The Gospel of John and an Interreligious World

Just came across this great quote from Craig Koester, The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s Gospel, pp. 25-26.

John writes about God for an interreligious world. He does not offer theoretical arguments for God’s existence, since everyone in the story assumes that there is a God of some sort. The problem is that their ideas about God conflict. There are Jews who worship at the temple in Jerusalem and Samaritans who insist that God should be worshipped on a mountain to the north, in Samaria. They agree that God should be worshiped, but disagree about how this should be done (4:20). Then there are the Greeks who on occasion may worship in Jerusalem, but who are known for venerating many deities at sanctuaries scattered throughout the ancient world (7:35; 12:20). Pilate the Roman governor has his own religious sensibilities. While interrogating Jesus, Pilate is told that his prisoner has been making himself into the Son of God, and the idea that there might be divine involvement in the case makes Pilate afraid. The issue is delicate because Pilate’s career depends on good relations with the emperor, who also claims the title ‘son of god’ (19:7-8). John must disclose who God is in the context of competing truth claims.