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to maintain its purity in every aspect. In particular, the process of hybridentity proceeded rapidly after the collapse of the temple of Jerusalem, which had always been an important symbol of Jewish identity.

For example, in the process of the hybridization of the Jewish society in the first century CE, a new leading group, namely the Pharisees, grasped political power after the collapse of the Jerusalem temple. They adjusted to Roman power and obtained ruling power in Jewish society. That is the reason why the Pharisees are the major opponents of Jesus in the Gospel of John.206 They worked hand in hand with the religious leaders, namely the high priests, and as members of the Sanhedrin, they yielded immense power in society. Possibly, there was friendly collaboration with the Roman authorities in order to grasp political power or maintain their position in peace under Pax Romana. Childs and Williams briefly describe this aspect:

One aspect of the contemporary imperialist dispensation is its hegemonic—rather than directly coercive—power, its ability to persuade the post-colonial world to adopt its priorities, imitate its styles, above all, perhaps, accept its inevitability.207

      When we read the Gospel from this perspective, the subtle relationships among the groups of Jewish society and complexity of their power relations can be seen. The political situation of Jewish society described in the Gospel seems to indicate that the Jewish leaders ruled Jewish society with hegemonic power rather than with military suppressing power. The Jewish leaders had already accepted the Roman power as an inevitable reality (John 11:47–57). They adopted Roman priorities to maintain their power, and imitated its styles to eliminate their opponents, Jesus and his followers (18:3). The hegemonic power of the Jewish leaders functioned like an imperialist dispensation. They persuaded Jewish society to adopt the imperial priorities, which enabled them to keep their ruling positions, which included the authority to cast the Jews out of the synagogues (9:22). It is probable that the Gospel of John describes these politico-religious situations, which caused tremendous conflicts between them, to demonstrate the necessity of a solution, which could reduce or remove the conflicts. Therefore, the Johannine community might need to resist this compromising power in order to consolidate themselves and to accomplish their mission to overcome the conflicts.

      3) Ambivalence: The world to which the Johannine community belonged was a hybridized one. Therefore, the Johannine literary strategy, which the author could adapt to resist the reality of the circumstances of their society, should be an effective one for the hybridized society. One effective strategy is an adaptation of multicultural elements, which are common in pluralistic societies. The adaptation of a variety of Johannine christological titles in the Gospel is a particular illustration of this. This Gospel adapted them to reflect the multicultural diversity of the Roman world, particularly in order to present Jesus as the king. The Fourth Gospel functions as a resistant literature in the hybridized society under imperial power.

While one of the best forms of resistance to this is the process of creolization itself, which combines diverse cultural elements, rather than holding up one culture as the model to be emulated by others. . . . Its cross-cultural transmission and fertilization represent the positive dynamic, processual becoming of Diversity, rather than the incorporative fixity of the being of Sameness.208

A literary strategy of resistance that combines various cultural elements into one category is mainly employed in the Gospel. In particular, in the part of the revelation of the identity of Jesus, a variety of cultural elements which indicate the kingship of Jesus exist as a complex combination, particularly the combination of Jewish and Graeco-Roman elements. It is therefore possible to describe the Gospel as a text of (post)colonialism,209 which utilizes hybridized cultures for its literary purpose. However, unlike the most obvious form of resistance in the colonial debates, namely violent resistance, the message of the Gospel rejects it. Rather, the Johannine Jesus throws himself into the colonial context to stop the violent and suppressive world, and to lead it into a new world where forgiveness, love, service, freedom and peace function as ruling apparatuses.

Since [the colonialists] do not want to give up power, “decolonization is always a violent phenomenon.” . . . In addition, violence has an effect on the colonized people both in general and as individuals. For the former, it overturns the divide and rule techniques of colonialism, and brings together regions, religious and ethnic groups in a united opposition. For the latter, violence is both cleansing and restorative; it purges feelings of inferiority and impotence, and restores self-respect.210

      The Gospel of John presents a method of decolonization, but it never accepts that violence is the way to achieve it. While the Jewish leaders attempt to bring together regions and religious and ethnic groups in a united opposition so as to maintain their ruling position, the Johannine Jesus attempts neither. He does not attempt to overturn the colonial power, rather, he allows himself to be killed by its violence in order to deliver others from the violent techniques of colonialism. Moreover, the Johannine Jesus breaks down the walls between the oppositional groups to bring them into a new world where all will live in harmony without competition, struggle, and oppression. He never intends to bring together regions and religious ethnic groups in a united opposition; rather he teaches how to live a liberating life of forgiveness, service, freedom, peace and love. The Johannine Jesus combines the center and the margin into one by his life and message. In this sense, Jesus is the Universal King.

As Fanon says “Decolonization is the veritable creation of new men,”211 the Gospel of John presents a way to “the veritable creation of new men” through the life and teaching of Jesus.

Colonialism imposed its control of the social production of wealth through military conquest and subsequent political dictatorship. However, its most important area of domination was the mental universe of the colonized, the control, through culture, of how people perceived themselves and their relation to the world.212

      If we read the Gospel of John as a literature of resistance against colonialism, we find that the Jewish leaders in the Gospel attempted to control society in order to keep their political and religious positions through collaboration with the imperial power. They sought to prevent Jesus’ resistance movement against colonialism in darkness. Their ambitions for power drove them to believe that the multitude, which followed Jesus, was stupid (John 7:49), and that they were the only elite group which could get rid of that kind of stupidity. Eventually, their political ambitions reached their climax when they sought to eliminate their opponent, Jesus.

The Jewish leaders in this Gospel were afraid that the world was breaking away from their political control as well as from their religious and spiritual domination because they saw the world following Jesus’ movement (John 12:19). Individuals from not only Jewish groups but also from many other groups follow Jesus. From this perspective, we may read of the Johannine Jesus as the decolonizer.213

      Similarities and Differences (Mimicry): The “Collaborators”

It is not easy to determine the identity of the Jewish leaders in the Gospel of John because they are regarded as both victims of institutionalized oppression and are also allied with it.214 In Jewish society, the Jewish leaders had a mixed identity as the colonized and the colonizer. The term, “collaborator” is particularly appropriate to them. They had the discrete and pure identity neither of the colonizer nor of the colonized. Jewish society at the end of the first century CE was neither a pure nation nor did it maintain a society of a pure single race. It was colonized and had lost its identity as a single independent nation. They had to try to discover an answer to the problem of how to live with the present new empire, Rome. They were seeking a satisfactory

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