Witnessing beyond the well: Reading John 4:1--42 through the lens of Harriet Jacobs's 'Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl'

This dissertation is an exercise in cultural interpretation that investigates how employment of an antebellum slave narrative, Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, as a focusing hermeneutical lens informs a reading of the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4:1-42.;Use of Jacobs's testimony as a focusing lens for reading the witness-bearing story of the Samaritan woman foregrounds these motifs in John 4:1-42. The Samaritan woman exhibits resistance by advancing the dialogue with Jesus in a substantive manner, despite her awareness of social boundaries separating Jews and Samaritans. She paves the way for the revelation of Jesus' messianic identity, to which she testifies to fellow Samaritan villagers. The second motif is evident in the Fourth Evangelist's undertelling of the details of the woman's marital history, which sets the stage for the revelation of Jesus' prophetic identity.;Attention to the final motif, trauma, directs focus on the woman's participation in five successive marriages, which reflect experience of a series of unspecified tragedies, and therefore, trauma, thus demonstrating that subjection to trauma does not necessarily disqualify one from bearing effective witness to Jesus. This motif also evokes reflection on the life of Johannine Christians, who would have been traumatized by excommunication from the synagogue because of its central role in Jewish socioreligious life. In response to their expulsion-induced trauma, they became steadfast witness-bearers to Jesus. The Fourth Evangelist's emphasis on witness-bearing is evidenced by the Gospel's extensive use of "witness" language and employment of the bios genre to advance its testimony about Jesus. The Samaritan woman's credibility as a witness is highlighted by her association with such language and by the narrated effects of her witness. Trauma, then, functions as a catalyst for participation in witness-bearing activity. As for its ethical implication, this dissertation promotes participation in evangelism.;Jacobs's narrative emerges from a witness-bearing cultural milieu characterized by concerted efforts of ex-slaves and abolitionists to oppose slavery, with hopes of abrogating this institution. Throughout Jacobs's narrative, three prominent motifs function as rhetorical devices to sway readers against slavery---resistance, undertelling, and trauma.