Idź i a od tej chwili już nie grzesz Egzegeza anropoligicznokulturowa perykopy o kobiecie cudzołożnej (J 8,1-11)
„Go and from now on do not sin any more.” Cultural Anthropology Insights into the Exegesis of the Pericope of the Woman Caught in Adultery (J 8,1-11)

Summary/Abstract: Honor with its correlative – shame – are pivotal values and control patterns of human personality in ancient Mediterranean collectivistic cultures, the milieu of the New Testament included. It is therefore appropriate to use the anthropological tool of the model of honor and shame to analyze and assess the cultural context of the Bible. In the ancient Mediterranean agonistic cultures competitiveness is translated into the game of challenge and riposte. This was a classical competitive strategy for attempting to increase honor, which was considered to be a limited good (in short supply). Entering this game implied the risk of losing some honor, the judgment being reserved to the public opinion. This strategy was applied by the scribes and Pharisees when approaching Jesus with the case of an adulterous woman. Jesus’ answer with a question suddenly changes the roles and puts his opponents in a difficult position. He wins and so they must lose, but there is another winner: the woman, who regains her honor, not only to the previous extent, but even more than before. The situation goes further than the classical honor and shame pattern because of the surplus of the hatred of the elders, aimed at eliminating the Master, by the surplus of Jesus’ mercy in the good done towards the sinner and in the sinner’s response of faith that goes beyond simple gratitude towards one’s benefactor.

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