THE PROLOGUE OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (JOHN 1,1-18). NOTES ON THE INTERPRETATION A AND TRANSLATION

Among the peculiarities of John's Gospel belongs its poetic prologue. The present study deals first with the question of the relationship of these 18 verses to the rest of the gospel. Although the logos-christology that governs the hymn does not appear in other parts of John, there are important features of the hymn that make its close linking to the whole of the Fourth Gospel quite probable. One of them is the structure of the prologue that the study proposes as threefold, each part ending with a paradoxical assertion. These three parts of the hymn represent different perspectives of the way of Christ and correspond to the "multilevel" christological accounts of the gospel. In its second part the study offers a detailed exegetical analysis of the prologue, explaining its metaphorical language with strong references to the Old Testament motifs of creation, exodus and wisdom. As a constant aspect the study follows the problem of translation and compares the decisions of seven Czech modern translations of the Bible, showing how the exegesis or its absence is reflected in them.