Martina Kumlehn undertakes the first study of the chequered history of the reception accorded to St John’s Gospel in 20th century conceptions of religious education; in five individual studies she describes an arc from liberal religious education to symbol didactics. The sixth study proposes its own approach to bible didactics which engages with Paul Ricoeur’s narrative theory to take up the particular narratology of St John’s Gospel and reflect on it didactically. Placed within the area of conflict between phenomenology and semiotics, St John’s Gospel is presented as a school of perception and a catalyst for pluralist readings.