Truth on Trial: The Lawsuit Motif in the Fourth Gospel

Religious truth has always been in dispute but there are certain times and places in which the debate has been more intense. One such period was the first century C.E. when the rapid spread of Christianity with its claims about Jesus produced considerable ferment. The Gospel of John written late in that century presents that dispute with greater clarity than any other document of the time. John presents a Jesus who claims not only to tell the truth but also to be the truth. And yet as the Roman magistrate asks Jesus in Johns gospel what is truth? Two millennia later in the Western world pluralism and postmodernism radically challenge traditional notions of truth. Is there any truth beyond the formal logic of merely analytical propositions? And if there is do humans have any way of knowing it? Many who have a postmodern perspective deny that either rationality or imagination can give us access to the truth. Instead they adopt a throughgoing incredulity toward metanarratives. Truth is again on trial.