Why a Samaritan Tradition never existed
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 12:03 am
I had believed for long time that the presence of favorable references to Samaritans in Luke and John, and expressions as :
(John 8:48)
...was evidence of a Samaritan tradition ended sooner or later in the Gospels.
But I was wrong.
Reading this article,
https://brill.com/view/book/9789004390706/BP000009.xml
it becomes clear that 'Samaritan' was a mere label meant to de-ethnicize Jesus, or Simon Peter for that matter (hence the invention of Simon Magus).
In the words of the author:
(my bold)
In short: on behalf of Gentilizers and against Judaizers.
There was never a Samaritan tradition, or Samaritan apostles of the first hour, even less so a Samaritan Jesus.
The Jews answered him, ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’
(John 8:48)
...was evidence of a Samaritan tradition ended sooner or later in the Gospels.
But I was wrong.
Reading this article,
https://brill.com/view/book/9789004390706/BP000009.xml
it becomes clear that 'Samaritan' was a mere label meant to de-ethnicize Jesus, or Simon Peter for that matter (hence the invention of Simon Magus).
In the words of the author:
This book will argue that the function of ethnic labeling in the Gospel of John is to enable the author of the Gospel of John to assert a trans-ethnic identity for the followers of Jesus. The Gospel of John’s trans-ethnic identity is established by Jesus’s broadening of traditional Judean ethnic identity into the “children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God” ( John 1:12b–13). The primary examples of ethnic labeling for this book are John 4:9 and 8:48. In John 4:
(my bold)
In short: on behalf of Gentilizers and against Judaizers.
There was never a Samaritan tradition, or Samaritan apostles of the first hour, even less so a Samaritan Jesus.
