Bachelor of Arts in Theology

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Browsing Bachelor of Arts in Theology by Author "Angel Valdivia, Lopez"

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    The Shepherd and The Sheep In the Gospel of John Exegesis of John 9:39-10:21
    (Tangaza University College, 2003) Angel Valdivia, Lopez
    To choose a topic for the Long Essay has not been an easy task. I had a remote idea of what I wanted to do but it was blur and unclear. The Long Essay Seminar conducted by Fr. Owczarek during the sixth semester of theological studies pushed me on, and after the birth pangs a new creature was born: "The Shepherd and the Sheep in the Gospel of John: An Exegesis of John 9:39-10:21". On the one hand, my interest in the topic of the Good Shepherd is mainly rooted in the fact that the core of the charism of The Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle, the group to which I belong, is that we follow the spirituality of Christ the Good Shepherd. On the other hand, it is perhaps a quest to deepen my own understanding of Christ as the Good Shepherd, trying to overcome maybe personal "gaps" Finally, I hope that the outcome may be of some interest and help for others. This essay is going to be directed to the analysis, exegesis and interpretation of the above-mentioned text. This is going to occupy most of the work. However, I will dedicate a section in the last chapter to discuss what implications and consequences can be drawn from the text. How the parable of the Good Shepherd can shed some light into the life of the church today, and at a more personal level, how this image of the Good Shepherd can help us deepen our understanding of discipleship and shepherding. In our future life as priests, do we value it moralistically or existentially? Do we see it as an accident or as the essence? In order to reach the final conclusions, I am first going to explore the text using a combination of different methods, which I will specify in the first chapter. I will take into consideration the enormous number of Johanine scholars, trying to group them and quote their opinions. The English quotations from the Bible will be taken from the RSV. For the Greek text I will use the Nestle-Aland 27th edition. When I quote the opinions of some non English-speaking scholars, I will include my own translation. Finally, I will assume that the Gospel writer was John. This is a consensus to which many scholars have come, in order to concentrate their investigations on the text itself, avoiding endless discussions about authorship. Therefore during the development of this essay I will refer most of the times to the "Gospel of John" as the Fourth Gospel (FG) and to his author as John (Jn). All the quotations from the Bible will be from the Gospel of John unless indicated otherwise.