Date

8-20-2026

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Bible Exposition (PhD)

Chair

Jacob Boyd

Keywords

Pre-Incarnation of Jesus

Disciplines

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Abstract

This dissertation researches how the Gospel of John presents Jesus Christ as the eternally pre-existent and ontologically divine Logos, fulfilling Israel’s scriptural patterns of divine presence, revelation, and glory. Employing a canonical-critical and prosopological approach, the study demonstrates that John’s Christology is best understood as the culmination of Old Testament theophanic witness rather than as a later theological innovation. Through focused exegesis of the Prologue, key theophanic texts, and the Gospel narrative, this work argues that the Logos is not merely a functional agent or literary symbol, but the personal subject in whom God’s self-disclosure reaches its historical and eschatological fulfillment.

This dissertation unfolds in three integrated stages. First, it offers a literary-canonical exposition of the Johannine Prologue (John 1:1–18), tracing the contours of Logos theology within the final form of Scripture. Second, it examines key Old Testament texts—Genesis 1, Proverbs 8, Exodus 3, Judges 13, Daniel 7, Isaiah 55—and theological motifs such as the Mal’akh YHWH (“Angel of the Lord”) and hokmah (wisdom), demonstrating how these anticipate the personified Logos. Third, it surveys rabbinical and intertestamental sources—including the Targumim, Philo of Alexandria, and early post-exilic commentaries—to show how ancient Jewish theology preserved and transmitted concepts of divine plurality and pre-existent agency that the Johannine author may have reinterpreted Christologically.

This research employs canonical criticism as its primary method, enabling Scripture to be interpreted within its unified canonical context, following the methodological approach of James Sanders, Brevard Childs, Andrew Malone, Matthew Bates, Andrew McGowan, and John Sailhamer. By emphasizing the theological finality of the canon’s shape rather than treating it as historical fragments, the study applies a proven prosopological methodology to focus on pertinent biblical texts and bridge diachronic development with synchronic literary unity. This approach ensures that the Logos is examined both as a textual motif and as a divine person, progressively revealed throughout the canon. Doctrinal conclusions are grounded in the canonical text, maintaining a biblical rather than a merely systematic theological framework.

By employing this expanded methodology, the dissertation argues that the pre-incarnate Logos is manifested as YHWH’s name and glory, providing the theological thread that unites the Testaments. This study contends that the Johannine Logos fulfills, rather than replaces, Old Testament revelation, and that Rabbinic reflections on the Memra and Shekinah echo these canonical expectations. Through focused exegesis, the dissertation demonstrates how Jesus Christ embodies and fulfills the trajectory of the divine economy established in Israel’s Scriptures and traditions.

This dissertation establishes a clear exegetical foundation for understanding the pre-incarnate Christ not merely as a metaphysical doctrine, but as the living continuation of God’s covenantal self-revelation and eschatological fulfillment. By integrating literary, historical, and theological dimensions within a Canonical–Critical method, the study affirms that the Logos is both the hermeneutical key and the eschatological fulfillment of the entire biblical canon.

Download

Share

COinS