The Father, the Son, and John on Location in the Farewell Discourse

Abstract

Abstract Using the tools of social geography, specifically those developed by Edward Soja, Henri Lefebvre, and Oliver Sacks, this article explores the Gospel of John’s spatial reference to place as it appears in Jesus’ Farewell Discourse (John 14–17) and the ways it uses narrative to create places for the practices and conceiving of religious identity. Although application of spatial study to John’s gospel is relatively rare in Johannine studies, it promises a great deal of insight, especially because John’s gospel is filled with numerous references to place and a rich variety of prepositional phrases. Through narrative, John offers a spatial temporalization (following Soja, a ‘thirdspace’) for audiences to inhabit and interpret the world around them. John’s Father-Son-Paraclete language of unity (which the Christian tradition has interpreted metaphysically and soteriologically without reference to time and space) creates a place for Johannine discipleship in which listeners reenact the dynamic relationship of its three divine actors. John establishes a particular mode of spatial identity by presenting Father, Son, and Paraclete, together with the narrative’s antagonists and protagonists in particular spaces with a set of behaviors associated with each location. The Johannine reference to Jesus going to prepare a place for his disciples after his death (John 13:36), and the reference to a mansion with many room (John 14:2–4) is traditionally interpreted as a reference to the afterlife or a heavenly domain. Scholars have debated whether this represents a futurist or a realized eschatological teaching. A spatial application offers new insights by viewing it from a social geographical perspective as a spatial location “in the world,” lived out locationally “in” the Paraclete, in rejection by the “world.” Metaphysical unity language refers to a narrative of rejection and suffering, which reveals the identity of Johannine believers “in but not of the world.” In this regard, John reflects sapiential themes found in the Hebrew Bible and the intertestamental period that tell of wisdom dwelling on earth and also being rejected.