Stages of Conversation and Fulfillment

He identifies four stages in it,

arguing that all of them are important and that

their order is important too.

In a somewhat provocative way, but I think it's a useful

provocation,

he calls the first stage flirting,

a conversation between a woman and a man who

are both alone.

Jesus takes hold of the discussion and transforms it

gradually through his questions

into a meditation on human happiness and

fulfillment.

For a long time, however, ambiguity

persists.

One gets the impression that the same words mean

different things to Jesus and the Samaritan

woman.