Figurative opposition and the generation of meaning: reimagining the dynamics of performativity in the Fourth Gospel

The lecture revisits the dualist framework embedded in the communicative style of the Fourth Gospel and demonstrates how figurative opposition (and binary oppositions) functions to create meaning and subsequently fulfils its performative role in the text. The lecture acknowledges that the concept of dualism, particularly in the Fourth Gospel, is not a new phenomenon. Several scholars have contributed to this topic; however, a comprehensive and systematic examination of how these oppositions generate meaning and advance the purpose of the Gospel and its performativity remains open for further exploration. The lecture adopts a Greimassian and speech act interpretive approach in analysing prevalent pairs of opposites in the Fourth Gospel to demonstrate how they shape the meaning of the text and invite reader participation. The analysis primarily focuses on the utterances of the narrator and the Protagonist, Jesus Christ, as well as the ongoing challenges posed by his opponents to his performance. The discussion further explains how such opposition facilitates the achievement of the purpose of the Gospel. It is argued that the implied author of the Fourth Gospel deliberately employs figurative oppositions and a dualistic framework (binary oppositions) to reveal deeper theological truths and to direct the reader’s response to Jesus’s propositions, as intended by the author and summarised in the stated purpose of the Gospel in 20:30.