Judah Weinhardt
John 17: Oneness and Separateness
as Gospel in a World of Alienation
Judah Weinhardt titled his departmental honors project “John 17: Oneness and Separateness as Gospel in a World of Alienation." Weinhardt’s project focused mainly on Jesus’ prayer in John chapter 17 when Jesus prays for the disciples and all believers. Weinhardt also looked to put the prayer and the chapter in the context of the whole book of John. “My argument is that the prayer is a summation for the rest of the gospel in that it builds upon themes in the book that have been developed up to that point.”
As a Biblical Studies major, Weinhardt was interested in the John 17 passage because it is situated between the crossroad of Jesus’ life and his death. Weinhardt suggested that this passage holds the two parts together like a hinge. The theme of unity was also something that caught Weinhardt’s eye.
Weinhardt found the honors project challenging but rewarding. This was the biggest project Weinhardt had ever attempted, but he soon found that the Bluffton Universtiy library had a good selection of commentaries and resources for him to begin with. One challenge that Weinhardt faced while doing his research was to not allow his own biases to interfere with what he could be gaining, and to also give priority to the Biblical text itself and what the text was trying to say. Weinhardt also found it challenging to work on the project over an entire semester and to keep up the discipline and perseverance to continue the work.
The hard work and discipline did pay off for Weinhardt. “I’ve gained a better understanding of John and how Biblical scholarship works, how the discussion works within the field.” Weinhardt also felt that working on his departmental honors project would help in preparing him for graduate school.
