Thomas Tops, «Whose Truth? A Reader-Oriented Study of the Johannine Pilate and John 18,38a», Vol. 97 (2016) 395-420
This contribution investigates the role of the reader in character studies of the Johannine Pilate. It contends that every characterization of Pilate is determined by narrative gaps, because they give occasion for different ways of interpreting Pilate’s words and deeds. The potential meaning of the text is always actualized by our act of interpretation. This revelatory dimension of the text is valuable in itself, and therefore should be considered as a secondary criterion for evaluating interpretations of the Johannine Pilate. In the second part of this contribution, we illustrate how this can be done for Pilate’s question of truth.
WHoSe TRUTH? A ReADeR-oRIeNTeD STUDy 413
truth with Jesus, because for Jesus power and truth “gehören zusam-
men, insofern sich die Wahrheit in der Machtausübung erweist”, while
she associates the truth of power with Pilate, because for Pilate it is the
other way around: “Macht entscheidet über das, was Wahrheit ist” 59.
According to kowalski, John pictures Pilate as someone who al-
ways wants to confirm the truth of power, whatever it takes. For this,
Pilate even renounces his conviction of Jesus’ innocence. Pilate’s rest-
less behavior and his going to and fro highlight his irresoluteness and
the fact that he is led by the opinion of the masses, by political situa-
tions (cf. 19,12f.), and by his career and prestige (19,12.15). Pilate’s
body language and the insights into Pilate’s inner life that are offered
by John’s comments make clear that Pilate is driven by a desire
for power, and that, in order to obtain power, he even renounces his
verbally expressed conviction of Jesus’ innocence (18,38b; 19,4.6).
Pilate’s only concern is his career and jurisdiction. Hence, kowalski
interprets avlh,qeia in 18,38a as the truth of power. Because of this,
18,38a has a connotation of power, and it is sharply contrasted with
Jesus’ use of avlh,qeia in 18,37. Pilate is not able to hear Jesus’ voice
(cf. 18,37f.). He understands truth as something abstract, whereas it is
divine and incarnated in a person (14,6). This understanding of truth
makes Pilate dependent on his own desire for power. This is accompa-
nied with a lot of stress. kowalski points out that Pilate’s hearing has
as a consequence fear (19,8) and Jesus’ conviction (19,13).
By contrast, kowalski interprets avlh,qeia in 18,37 as the power of
truth. This truth is attained by hearing a voice. This voice is divine: the
voice of the Holy Spirit (3,8), or of Jesus (3,29; 5,25.28; 10,3.16.27;
18,37), or of the Father (5,37). With the hearing of this voice a process
of liberation has begun: those who hear shall live and rise from death
(5,25.28f), they shall be united (10,3.16), they shall follow the Good
Shepherd, and shall know him, that is, shall have an intimate commu-
nion with him (10,27). Probably with 8,32 in mind, kowalski says
that “ein großes Maß an Freiheit” is connected with this hearing 60.
kowalski thus sees 18,36-38 as a dialogue with the deaf in which
two conceptions of truth compete with each other, namely the truth
of power versus the power of truth. According to kowalski, the reader
is not completely passive when s/he watches this battle, because the
dialogue between Jesus and Pilate is dramatic in character, and the
59
koWAlSkI, “«Was ist Wahrheit?»”, 218.
60
koWAlSkI, “«Was ist Wahrheit?»”, 226.