In Spirit and Truth: An Exegetical Study of John 4:19-26 and a Theological Investigation of the Replacement Theme in the Fourth Gospel

Worship in Spirit and Truth is primarily an historical-critical-exegetical study on John 4:19-26. What does it mean to 'worship in Spirit and truth' is the question that is addressed by Benny Thettayil, CMI who studied worship seriously and sought the right way to worship. Unlike the view of the majority of the scholars, but in dialogue with them, the author interprets 'worship in Spirit and truth' Christologically and puts the worship in John in a new light which is corroborated by many other statements in John. In the analysis, the author addresses a few new issues implied in the text and explores new horizons. Having dealt with the 'what' of the issue in a very detailed verse-by-verse analysis of the textual unit, the author moves on to deal with the 'why' of the issue and finds that the proposal of 'worship in Spirit and truth' has its roots in the painful experiences of the Johannine community in the parting of the ways between Jews and Christians after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Addressing the replacement theme in John, the author comes to the conclusion that all that the 'mystical gospel' contains is not mystical. Rather, he concludes that much of the raw human reactions to negative experiences are found in the gospel, which are objectionable and unchristian. The author proposes how to accept the objectionable negative elements found in the Fourth Gospel as part of the scripture, that which is normative.