Two Can Play That Game

Manipulation, Counter-Manipulation, and Recognition in John 21 through the Eyes of Genesis

D. Eric Lowdermilk

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781498208468
  9781498208482
• eBook ISBN:
  9781498208475
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

John 21 portrays seven disciples fishing all night yet catching nothing. In the morning, a shoreline stranger instructs them to recast their net. Surprisingly, the disciples fail to recognize him. After a miraculous catch and subsequent breakfast, however, there is no doubt as to who this stranger is. Jesus then questions Peter about his love and commissions him to feed Jesus' sheep. Using narrative criticism, Lowdermilk examines this recognition scene, asking, "How would a reader, well acquainted with recognition and deception as portrayed in Genesis, understand John 21?" He discards "trickster" terminology and argues that biblical recognition occurs within a context of "manipulation." After proposing a detailed taxonomy of manipulation, he ventures further and argues for patterns in Genesis where manipulators are "counter-manipulated" in a reciprocal manner, ironically similar to their own behavior, providing a transforming effect on the manipulator. These findings, plus a careful examination of Greek diminutives, inform Lowdermilk's new reading of John 21:1-19. Peter withholds his identity as a disciple in John 18 and later Jesus actively withholds his identity in ironic counter-manipulation, mirroring Peter's denials. Jesus' threefold questioning of Peter continues the haunting echoes of Peter's earlier denials. Will it result in a disciple transformed?

1

Introduction

Recognition is a literary device that scholars have come to identify in a variety of literary genres, including ancient Hebrew narrative, Greco-Roman literature, and modern Western literature.1 The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of recognition as it operates in John 21:1–19. In this final chapter of the Gospel of John, the disciples fish all night without results. In the morning, Jesus addresses them from the shoreline, yet the disciples do not recognize Jesus. After a miraculous catch of fish and a subsequent meal on the shore, Jesus thrice asks Peter about his love for him. After hearing three affirmative answers and instructing Peter to feed and tend his sheep, Jesus informs Peter of his future fate.

Recently in Recognizing the Stranger: Recognition Scenes in the Gospel of John (2008), Kasper Bro Larsen examined recognition scenes in the Gospel of John through the works of classical Greco-Roman literature, especially the Odyssey.2 The following analysis will further an understanding of recognition by peering through the lens of Genesis to see how a first-century reader, well acquainted with that text, might interpret these nineteen verses in John.

Statement of Problem

To begin with, Aristotle addresses recognition, or ἀναγνώρισις, in his Poetics.3 He presents a taxonomy of recognition and arranges different kinds of recognition or “discovery,” from the least to the greatest kinds. The lowest kind requires a minimum amount of skill by the author. It is mere recognition by fabricated token, without other elements.4 Tokens are objects that reveal the identity of the unrecognized. They may be traits one is born with, or marks attained over time, such as Odysseus’s scar.5 They may also be items, such as a boat, a letter, or even as Aristotle says, “the voice of the shuttle,” which was a message the character Philomela weaves into fabric because her tongue had been removed.6 Larsen states, “In Aristotle, the token is called σημεῖον (Poet. 1454b20; 1455a19), but this term seldom echoes in narrative or drama, where other designations dominate.”7 Larsen notes that tokens can also include: “scars . . . signet rings, footprints, pieces of cloth, locks of hair, necklaces, birthmarks, knives and swords, bands with inscriptions, cloaks, ornaments, toys, amulets, holy twigs, etc.”8 Terrance Cave’s work reaffirms the token as an integral component of recognition scenes in Western texts since Aristotle: “We can now claim with greater emphasis that signs, marks or tokens are a distinguishing feature of recognition plots—their signature perhaps.”9 However, in his analysis of recognition, Aristotle states that scenes in which the discovery takes place by means of tokens are the “least artistic.”10 He especially dislikes “artificial tokens, like necklaces,” as opposed to when the story produced a token that was “likely,” in the normal course of events.11 Stories in which the character makes the discovery due to memories or extrapolation, rather than by any token, evidence a greater level of artistry.12

Ultimately, for Aristotle, the most aesthetically pleasing forms of recognition scenes are those that occur in conjunction with peripeteia. These two distinct literary features, the discovery of someone’s identity and the reversal of events contrasting with the character’s previous fortune, combine to create a supremely pleasing moment in a complex plot:13

A recognition (ἀναγνώρισις), as the name signifies, is a change from ignorance (ἀγνοίας) to knowledge, and so to either friendship or enmity in those determined to good fortune or misfortune. Recognition is most beautiful when it arises at the same time as reversal, as does the recognition in the Oedipus.14

Since Aristotle’s time, scholars have repeatedly noted recognition scenes in literature, and Terrance Cave speaks of their ubiquitous nature.15 Since recognition exists in so many genres, it has its rightful place as a building block of poetic structures. Therefore, on this basis, and for reasons stated below, we are not surprised to find instances of recognition in the Hebrew Bible.16 Anthony Lambe notes recognition’s fascinating role in the Joseph novella:

The climax of the story, however, is constituted by the recognition scene or anagnorisis, which is followed by a peripeteia or reversal. Here occurs a transformation in Judah’s character and behavior. Judah’s ignorance and alienation are overcome in a moment of enlightenment and self-discovery that foreshadows his future role as spokesman in the Joseph story.17

In John 21:1–14, the reader is presented with the final recognition episode in the Gospel. Not only is this a scene of ἀναγνώρισις, but it is also one of reversal. Many scholars refer to this story and Jesus’ three questions to Peter in the subsequent section as that disciple’s restoration.18 Larsen’s monograph (based on his doctoral dissertation), is a fine analysis o...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: A Theory of Manipulation and Recognition
• Chapter 5: Patterns in Genesis Manipulation and Recognition
• Chapter 6: Applying a Manipulation Perspective to John 21:1–14
• Chapter 7: One Little Sheep Becomes a Shepherd: John 21:15–19
• Chapter 8: Conclusion
• Bibliography