andtheological rewards are considerable.Leaving aside the aesthetic rewards, which are too subjective to be adequatelydescribed, and leaving until later the theological rewards, the literary rewards can bedescribed briefly..Page 28 IntroductionFirst, sequences of the Gospel and sections of sequences which seem toBultmann and others to be out of their original place in the Gospel and which theyaccordingly move either backward or forward in the Book to achieve a more flowingand continuous narrative are seen to be precisely where the principles of chiasticparallelism require them to be (e.g., 2:13-25; 3:22-36; chapters 5, 6, 7).Second, sections of the Gospel which are considered by many to be doublets ofearlier sections, and which are therefore deduced to be the work of inept editors, areseen to be artistic and necessary parallels of their chiastic counterparts when judgedaccording to the principles of chiastic parallelism (e.g., 3:22-36 parallels 1:19-31and chapters 16--17 parallel 13:1--14:31).Third, individual sequences and sections of sequences whose beginnings andends are difficult to determine when one expects them to follow the principles ofnarrative are seen to have clear and definite beginnings and endings when one readsthem according to the principles of chiastic parallelism.Fourth, such pericopes as 2:13-25 (the cleansing of the Temple), 11:1-54 (theLazarus story and the priests' plot), to name but two, have always posed problemsfor those who read John according to the principles of narrative. According to theprinciples of parallelism, both pericopes are exactly where they belong, the Templepericope balancing the Passion narrative (the destroying of the body of Jesus) andthe Lazarus pericope balancing the "bread of life" promise in 6:32-58.Lastly, many have adverted to what has been called the "spiral" movement ofJohn's thought. They have seen this spiral movement, however, as peculiar,confusing, and repetitive. When the spiral...
