Echo Chamber: The Network Architecture of John 11–13

This study examines the integrated network of parallels and reversals embedded in the context of John 10:40–13:33. Pierre Mourlon-Beernaert first noticed in 1981 the parallel and orderly movements of John 11 and 12. Analysis here will show that many of the parallel features in John 11–12 extend also into the Last Supper of John 13, especially those that link through the Anointing of 12:1-11. The Raising of Lazarus, the Anointing and Triumphal Entry, and the Last Supper texts comprise a three-fold core around which artist John has designed a grand literary triptych. Numerous features (nodes) interconnect with one another across the three panels in the likeness of an ancient village grapevine or a modern peer-to-peer network. The way that information coming into the network from elsewhere in John or from external sources is often partially distributed to other locations within chapters 11-13 is made intelligible by the inter-nodal connections here revealed. Synchronic and diachronic studies in John 11‑13 will all benefit from taking proper account of these network connections. Note of 7 June 2019: I have updated the pdf with corrected bibliographic information for Mourlon-Beernaert\u27s 1981 article. I am progressing on the rewrite of my Lazarus, Mary, and Martha paper, of which this material will be an important part