Jesus as well as the Johannine community, was no exception. From the time of the Babylonian exile, Jewish society had been a kind of hybrid society in various ways. For example, in Babylonia the diasporic Jews on the one hand made themselves comfortable and, apparently, accepted the rule of the Chaldeans and afterward of the Persians, with some degree of contentment. On the other hand, there had also been resistance movements against the foreign powers.198 For example, the relationship between Tyre and Sidon and Galilee could be an appropriate case of hybrid processing.199 In addition, more particularly, the significance of the Roman occupation of the cultivatable arc of territory in the Near East and its relation to the surrounding marginal areas underlines the possibility of the hybridizing of the culture.200 Consequently, there is no doubt that Jewish society had been a kind of hybridized society for a long time through a series of resistance movements and accommodation to foreign influence. In short, the society was already in the process of diaspora and hybridentity and had been for a long time, even though some groups within Jewish society had tried to protect themselves from foreign influences.201
In the time of the Johannine community, various groups were coexisting in society. Early Christianity, in particular, was a typical group marked by hybridentity and diaspora. For example, the description of the formation of the early Church in the book of Acts shows this feature of hybridentity and diaspora. The Johannine community would not be an exception. In this process, what was the direction of the pursuit of early Christianity, particularly that of the Johannine community? In the process of hybridentity and diaspora, their direction was neither a return to Judaism, nor submission to the Roman Empire, but the pursuit of a new world, in which Jesus reigns as the universal king. They had to pursue the new world where the various groups or individuals could live in harmony regardless of their origins. This vision of the Johannine community and that of postcolonialism reach each other at this point. In addition, the Johannine Gospel pursues not only the new world in which the various groups live together in unity and harmony, but also seeks to open larger and more extensive solidarities in the name of Jesus, the universal king. The globalization of postcolonialism reaches to the new universal world in the Fourth Gospel also at this point.
Postcolonialism and the Gospel of John
No texts were ever written in a cultural vacuum.202 That means texts should be read with an understanding of the backgrounds: when/ where/ how/ why/ by whom texts were written. However, because of the difficulty or impossibility of knowing the exact backgrounds of the text and the authorial purpose of its composition, because of the admitted value of the reader-oriented reading of the text, it is possible and valuable to read the ancient text with current reading perspectives.
1) Hybridentity: Some researchers of the possible historical situations of the Johannine Community have spoken of the conflicts between the Jews and the Johannine community and/or within the Johannine community.203 However, the Johannine community had a relation to not only the Jews in Palestine and the diaspora, but also to Samaritan and non-Jewish groups.204 In the Fourth Gospel, in fact, these various elements, which indicate the relationship of John and many other communities, seem to co-exist.205 Then, why is it that many scholars have found common places in which John and other religious groups could stand together? One of the reasons is John’s concern for the universal kingdom in which Jesus reigns as king. To describe the Johannine Jesus as the universal king whom every group could understand when they read or heard this Gospel, John borrowed, modified and used a number of terms from both Jewish and non-Jewish cultures, which included a kingship motif.
2) Mimicry: Jewish society in the first century was not only suffering under colonial power, but also pursuing it. After the failure of their attempts for independence through a long military resistance to the Roman power, it is most probable that Jewish society had gradually admitted the reality of the Roman Empire and had been in the process of hybridentity under Roman influence. Being under the foreign power for a long time, Jewish society had not been able to maintain its purity in every aspect. In particular, the process of hybridentity proceeded rapidly after the collapse of the temple of Jerusalem, which had always been an important symbol of Jewish identity.
For example, in the process of the hybridization of the Jewish society in the first century CE, a new leading group, namely the Pharisees, grasped political power after the collapse of the Jerusalem temple. They adjusted to Roman power and obtained ruling power in Jewish society. That is the reason why the Pharisees are the major opponents of Jesus in the Gospel of John.206 They worked hand in hand with the religious leaders, namely the high priests, and as members of the Sanhedrin, they yielded immense power in society. Possibly, there was friendly collaboration with the Roman authorities in order to grasp political power or maintain their position in peace under Pax Romana. Childs and Williams briefly describe this aspect:
One aspect of the contemporary imperialist dispensation is its hegemonic—rather than directly coercive—power, its ability to persuade the post-colonial world to adopt its priorities, imitate its styles, above all, perhaps, accept its inevitability.207
When we read the Gospel from this perspective, the subtle relationships among the groups of Jewish society and complexity of their power relations can be seen. The political situation of Jewish society described in the Gospel seems to indicate that the Jewish leaders ruled Jewish society with hegemonic power rather than with military suppressing power. The Jewish leaders had already accepted the Roman power as an inevitable reality (John 11:47–57). They adopted Roman priorities to maintain their power, and imitated its styles to eliminate their opponents, Jesus and his followers (18:3). The hegemonic power of the Jewish leaders functioned like an imperialist dispensation. They persuaded Jewish society to adopt the imperial priorities, which enabled them to keep their ruling positions, which included the authority to cast the Jews out of the synagogues (9:22). It is probable that the Gospel of John describes these politico-religious situations, which caused tremendous conflicts between them, to demonstrate the necessity of a solution, which could reduce or remove the conflicts. Therefore, the Johannine community might need to resist this compromising power in order to consolidate themselves and to accomplish their mission to overcome the conflicts.
3) Ambivalence: The world to which the Johannine community belonged was a hybridized one. Therefore, the Johannine literary strategy, which the author could adapt to resist the reality of the circumstances of their society, should be an effective one for the hybridized society. One effective strategy is an adaptation of multicultural elements, which are common in pluralistic societies. The adaptation of a variety of Johannine christological titles in the Gospel is a particular illustration of this. This Gospel adapted them to reflect the multicultural diversity of the Roman world, particularly in order to present Jesus as the king. The Fourth Gospel functions as a resistant literature in the hybridized society under imperial power.
While one of the best forms of resistance to this is the process of creolization itself, which combines diverse cultural elements, rather than holding up one culture as the model to be emulated by others. . . . Its cross-cultural transmission and fertilization represent the positive dynamic, processual becoming of Diversity, rather than the incorporative fixity of the being of Sameness.208
A literary strategy of resistance that combines various cultural elements into one category is mainly employed in the Gospel. In particular, in the part of the revelation of the identity of Jesus, a variety of cultural elements which indicate the
