The role and function of women characters in the fourth Gospel

Abstract

At the end of the Fourth Gospel, the author states his purpose: "[These signs] are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in that believing this you may have life through his name" (Jn 20, 31 ). Do female characters in the Fourth Gospel serve this purpose? This study investigates the role and function of women characters in this Gospel with the purpose of establishing whether or not they offer the reader ideal examples of faith witness to Jesus. In the first two chapters, Annunziata Micallef presents two unnamed female characters, the "mother of Jesus" and the "Samaritan woman" and compares the exegetical work of several scholars concerning the interpretation of the relevant passages. In the last three chapters, Philip Micallef does likewise with the named characters of the Gospel: Martha and Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene. In spite of a certain number of detractors, most scholars agree that the Mother of Jesus and the Samaritan woman are ideal examples of faith-witness. The last three characters have sparked more heated debate, but after comparing the different positions, the present authors end up favouring the positive interpretations, even if the quality and depth of the characters' faith seems to progress as the narrative unfolds from a situation of little faith or even doubt to a standing of deep faith that leads to witnessing action. More delicate and marginally treated, given the scope of the present work, is the question of whether ideal Fourth-Gospel faith is based on signs or testimony. In spite of the distinctions made by some authors concerning the origin of the act of faith, in all the examined cases, a deep level faith is sooner or later attained, and witnessing is possible. That brings us to confirm the role and function of the female characters of this Gospel in achieving the stated purpose of the Fourth Evangelist.