Hugo Méndez

This fall (2023), I was part of an exciting new venture: a biblical conference for non-scholars. My talk was entitled, “Unlocking the Symbolism of the Fourth Gospel.” Here’s the abstract:

The Gospel of John contains many narratives and images not contained in other early accounts of the life of Jesus. These materials were deliberately crafted—invented—by the text’s author to symbolize the principal points of his ideology. To help readers recognize this symbolism, this lecture will explore the practice of “reading John backwards”—that is, reading the gospel’s images in light of the teachings Jesus articulates in later sections of the book, especially the Farewell Discourse (chs. 13–17). Experimenting with this mode of reading John, we will come to appreciate the intricate design of the text and, above all, the remarkable creativity of its author.

Check it out here.