Scholars studying the characters of John’s gospel often note the flat or static quality of Jesus’ character. Recently, Colleen M. Conway has investigated Jesus’ static characterization in light of Greco-Roman norms of masculinity, arguing that John’s gospel presents an especially masculine Christology. This article nuances Conway’s reading by digging more deeply into Jesus’ characterization by means of common-places (τόποι) used to formulate gender in classical rhetorical performances and in ancient literary genres similar to the Gospel of John. Making use of the instability inherent to gender, the Gospel of John incorporates a number of feminine elements in its characterization of Jesus alongside the masculine elements, thus de-stabilizing the masculine narratives of its ancient Mediterranean context. Having absolutized Jesus’ identity in its prologue as eternal and entirely consistent with God’s will, the gospel redefines masculinity in a way that casts ‘feminine’ penetrability as a permanent and crucial indicator of God’s identity.
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