God-Talk in the Johannine Epistles

Abstract

Peter Lampe announced two goals for his magisterial From Paul to Valentinus.On the one hand, his study was focused on "the daily lives of the urban Roman Christians of the first two centuries, the realities of their social lives." On the other, he was engaged with the question of "where-if at all-interrelations between situation and theology can be discovered." In this way, Lampe sought to steer the discussion away from "superficial monocausalisms" that have been "produced by a one-sided social-historical interpretation or, occasionally, suggested by purely inner-theological, history-of-tradition analyses of texts." 1 There has been no lack of proposals addressing "interrelations between situation and theology" in the study of the Johannine epistles. Yet, the question of how exactly theology and situation are interrelated is often inadequately addressed. In most analyses, theology determines situation. Theologies endorsed and rejected in the three Johannine epistles, especially in 1 John, are often regarded as defining the entire situation addressed in these texts. 2 I seek to argue here for a more nuanced approach toward the "interrelations between situation and theology" in the study of the Johannine epistles. For one -----1 Lampe (2003), 2. 2 See, e.g., Wengst (1976), 9: "I sought to offer … as precise as possible an understanding of the situation to which the First John is written. This situation is above all defined by the opposition attacked in the epistle." Wengst finds "the definitive point of difference" between the author of 1 John and his opponents "in christology" (15).