摘要：This article ponders the possibility of collaboration between the exegete and
the theologian. In reflecting on a particular instance of collaboration focused on the
Gospel of John, it suggests a judicious application of Lonergan’s “four dimensions of
meaning” will be a useful tool in expressing the cognitive (objective reality), constitutive
(identityforming),
communicative (community forming), and effective (worldforming)
bearing of the Biblical text.
My specialisation, along with an interest in interdisciplinary studies, is what is
unsatisfactorily termed “systematic theology”. Some years ago, I collaborated with the
distinguished Johannine scholar, Francis J. Moloney, SDB, in producing the book,
Experiencing of God in the Gospel of John.1 These methodological reflections owe much
to the experience of collaboration.
