Sitting and Standing: Postures and Christology in the Gospel of John

Abstract:Building on the observations of Ugo Vanni regarding the category of “anthropological symbolism” in Revelation, in this article I suggest that the author of the Fourth Gospel, too, embeds this type of symbolism in his story, especially in his portrayal of Jesus. Anthropological symbolism, as understood by Vanni, means the use of human and cultural practices like dress, gender, gestures, and postures to convey theological meaning. Within this theoretical framework, I discuss several texts in the Fourth Gospel that configure Jesus as sitting and standing; I propose that John harnesses these two postures as symbolic vehicles in his crafting of Jesus’s kingship and resurrection. The adoption of these postures supplements other strategies of presenting Jesus as king and the resurrected one. In addition, I explore possible verbal and thematic connections with other episodes in the Gospel. Finally, I propose that John’s use of postures can conceivably be placed in parallel to his engagement of conceptual imagery, as articulated by Ruben Zimmermann.