Revised thesis (doctoral)-- Durham University, 2014.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-240) and indexes.

Preface -- Abbreviations -- The focus of the study -- Introduction -- History of scholarship -- Sense perception -- Sense perception and faith -- Symbolic interpretation of sense perception -- The range of senses -- Testimony -- Testimony and revelation -- Rhetorical purpose and technique -- Sense perception and testimony -- The aim and the structure of this study -- The aim of this study -- The structure of the study -- An overview of sense perception and testimony -- Statistics and distribution -- The prologue (John 1:1-18) -- The testimony of the baptist and the first disciples (John 1:19-51) -- The public ministry of Jesus (John 2-12) -- The farewell discourse (John 13-17) -- The passion and resurrection of Jesus (John 18-21) -- Problems with sense perception -- The undefined object -- The vision of the invisible : glory, the spirit and the lamb of god -- The perception of god by privileged witnesses -- The perception of signs within the narrative -- Perception pre- and post-easter -- John's use of testimony language -- The intended audience and the purpose of the gospel -- John 20 : 30-31 -- Textual variant in John 20:31a -- The construction of ̋iva + ... -- John's concept of faith -- The content of the gospel -- Structure and presentation -- The language of abiding and indwelling -- Ambiguities and allusiveness in language -- The paraclete -- The mission motif -- Conclusion -- Sense Perception, the knowledge of god and testimony in the jewish scriptures -- Theophany -- Jacob's ladder (...) (Gen 28:10-17) -- Theophany on mount sinai -- The Israelites' perception of god (exodus 19-20) -- Moses' perception of god (exodus 33-34) -- The exodus miracles -- Communal vision in deuteronomy -- The tabernacle and the ark of testimony -- Prophetic sign-acts -- The book of isaiah -- The motif of blindness and deafness -- The motif of light and darkness -- The motif of trial and sense perception -- Conclusion -- Sense perception and testimony in the graeco-roman world -- Techniques in judicial oratory to 'bring before the eyes' the thing told : ... and ... -- ' ... -- ' ... -- Rhetorical appeal to emotion -- Ways to achieve ... -- An analysis of Plato's apology and Cicero's verrine orations -- Plato's apology -- Repetition and the presence of the crowd -- Repetition, contrast and creating a pictorial image by noting particular features of actions and objects -- Verbal cues to prompt imagination -- Repetition with a description of sudden actions -- Cicero's verrine orations -- Using dialogues, contrast and creating a pictorial image by noting particular features of actions and objects -- Creating a pictorial image by noting particular features of actions and objects and mentioning the presence of a crowd -- Contrast -- Using verbal cues to trigger imagination -- Repetition and the presence of the crowd -- Conclusion -- The theological significance of sense perception -- The theological significance of Jesus' sense perception and testimony -- Jesus' divine origin and his exegesis of God -- Jesus' perception of God -- Jesus sees the father (John 5:19-20, 37; 6:46) -- Jesus hears the father (John 8:26, 40) -- Seeing Jesus is seeing the father (John 14:7-11; cf. John 12:45) -- Jesus' testimony -- Jesus' perception of the first disciples -- Characters who 'saw and testified' to Jesus -- The baptist as a privileged witness -- The beloved disciple as a privileged witness -- Conclusion -- The ideology of the narrator -- Sense perception and spiritual insight -- Testimony during Jesus' public ministry -- Signs and faith -- Changing water into wine -- Healing the official's son -- Healing the paralysed man -- Feeding the five thousand -- Healing the blind man -- The raising of lazarus -- Other testimonies -- The samaritans and their testimony (John 4:7-30, 4:39-12) -- The cleansing of the temple -- The anointing of Jesus -- The close of Jesus' public ministry -- Conclusion -- Witnessing the passion, death and resurrection -- The absence of Jesus and the coming of the spirit -- Promise of the paraclete -- 'Doubting thomas' and later generations of disciples -- The character of Thomas (John 11:16; 14:5 and 20:24-29) -- The meaning of John 20:29 -- Conclusion -- Sense perception and testimony -- Jesus' testimony to the truth -- The use of ' ... in Jesus' passion, death and resurrection -- The disciples' testimony to Jesus : models of seeing and believing -- A prophetic sign and Its imitation in the life of the church -- Footwashing as a prophetic sign-Act -- Vivid description of footwashing -- Sense perception and testimony in johannine tradition -- Sense perception and testimony in John 21 -- Sense perception and testimony in 1 John -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of references -- Index of modern authors -- Index of subjects.