Jean 6, 25-71 et le modèle gréco-romain du discours délibératif

Abstract

According to several interpreters, it would be impossible to establish a well-defined argumentation in the discourse on the bread of life (Jn 6:35-58). Considering that literary criticism has proved incapable of explaining it, we will seek rather to determine the model used by the author to highlight the principle which governs the development of his thought and ensures the coherence of the whole up to v. 58. After reviewing the main solutions favored by recent exegesis, we will show how Greco-Roman rhetoric accounts for the arrangement of this passage and its argumentation.