Re: 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life'

If they were universal, one would expect to see them operate in time and space, as well as being propositions that operated in an abstract realm. 

How do you know a universal from a situated occurance?  How can you distinguish between the two? 

It seems to me that some phenomenon that you can actually see is necessarily situated where you see it occur.  It is really easy to then make the claim that what you see in your sitautated time and place is universal.  But you claiming that what you see in your situated time and place is universal, by no means makes it universal. 

For myself, I see someone telling a very situated story and trying really hard to make into a Big Universal Story. 

Universal physical laws are demonstrated in particular experimental tests.

We aren’t talking about physical laws, we’re talking about Jesus and how believers follow in his way and proclaim the good news.

But I would add that even "physical laws" are dependent on certain conditions.  

If they were universal, one would expect to see them operate in time and space, as well as being propositions that operated in an abstract realm. 

I think you’ve got it backwards.  You don’t see universals operating in specific times and places.  You see specific occurances happening in situated times and places and then you are ascribing to what you saw a universal status. 

In John 14:6, Jesus does not relate truth to any particular historical context other than his own person. The astonishing feature of the assertion is that truth is to be found in a person, rather than in objective proof.  (A highly postmodern concept, but here turning postmodern on its head!).

Whether or not Jesus relates the truth to any particular historical context misses the point.  The point is that when Jesus said those words he was in a particular time and place.  And when John wrote those words down, he too was in a particular time and place.  And when you read those words that John wrote and Jesus said, you too are in a particular time and place.  

John’s gospel is an example of a man writing words down in a time and place.