Johannine Discipleship as a Covenant Relationship

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dec 2006 by Estes, Douglas

Johannine Discipleship as a Covenant Relationship. By Rekha M. Chennattu. Peabody: Hendrickson, 2006, xxiv + 256 pp., $29.95 paper.

The back-of-the-book blurb for Rekha Chennattu's Johannine Discipleship as a Covenant Relationship may describe it as a "masterful fusion of the historical-critical method and narrative criticism," but in truth the book is simply a detailed reading and exegesis of selective parts of the Fourth Gospel with limited critical engagement. Chennattu, perhaps the first Catholic woman from India to be awarded a doctorate in Scripture, produced her intricate reading of the Johannine discipleship/covenant motifs during her Ph.D. studies at the Catholic University of America under Francis J. Moloney.

According to Chennattu, the book has three aims: "(1) it provides a detailed exegetical analysis of the discipleship narratives and discourses in John 1, 13-17, and 20-21; (2) it investigates the OT motifs behind the presentation of discipleship and defines Johannine discipleship as a covenant relationship; (3) it examines the function and relevance of the discipleship paradigm for the Johannine community" (p. xv). As we will see, the work succeeds admirably in the first goal but falls short of fully accomplishing the latter two goals.

Johannine Discipleship opens with a chapter introducing the late twentieth-century history of the interpretation of discipleship in the Fourth Gospel and with an analysis of the discipleship motif in John 1:35-51. Her first reading stop is the call of the early disciples, from which she develops her perception of the Johannine discipleship motif. Chennattu focuses on John 1 (and later 13-17 and 20-21) as the keys to unlocking the discipleship motif because they are the only discourses where the Johannine Jesus is alone with his disciples (p. 137; cf. p. 25). While it is possible to fault her for foregoing, say, the Samaritan woman in John 4, we may accept her rationale as a necessary evil of a book's scope. More troubling is her too-neat historical compartmentalizing, arguing "the disciples in the Johannine narrative cannot be understood as historical persons whom the reader can recapture from the text" (p. 18). Would this include Peter (positivistically uncaptureable but surely a historical person)?

Chapter 2 examines the covenant motif in the OT and seeks to place the farewell discourse "within the broad OT theme of the covenant motif" (p. 88). The discussion of the OT covenant motif is very limited. While Chennattu admits there is great diversity in theories concerning ancient near Eastern covenants (p. 52), she does little to explain or defend why the theory she chose (largely from the work of E. W. Nicholson) is more valid than other theories. Readers may struggle with some of her ideas, such as her belief that "covenant in the OT is a metaphor borrowed from the sociopolitical realm" (p. 65) and therefore "is not a treaty in terms of a binding contract but a biblical metaphor that expresses a kinship relationship. . . . [T]he essence of the covenant relationship with God is therefore friendship and fidelity" (p. 56). Within the OT, Chennattu points primarily to Exodus 19-24 and Joshua 24 to draw parallels with John 13-17 "in an attempt to bring to light that the Johannine presentation of discipleship is a Christian rereading of the OT metaphor of covenant" (p. 88).

The third chapter consists of a detailed reading of OT covenant and Johannine discipleship motifs in the farewell discourse and in many ways is the heart of the book. Here Chennattu pulls together the various features of OT covenants (such as communal meals, calls to abide, and prayers of consecration) and considers their Johannine parallels. She builds a strong exegetical case that the Fourth Evangelist "presents discipleship, from the very beginning, in terms of an everlasting covenant relationship with God" (p. 113). Chennattu's unique reading again leads to ideas that may puzzle some readers; for example, she argues that, since the "world" does not "know" the Father (John 15:21; cf. Isa 1:3), "the failure of knowledge leads one to sin, and it is the rationale for the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus" (p. 121). The depiction of the Sanhedrin (and Judas) would suggest otherwise (John 11:47-53; cf. 13:27).

Chapter 4 considers the discipleship motif in John 20-21 within an OT covenant context and is largely successful as with Chennattu's previous readings. In doing so, she joins the growing chorus of scholars viewing John 21 as an "integral part" of the Fourth Gospel (p. 140). Especially compelling is her too-brief development of the OT covenantal formula in John 20:17-18. Once more, several puzzling ideas appear: a blessing is in essence a covenant (p. 168), the untorn net in John 21:6-11 symbolizes a covenant community (p. 172), and the descent of Moses with the Law is akin to Jesus bringing "the gift of the Holy Spirit down to the disciples" (p. 177).

The final chapter diverges from the rest of the work by investigating "the question of the Sitz im Leben der Kirche that led a Christian community to articulate its understanding of Christian discipleship in terms that reflect the OT covenant motif" (p. 180). The author examines OT covenant motifs in related ancient near Eastern texts in light of sociological theories and builds the case that the Johannine community was a deviant group emerging from Judaism using a covenant-discipleship paradigm to define its identity ("deviant group" in the sociological sense).