The Literary Reading of the ‘Cana Cycle’(Jn. 2-4): Analysis of the Chiastic Structure Based on the Dual Mode

The structure of Gospel of John is so fascinating that it has beenapproached with a wide variety of methods such as historical-criticalanalysis, literary analysis, structural analysis, and even sequencereading. John 2-4 consists of six episodes. It begins in Cana (2:1-11)and ends in Cana (4:46-54), so it can be called the ‘Cana Cycle.’This part can be described as a complex structure, comprising of adual mode and a chiastic structure. In each chapter, two episodes arearranged by ‘dual mode’ as well as six episodes which are formulatedby chiastic structure. ‘Dual mode’ can be a peculiar writing style ofthe Gospel of John, and it is an important way to link the wholestructure of the Gospel of John and its theological theme. TheJohannine dual mode is a particular method which arranges the events, signs, sayings and so on in pairs of two, and it is based on John8:17. In Deuteronomy 17:6 it is written “evidence of two or threewitnesses”, however, in John 8:17 the “testimony of two witnesses” isemphasized. John’s choice of the “testimony of two witnesses” drawsout a peculiar writing style, dual mode. Therefore, this paper willpresent the complex structure in John 2-4: dual mode and chiasticstructure.