John 4:1-42: Towards a Postcolonial Reading ‘From the Centre’
This dissertation offers a postcolonial reading of John 4:1-42 undertaken ‘from the centre’. ‘From the centre’ means from a position formed by Western theological, ecclesial, and academic traditions, and therefore potentially shaped by the legacy of colonialism. Prompted by the hermeneutical disorientation produced by Musa W. Dube’s influential essay ‘Reading for Decolonization (John 4:1-42)’(2002), this study seeks to engage her interpretation seriously while resisting the reduction of the Johannine narrative to a single ideological lens. The central research question explores how John 4:1-42 may be interpreted in a way that attends both to imperial dynamics within and around the text and to the theological aims of the Fourth Gospel (FG), particularly its proclamation of life in Christ (John 20:31). This study argues that a reflexive, theologically engaged postcolonial reading ‘from the centre’ can hold critique, confession, and transformation together. Such an approach enables all interpreters to read John 4:1-42 with attentiveness to power, sensitivity to marginalised voices, and faithfulness to the text’s theological richness.
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