A Johannine spatial theology of life, light and love as counter-space: Calling Christian scholarship to counter violence against older persons in hostile African environments

Abstract

In many African contexts, violence against older persons arises within hostile socio-spatial environments shaped by economic vulnerability, weakened kinship and fragile institutions. Yet Christian scholarship often responds pastorally without attention to the structural and epistemic conditions producing such violence. Within the theme of Christian scholarship in a hostile environment, this article advances a Johannine spatial theology of life, light and love as counter-space through which Christian scholarship can resist and transform hostility. Using qualitative interdisciplinary methods, the study interprets Johannine Kingdom through the Prologue (Jn 1:1-18), Soja’s Thirdspace theory and Robbins’ socio-rhetorical intertextual analysis. Building on Gharbin and Van Eck’s view of the Prologue as the key to Johannine communal identity, the article argues that the Johannine Kingdom is a relational counter-space shaped by divine indwelling, mutual belonging and life-giving presence rather than territorial sovereignty or social productivity. Reading Johannine concepts of life [ζωή], light [φῶς] and love [ἀγάπη] against first-century Jewish and Roman spatial imaginaries of hierarchy, exclusion and violence, the study develops a framework for reorienting Christian scholarship in Africa. The study concludes that Johannine spatial theology offers a hermeneutical lens and a calling fostering indigenous knowledge and praxis to counter violence, protect older persons and cultivate justice, care and dignity in hostile African contexts.
Contribution: Integrating Soja’s Thirdspace theory, Robbins’ socio-rhetorical criticism and John’s Gospel, this study offers a theological-spatial-social analysis advancing HTS Theological Studies’ commitment to biblical interpretation, public theology and African socio-cultural realities.