A Divine Round Trip: the Literary and Christological Function of the Descent/Ascent Leitmotif in the Gospel of John

The thesis of this dissertation is that the Descent/Ascent Leitmotif, which includes the language of not only descending and ascending, but also going, coming, and being sent, performs a significant literary and christological function in the Gospel of John. The Evangelist's Descent/Ascent Leitmotif becomes the Gospel's organizing principal, drawing together a constellation of verbs and a number of themes, including Jesus-Son's origin, identity, relationship to God, authority, signs and works, life, and glory. In the introductory chapter, after providing a layout of the dissertation, the discussion turns to the spacial dimensions and christological importance of the vertical and horizontal depictions of the descending, ascending, coming, going, and being sent verbs. The focus of chapter two is to explain and illustrate, using a version of the Cinderella story, a method that serves to identify the Leitmotif and the verbs, motifs, and themes the Leitmotif draws within its constellation. This approach, titled a thematic structural method, integrates works from thematic scholars Horst Daemmrich and Eugene Falk with works from literary structural scholars A. J Greimas and Roland Barthes, and is a tool to analyze the influence of the Leitmotif as the Gospel's organizing principal on the relationships between the Leitmotif and numerous themes from which John's Christology emerges. The task of chapter three is to explain the rationale for the selection of the Leitmotif's verbs of descending, ascending, coming, going, and being sent. Chapters four and five investigate how the Evangelist, with the repetition of the Leitmotif, constructs his narrative to tell the story of the historical Jesus and shape the Evangelist's Christology. Additionally, the focus is to analyze the transforming influences of the Descent/Ascent Leitmotif on the themes of Jesus-Son's origin, identity, relationship to the Father, and authority, through his signs and works, life, and glory. The Descent/Ascent Leitmotif depicts a divine round trip, and the emphasis of chapter six is to examine the role of the Leitmotif in Jesus-Son's departure from the world and return to God. The Evangelist's use of the Leitmotif in Jesus' prayer to the Father (John 17) and the promise of the Paraclete are included in this chapter. Due to the Descent/Ascent Leitmotif's inherent spatial overtones, elements related to Jesus' return, including heaven, world, the hour, and his form after his resurrection, are explored from a cosmological and ontological perspective.

An eighteenth century miscellany; the classics of the eighteenth century which typify and reveal an era: Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay...[and others]

Swift, Jonathan. The Drapier's letters.--Pope, Alexander. The Dunciad.--Gay, John. The beggar's opera.--Chesterfield, Earl of. Selected letters to his son.-- Sterne, Laurence. A sentimental journey through France and Italy.--Walpole, Horace. The castle of Otranto.--Sheridan, R. B. The school for scandal.--Gibbon, Edward. Memoirs of my life and writings.--Blake, William. Songs of innocence and songs of experience.

The pilgrim's progress & the life & times of John Bunyan : a series of lectures.

Mode of access: Internet.

Gallio : the prize poem on a sacred subject, 1908 /

Cover title.

Saint Peter, the apostle of Asia,

Mode of access: Internet.

Paul the apostle, pioneer missionary to the heathen world,

Mode of access: Internet.

The new complete Saint Bernard,

"Part II: General care and training of your dog, by Elsworth S. Howell, Milo G. Denlinger [and] A. C. Merrick."

A summary declaration of the faith and practice of the First Baptist Church in Boston.

Appended at end: The Baptist Catechism; or, a brief instruction in the principles of the Christian religion. Boston : [s.n.], 1803.

Oeuvres tres-complètes de Saint Thérèse : précedées du portrait de la Saint par Th. Blanchard, du fac-simile de son écriture par Bineteau, de sa vie par Villefore, et de la bulle de sa canonisation par Grégoire XV ; suivies d'un grand nombre de lettres inédites, les méditations sur ses vertus par le Cardinal Lambruschini, de son éloge par Bossuet et par fra Louis de Léon, du discours sur le non-quiétisme de la Saint par Villefore ; des oeuvres completes de S. Pierre d'Alcantara, de S. Jean de la Croix et du Bienheureux Jean D'avila ... /

Mode of access: Internet.

The miscellaneous works of Venerable Bede, in the original Latin, collated with the manuscripts, and various printed editions, accompanied by a new English translation of the historical works, and a life of the author.

Part of text in Latin and English on opposite pages.

An essay on the character and practical writings of Saint Paul:

Mode of access: Internet.

History of the American Baptist African and Haytien missions : for the use of sabbath schools /

Half title: African and Haytien mission.

Observations on the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.

Mode of access: Internet.

Discourses on some of the doctrinal articles of the church of England; also lectures on the history of Saint Peter.

First American from the last London edition.

Paul, the herald of the cross,

Mode of access: Internet.