John 17: Its structure, style, theme, and function in the Fourth Gospel

This dissertation attempts to answer two questions related to the significance of John 17 in the Fourth Gospel. First, does John 17 serve to summarize the themes of the Fourth Gospel as so many scholars suggest? Second, if so, is there any discernible pattern in the thematic relationship between John 17 and the Fourth Gospel? Four chapters combine to answer the questions.;Chapter One identifies the structure of John 17 by adapting the method of text-linguistics developed by George Guthrie in his book The Structure of Hebrews: A Text-Linguistic Analysis. The structure of the prayer is probed in order to establish a framework for investigating the prayer's style and for subsequent comparison with the rest of the Gospel.;Chapter Two investigates the style of the prayer following the divisions as delineated in Chapter One. The primary method for identifying the style of the prayer is that set forth in Nida, et al., Style and Discourse . Identifying the literary and rhetorical devices used in the prayer sets the stage for identifying the themes of the prayer.;Chapter Three identifies the themes of the prayer and notes the pattern of thematic development in the prayer. The chapter then compares the themes of the prayer with the themes in the Fourth Gospel, seeking to identify the nature of the relationship between the two texts.;Chapter Four investigates the function of the prayer by addressing matters of context: its proper location in the Gospel, which helps determine its literary and narrative function; its relationship to the purpose statement of 20.30--31; and the intended effects on the audience.;The dissertation reached the following conclusions. First, the combination of shared themes with the prayer's location in the Gospel supports the view that John 17 is a summary. Second, structural and comparative analysis demonstrates that while the relationship between the prayer and Gospel may be described in terms of general correspondence, the relationship below the surface is more complex. In addition to the works cited above, the dissertation made use of standard commentaries, journal articles, and books written in English, German, and French.