Her Testimony is True

Book excerpt: In Her Testimony is True, the Gospel of John is analysed as a rhetorical work that uses the metaphor of a trial in order to persuade readers that the Messiah is Jesus. John's presentation of women as witnesses in that trial is examined within the framework of Jewish law and custom regarding women as witnesses. Maccini concludes that the role of the women as witnesses follows no stereotypical pattern; that the women as witnesses, like the men, are treated as individuals, not as a class; and that in no case do any of the women bear witness in a way that breaches Jewish law and the custom of the contemporary culture.