The governor and the king: Irony, hidden transcripts, and negotiating empire in the Fourth Gospel

This dissertation focuses on the Passion Narrative in the Gospel of John, with particular attention to the arrest scene (18:1--12), the Roman show trial (18:28--19:16), and the crucifixion and burial (19:16--40). It employs James C. Scott's model of hidden transcripts and gives careful attention to the Fourth Gospel's use of irony as it seeks to understand the political dimensions of the Fourth Gospel and its relationship to the Roman Empire.;Chapter 1 begins the dissertation by situating this study in the context of Johannine scholarship. The opening chapter also attends to the historical context of the Fourth Gospel and introduces James C. Scott's model of hidden transcripts and the literary device of irony. Chapter 2 provides a sketch of significant features of the Roman imperial world that bear upon an interpretation of the Johannine Passion Narrative. Chapter 3--5 are the main body of the study and deal with the arrest (3), show trial (4), and crucifixion and burial accounts (5). Chapter 6 presents a summary and conclusions of the study, offers suggestions for further study, and reflects briefly on implications of this study for the Church and for negotiating imperial realities today.;This study argues that the Passion Narrative displays part of a Johannine hidden transcript that resists, contests, and in places mimics elements of Roman imperial power. This hidden transcript is part of the political discourse of the Johannine community that assists them in negotiating life within the Roman Empire. It mocks the representatives of Rome, including the governor Pilate, the Roman soldiers, and the Jewish authorities, eroding confidence in the empire and its agents. It also subverts Roman imperial claims of dominance, authority, and power, while bolstering faith in the sovereignty of Jesus and Israel's God. As such, the Fourth Gospel fosters an alternative worldview and community, and serves as a means of distancing Johannine Christians from the Roman imperial world---especially those who are too comfortably accommodated.