Date
5-23-2025
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Master of Arts in Biblical Studies (MA)
Chair
Jillian L. Ross
Keywords
John, John's gospel, John's prologue, Johannine, literary allusion, allusion, Old Testament allusion, Genesis, creation, proverbs, wisdom, inner-biblical allusion, intertextual, Genesis 1, Genesis 2, Proverbs 8, John 1
Disciplines
Religion
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Emily J., "Word, Wisdom, and World: Literary Allusion to Genesis 1–2 and Proverbs 8 in John’s Prologue" (2025). Masters Theses. 1321.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1321
Abstract
This thesis purposes to identify the literary allusions to Genesis 1–2 and Proverbs 8 in John 1:1-18 and analyze their rhetorical and theological function in John’s prologue. It also seeks to provide a concrete definition for literary allusion and a methodology that considers various kinds of allusive markers to give voice to the more subtle ways that John alludes to the Genesis and Proverbs texts. The body of this thesis will demonstrate that John 1:1-18 alludes to Genesis 1–2 and Proverbs 8 in order to retell the creation narrative and cast Jesus, the Logos, as both the creator and exhaustive source divine revelation.
