Krise, Kreuz und Transparenz-Geschichten

Eine theologisch-meditative Bibelarbeit zur Krise als hermeneutischem Schlüssel des Glaubens bei Johannes

Abstract

Crisis, a present perception that pervades every aspect of society, politics and the economy is, in the understanding of the Gospel of John, the hermeneutical key to faith. Crisis is not a catastrophe, but a place of decision and revelation. In the signs of Jesus—wine, bread, life—the characters and the readers are plunged into a crisis of understanding, through which true faith is made possible. When the miracles are understood as signs and become stories of transparency (Transparenz-geschichten), they point to the cross, where the meaning and truth of all signs are revealed. Such faith does not arise from human insight, but from the divine question itself: »Do you believe this?« Thus the crisis becomes the way out of catastrophe—towards the realisation of eternal life in Christ.