I Believe That You Are The Christ” (John 11:27) The Christology Of Women In John’s Gospel

Abstract

Women in John’s Gospel played important roles in the ministry of Jesus. They con-tributed to theologizing and shaping the readers’ understanding of Jesus’ identity. Against this background, the research analysed how the narrator guided his readers to discover Jesus’ identity through the words and the actions of four female characters, placed by the author in key moments of his narrative: Mary the Mother of Jesus (2:1-11); the anonymous Samaritan woman (4:4-42); Martha (11:17-27) and Mary of Magdala (20:11-18). The thesis further explored how the process of women involve-ment in Christological reflections continues in our African context through the words and actions of Prof. Mercy Amba Ewudziwaa Oduyoye, the ‘mother of African wom-en theology.’ To achieve the goal, Ossom-Batsa’s Communicative Approach was employed as the-oretical framework for the study. This approach follows three steps, namely: exegesis of the text; discovery of the call to action suggested by the text; and dialogue between the text and the context of the reader. Narrative Criticism was used to analyse the four texts and to discover the call to action suggested by the text to its readers. The third step was concretized through the ‘encounter’ between the Christological reflection of the four Johannine women and that of Prof. Mercy A. E. Oduyoye, the ‘mother’ of African women theologians. The research revealed that the Johannine women challenged Jesus into revealing his identity. Furthermore, through the words and actions of the four characters, ‘others’ came to believe in Jesus and their lives were transformed. In addition, the research disclosed the following elements of the Johannine women’s Christology: it is experi-ential and dialogical; independent from the male-figure; it challenges the status quo; it is able to transform the self and the other; it portrays women as capable of participat- ing in theological reflections; and finally, it characterizes women as possessing lead-ership traits. The interaction between the style of Christological reflection of the ‘Johannine wom-en’ and Prof. Oduyoye revealed that notwithstanding their differences in time and so-cio-cultural set-up, they shared the same approach to theological reflection. The study recommends further research into the portrayal of women in the New Tes-tament and in the appropriation of women theologies in Ghanaian Churches. Further-more, the research recommends that Ghanaian churches encourage women to study theology by providing scholarships for them; involve women in decision-making at all levels of the church; make women issues part of the pastoral plan of the church and to empower teenage-girls and young ladies to have a voice in the church.