John the Baptist

by

Federico Adinolfi, Joan Taylor

• LAST REVIEWED: 30 June 2014
• LAST MODIFIED: 30 June 2014
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393361-0135

Introduction

John the Baptist is an enigmatic figure within the New Testament. In Christian tradition his role as the precursor to Jesus has been emphasized, with theological stress laid on the presentation of the Fourth Gospel: John is the forerunner who points the way to Jesus as the “lamb of God” (1:29). John was a remarkable figure who called for repentance and baptism ahead of a coming figure’s arrival (Matthew 3:1–12, Mark 1:2–8, Luke 3:1–18, John 1:19–28). Since he baptized Jesus, at the beginning of Jesus’ mission, the relationship between the two men has long been of interest. John’s status as a widely esteemed man, unjustly killed, is also evidenced by Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews 19:116–119. From Josephus and the New Testament, it appears that John was known as the “baptist” or “baptizer” due to his practice of a distinctive type of water immersion. John enjoyed a reputation both as a teacher of righteousness and as a prophet. The unsettling political implications of his eschatological message, perhaps coupled with a vehement rhetoric centered on the observance of the ethical dimensions of the Law and criticisms of immorality, likely stand behind the decision of Herod Antipas to have him arrested and then executed. Specific studies on John are not numerous, though explorations that define him in relation to Jesus—in order to clarify Jesus’ purpose—are frequently done. Renewed interest in John in his own right has arisen within the “Third Quest” for the historical Jesus. The following article moves from the general to the particular, covering academic literature on John that becomes increasingly specific. The starting point is Reference Works, which includes concise and general “first approach” treatments.

Reference Works

Valuable general entries and articles on John the Baptist can be found in most encyclopedias and reference works on theological and biblical issues. Chilton 2008, Evans 2008, and Taylor 2010 are ideal for quick consultation and offer concise summaries of the views that these authors (especially Bruce Chilton and Joan Taylor) have developed in other publications. Lupieri 1992, Hollenbach 1979, and Hollenbach 1992 are more thorough contributions by two well-known “John questers.” Since Paul Hollenbach has published no self-standing monograph, these two articles are representative of a historiographically important perspective that is sensitive to a social-scientific approach. Backhaus 2011 offers the most comprehensive and updated overview, equally conversant with Anglo-American and Continental European scholarship. Finally, Webb 2000 summarizes the author’s influential views, with particular attention to the relation between John and Qumran.

• Backhaus, Knut. “Echoes from the Wilderness: The Historical John the Baptist.” In Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus. Vol. 2, The Study of Jesus. Edited by Tom Holmén and Stanley E. Porter, 1747–1785. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2011.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A long and comprehensive article, covering every aspect relevant to the study of John, including short discussions of the history of research, sources, and methods, and a final paragraph on John and Jesus. The article is also useful in that it illustrates for English-speaking readers some of the tendencies of German scholarship on John, though the author is fully conversant with non-German literature as well.

  Find this resource:

• Chilton, Bruce D. “John the Baptist.” In The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus. Edited by Craig A. Evans, 339–342. New York: Routledge, 2008.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Summarizes Chilton’s distinctive views on John as a performer of a common, repeatable, Jewish rite of purification, and his rejection of the synoptic chronology of John’s ministry in favor of 21 CE as the date of John’s death.

  Find this resource:

• Evans, Craig A. “John the Baptist.” In The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. 3, I–Ma. Edited by Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, 145–151. Nashville: Abingdon, 2008.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Presents John as a restoration prophet and illustrates his links with the figure of Elijah and the books of Malachi and Isaiah.

  Find this resource:

• Hollenbach, Paul. “Social Aspects of John the Baptizer’s Preaching Mission in the Context of Palestinian Judaism.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Vol. II.19.1. Edited by Wolfgang Haase and Hildegard Temporini, 850–875. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1979.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Hollenbach takes over from his mentor Carl Kraeling the view of John as an alienated rural priest and develops it in a thorough sociopolitical interpretation. John proclaimed a harsh message of doom on the religious and political elites, calling on them to repent and abandon their oppressive ways. To the repentant ones he promised a future cleansing that would enable them to follow the high ethical standards that John demanded of them.

  Find this resource:

• Hollenbach, Paul. “John the Baptist.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 3, H–J. Edited by David Noel Freedman, 893–897. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  The article repeats the substance of Hollenbach 1979, offering in addition some methodological considerations on the value of social-scientific criticism, a contextualization of John within Richard Horsley’s classification of popular prophetic movements, and a general overview of the portraits of John in the Gospels and Josephus.

  Find this resource:

• Lupieri, Edmondo. “John the Baptist in New Testament Tradition and History.” In Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Vol. II.26.1. Edited by Wolfgang Haase and Hildegard Temporini, 430–461. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1992.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  An analysis of the portraits of John in the Gospels and Josephus, with prudent evaluations (notably skeptic with regard to the content of his preaching) of the historical traditions underlying them. The article offers a good summary of the arguments developed in Lupieri 1988 (cited under Recent Historical Monographs). An even-shorter summary is in Religion Past and Present: Encyclopedia of Theology and Religion, Vol. 7, Joh–Mah, 4th ed., edited by Hans Dieter Betz (Leiden, The Netherlands, and New York: Brill, 2009), pp. 25–27.

  Find this resource:

• Taylor, Joan E. “John the Baptist.” In The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism. Edited by John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow, 819–821. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Published in the standard reference work for the study of Second Temple Judaism, the article offers a synthetic overview of all the main issues concerning John the Baptist and his ministry.

  Find this resource:

• Webb, Robert L. “John the Baptist.” In The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Vol. 1, A–M. Edited by Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam, 418–421. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

  DOI: 10.1093/acref/9780195084504.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Webb draws first a brief portrait of John and then assesses similarities and dissimilarities with the Qumran community, concluding that only an indirect link, due to a common milieu, existed. An annotated bibliography on the topic closes the article.

  Find this resource:

John in Books on the Historical Jesus

Since John the Baptist is understood to have played a key role in the life of Jesus, it is customary for every reconstruction of the historical Jesus to devote some space to the understanding of John. These works indicate a range of scholarly views on John and the relationship between John and Jesus. Sometimes these treatments of John can cover all the relevant issues in a very thorough way, as in the case of Meier 1994 and, to a lesser extent, Dunn 2003 and Catchpole 2006. Fredriksen 1999 offers perhaps the best treatment within the least number of pages. Becker 1998 represents an interpretation of John as a prophet of doom, which is quite characteristic of German scholarship. The classic apocalyptic reading of John is revisited in Crossan 1991 within the social-scientific framework of millennial movements. Theissen and Merz 1998 and Bird 2011 offer clear and student-friendly presentations of all the relevant questions. Jesus questers tend to present John’s baptism as being either preparatory (traditional), anti-Temple (like—it has been assumed—the practices of the Essenes), or a Jewish purification ritual (as in Josephus). These perspectives within Jesus scholarship generally derive from independent studies on John, reviewed under Older Historical Monographs and Recent Historical Monographs. Due to obvious limits of space, the following survey will include only works on Jesus that have appeared since the early 1980s, a period corresponding to the so-called “Third Quest” on the historical Jesus.

• Becker, Jürgen. Jesus of Nazareth. Translated by James E. Crouch. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 1998.

  DOI: 10.1515/9783110246414Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  English translation of Jesus von Nazaret (1996). See pp. 33–49 in particular. Portrays John as a fiery announcer of judgment (administered by the Son of Man) on an irredeemably lost Israel, offering through his repentance-baptism a last chance for single Israelites to escape God’s wrath.

  Find this resource:

• Bird, Michael F. “John the Baptist.” In Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels. Edited by Chris Keith and Larry W. Hurtado, 61–80. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A clear presentation especially suitable for beginners, which first assesses the historical data on John and then surveys its literary portraits in the sources.

  Find this resource:

• Catchpole, David. Jesus People: The Historical Jesus and the Beginnings of Community. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A long and remarkable chapter (pp. 1–52) assesses the historical value of the various Baptist traditions and shows their coherence in suggesting the profile of a Malachi-influenced and Elijah-like prophetic figure engaged in preparing Israel for the coming of God. John’s baptism, seen as a bodily cleansing following repentance, was supplementary rather than alternative to the Temple rituals.

  Find this resource:

• Crossan, John Dominic. The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1991.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  See pp. 227–237. Emphasizes the apocalyptic and potentially subversive nature of John’s message—close to that of popular millenarian movements—as well as the character of his baptism as being against the Temple. While initially adhering to this outlook, Jesus later changed his mind and embraced a completely different vision of the kingdom as a countercultural utopia to live out here and now.

  Find this resource:

• Dunn, James D. G. Jesus Remembered. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A long chapter (pp. 348–378) assesses the evidence concerning John, emphasizing its firm place within the whole Jesus tradition as the “beginning of the Gospel.” An interesting interpretation is offered regarding the spirit-and-fire baptism as an image for the eschatological tribulation preceding the new age. Excellent bibliographical references in the footnotes.

  Find this resource:

• Fredriksen, Paula. Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity. New York: Vintage, 1999.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A short but sound section (pp. 184–191) portrays John as a preacher of repentance and moral renewal in view of God’s coming kingdom. Following Taylor 1997 (cited under Recent Historical Monographs), John’s baptism is interpreted as a purification bath (not necessarily unrepeatable) for the removal of outward impurity, once inner purity had been achieved by repentance. In no way did this mean a criticism toward the Temple, much less an alternative to its atonement procedures.

  Find this resource:

• Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. Vol. 2, Mentor, Message, and Miracles. Anchor Bible Reference Library. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  The first part of the book (pp. 19–99) is almost a self-standing monograph on John, in which Meier scrutinizes with his proverbial scrupulousness the evidence from Josephus and the gospels and portrays John as an apocalyptic prophet with a message of doom, performing baptism as a once-and-for-all symbolic rite foreshadowing the future baptism in the Holy Spirit. Also stressed is the deep and lasting impact of John on Jesus, baptizing activity included.

  Find this resource:

• Theissen, Gerd, and Annette Merz. The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide. Translated by John Bowden. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1998.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  English translation of Der historische Jesus: Ein Lehrbuch (1996); see pp. 196–212. A clear presentation of the main issues pertaining to John the Baptist, and his affinities and differences in respect to Jesus. Argues that Josephus knew and omitted those aspects of John’s ministry that most characterize him in the Gospels: a sacramental baptism for the remissions of sins, judgment, preaching, and messianic expectation.

  Find this resource:

Historical Monographs

Research on John the Baptist knows nothing of the mass of publications that characterizes the Jesus quest, especially since the early 1980s. Here, a major monograph for each decade, or two, seems to be the rule. Although on a much-smaller scale, scholarship on John is nonetheless fully involved in the methodological, exegetical, and theological developments and tendencies operating in the wider research on the New Testament and Christian origins. For instance, among Older Historical Monographs, Dibelius 1911, Lohmeyer 1932, and Kraeling 1951 can be taken as good representatives of the era of form criticism, while the ensuing shift to redaction criticism, with its more circumspect attitude toward historicity, is fully apparent in Wink 1968 (cited under Surveys). The excitement following the discovery and the first publications of the Dead Sea Scrolls can be clearly appreciated in Scobie 1964 and the more popular Steinmann 1958, both cited under Older Historical Monographs. Finally, among Recent Historical Monographs, works such as Taylor 1997 and Webb 1991 reflect two of the major developments of Jesus studies and biblical scholarship in general since the last decade of the 20th century: (1) the search for contextual plausibility that has become the trademark of the Third Quest of the historical Jesus is perfectly evident in Joan Taylor’s overturning of the habitual way of looking at John’s baptism—from a unique symbolic rite without analogies decipherable only as a dramatization of the prophetic message, to a distinctive immersion for purity, meaningful within Second Temple Judaism and representing the point of departure for the understanding of John; (2) the same sensibility for contextual plausibility, together with the influence of the social-scientific approaches that have affected biblical scholarship since the late 1970s, can be clearly grasped in Robert Webb’s depiction of John as a leadership popular prophet akin to the millenarian “signs prophets,” whereas much of the previous scholarship, from Maurice Goguel to Charles Scobie, had remarked again and again on the radical novelty of John’s prophetic stature in a time when prophecy was supposed to be long gone.

Historiographical and Methodological Issues

Reumann 1972 points out that “‘Life-of-John study’ lacks a chronicler like Albert Schweitzer or the many surveys of Leben Jesu books” (p. 184). In the early 21st century, this statement remains true. Although many works and interpretations have appeared, no satisfactory history of research has ever been written. Anyone who is interested must consult the dated Reumann 1972 or the relevant chapter in Yamasaki 1998. Methodological discussions are likewise rare within monographs on John (although, as pointed out in the Historical Monographs section, they are clearly influenced by the trends in the wider Jesus and biblical studies). However, it is quite instructive to compare the different (indeed almost opposite) views on the matter represented in Reumann 1972 and Rothschild 2005.

• Reumann, John. “The Quest for the Historical Baptist.” In Understanding the Sacred Text: Essays in Honor of Morton S. Enslin on the Hebrew Bible and Christian Beginnings. Edited by John Reumann, 181–199. Valley Forge, PA: Judson, 1972.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A useful assessment of the research on John up to the emergence of redaction criticism, which offers short passing comments on a wide range of works before concentrating on those by Carl Kraeling and J. A. T. Robinson. The overall evaluation of the John Quest goes perhaps too far in questioning the possibility of shedding light on the historical figure of John.

  Find this resource:

• Rothschild, Clare K. Baptist Traditions and Q. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 190. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2005.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Chapter 2 addresses some methodological problems in John the Baptist research; namely, the abuse of redaction criticism and the flawed assumption that the Gospel writers systematically subordinated Jesus to John. On the contrary, the Evangelists were interested in associating Jesus with John’s prestige, with the result that more confidence should be given to the preservation of Baptist tradition.

  Find this resource:

• Yamasaki, Gary. John the Baptist in Life and Death: Audience-Oriented Criticism of Matthew’s Narrative. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  See pp. 12–32. Overviews of the history of research on John the Baptist are rare to find. This is a useful review that covers the following authors: Herman Samuel Reimarus, David Strauss, Martin Dibelius, Maurice Goguel, Ernst Lohmeyer, Carl Kraeling, William Brownlee, John Robinson, A. S. Geyser, Charles Scobie, Paul Hollenbach, Robert Webb, W. Barnes Tatum, and Joan Taylor; also includes a paragraph on redaction-critical analyses (Wolfgang Trilling, Walter Wink, John Meier).

  Find this resource:

John in Josephus

John’s presentation in Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews (Ant.) 18:116–119 (and Slavonic Josephus, if credited as relevant), is curiously different from the New Testament or in mainstream church tradition. The passage is usually discussed positively in monographs on John, but other attempts to tackle the problems of the discrepancies between these two bodies of evidence have preferred Slavonic variants (Eisler 1931) or have identified Josephus’s apologetic shaping of John (Meier 1992, Nodet 1985). Nir 2012 and Rothschild 2011 question the authenticity of the passage. See the section on Chronology and Death for further discussion.

• Eisler, Robert. The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist according to Flavius Josephus’ Recently Rediscovered ‘Capture of Jerusalem’ and the Other Jewish and Christian Sources. Translated by Alexander Haggerty Krappe. London: Methuen, 1931.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Translation of Ίησοῦς βασιλεὺς οὐ βασιλεύσας (1929–1930). Uses Slavonic Josephus (c. 13th century) as an authentic Josephan text originally written in Aramaic, with Christian interpolations, to argue that John was a Rechabite priest opposed to the Romans.

  Find this resource:

• Meier, John P. “John the Baptist in Josephus: Philology and Exegesis.” Journal of Biblical Literature 111.2 (1992): 225–237.

  DOI: 10.2307/3267541Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Examination of Ant. 18:116–119, noting reasons for its authenticity—namely, it is well attested in manuscripts and, in Origen, lacks a reference to Jesus; it occurs out of sequence for the Gospels; it has no eschatological message; and it has John praised more highly than Jesus. It is an apologetic text to ensure that John is not configured as an agitator; John’s moral teaching here agrees with Luke 3:10–14.

  Find this resource:

• Nir, Rivka. “Josephus’ Account of John the Baptist: A Christian Interpolation?” Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 10.1 (2012): 32–62.

  DOI: 10.1163/174551911X618885Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Contra Meier, Nir suggests that Ant. 18:116–119 is a Jewish Christian insertion. The manuscript tradition is questioned. John’s immersion is understood in the light of the concepts of Thomas 1935 (cited under John’s Disciples, Baptist Sects, Mandaeans) concerning the marginality of baptizing sects (including the Essenes), with their practices continuing into Jewish Christianity. Since there is a variant baptismal practice to that of normative Judaism, but similar to Qumran immersion, the passage must be Jewish Christian.

  Find this resource:

• Nodet, Etienne. “Jésus et Jean-Baptiste selon Josèphe.” Revue Biblique Jérusalem 92.3 (1985): 320–348.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Continued in Revue Biblique Jérusalem 92.4 (1985): 497–524. Argues for the authenticity of the Testimonium Flavianum as providing fewer problems than a supposition of interpolation. The second part suggests that Luke was responding to Josephus’s polemical portrayal both of Jesus and John the Baptist.

  Find this resource:

• Rothschild, Clare K. “Echo of a Whisper: The Uncertain Authenticity of Josephus’ Witness to John the Baptist.” In Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity. Vol. 1. Edited by David Hellholm, Tor Vegge, Øyvind Norderval, and Christer Hellholm, 255–290. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011.

  DOI: 10.1515/9783110247534Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Explores issues of authenticity in the passage. Literary analysis results in ambiguous results. Origen may indicate the passage but goes on to cite something not found in any extant manuscripts of Josephus regarding the destruction of Jerusalem resulting from the death of James. Eusebius also apparently cites Josephus on John, but the section in which Eusebius’s passage occurs seems different than that of extant manuscripts.

  Find this resource:

John in the Gospels

Alongside more historically oriented works, many scholars have offered valuable literary and redaction-critical analyses of the various ways the Gospels writers have portrayed John. In addition to the following works, researchers and students can find analytical treatments of the Baptist traditions within the more advanced commentaries on the Gospels, especially those published for the Hermeneia, Anchor Bible, and International Critical Commentaries series.

Chronology and Death

Hoehner 1972 argues for the version of Mark 6 being more plausible than Josephus, despite elements in Christian tradition being supplied by Josephus—for example, the name of Herodias’s daughter Salome (Antiquities of the Jews [Ant.] 18:136). However, recently the Markan (and modified Matthean) story of the death of John is often considered questionable in terms of its historicity (see Ernst 1989 and Taylor 1997, both cited under Recent Historical Monographs). Scholars today generally use Josephus Ant. 18:116–119, which has John executed at Machaerus as a preventive measure against revolt, to critique Mark’s version of the Baptist’s execution, which is seen as a developed story (Hartmann 2001). Important issues of chronology are discussed, though not resolved, in Schenk 1983, Saulnier 1984, and Chilton 2002. Literary precedents for the development of the Markan legend, particularly conniving women, are explored in Crossley 2005 and Kraemer 2006.

• Chilton, Bruce D. “John the Baptist: His Immersion and His Death.” In Dimensions of Baptism: Biblical and Theological Studies. Edited by Stanley E. Porter and Anthony R. Cross, 25–44. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Repeats Chilton 1997 (cited under Specific Contributions) with the integration of a revised chronology for John’s death. Dismissing the Synoptic chronology, Chilton places Antipas’s visit to Rome (Ant. 18:110–111) and his subsequent marriage with Herodias early on, at the time of the founding of Tiberias (19 CE), when he had advanced among Tiberius’s friends (Ant. 18:36). The death of John is therefore dated to 21 CE.

  Find this resource:

• Crossley, James G. “History from the Margins: The Death of John the Baptist.” In Writing History, Constructing Religion. Edited by James G. Crossley and Christian Karner, 147–161. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2005.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues that Mark 6:17–29 is the product of a haggadic Esther-indebted retelling of the death of John created in the first years after the rise of Agrippa I, which exploits the cultural topos of women’s dangerousness to create an apology for John and Antipas, who are presented as victims of the same manipulating woman (Herodias), whose envy led Antipas to rival Agrippa’s power.

  Find this resource:

• Hartmann, Michael. Der Tod Johannes des Täufers: Eine exegetische und rezeptionsgeschichtliche Studie auf dem Hintergrund narrativer, intertextueller und kulturanthropologischer Zugänge. Stuttgarter Biblische Beiträge 45. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2001.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A thorough exegetical, intertextual, and anthropological analysis of Mark 6:14–29, also with some observations on the diachronic development of the Markan story of John’s death and evaluations of its historicity, in view of Ant. 18:116–118 (which also receives a special treatment in the volume). John’s disciples told the story of John’s death, but this was then developed into a court setting and fitted within the schema of Markan themes.

  Find this resource:

• Hoehner, Harold W. Herod Antipas. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph 17. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1972.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Contains a chapter that considers the variant accounts and ultimately attempts to harmonize the Gospels with Josephus, arguing for the plausibility of the story as presented in Mark 6.

  Find this resource:

• Kraemer, Ross S. “Implicating Herodias and Her Daughter in the Death of John the Baptizer: A (Christian) Theological Strategy?” Journal of Biblical Literature 125.2 (2006): 321–349.

  DOI: 10.2307/27638363Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Careful examination of all problems involved in reconciling Josephus’s evidence and the Gospels, especially in regard to chronology, concluding that the Gospel accounts are designed to counter speculation that Jesus was John risen from the dead, by a story that had John’s head severed from his body and placed separately.

  Find this resource:

• Saulnier, Christiane. “Hérode Antipas et Jean le Baptiste: Quelques remarques sur les confusions chronologiques de Flavius Josèphe.” Revue Biblique Jérusalem 91.3 (1984): 362–376.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues on the basis of Josephus that Antipas and Herodias were married in the early 20s CE, before Herod Agrippa returned to Judaea in spring of 24 CE (as in Ant. 18:145–160).

  Find this resource:

• Schenk, Wolfgang. “Gefangenschaft und Tod des Täufers Erwägungen zur Chronologie und ihren Konsequenzen.” New Testament Studies 29.4 (1983): 453–483.

  DOI: 10.1017/S0028688500006287Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Suggests a later date for John’s execution, noting Josephus’s association of the event with Antipas’s defeat at the hands of Aretas, the Nabataean king, in 36 CE.

  Find this resource:

Places of Activity

The location of John’s activity around the lower Jordan River, as identified in the Byzantine era, is now a developed tourist site both on the Jordanian and Israeli sides of the border, with Byzantine monasteries and ruins nearby testifying to its long history for pilgrims. Studies prior to modern archaeological excavations could be slightly skeptical; see Ernst 1999. Scholars have focused on locating sites with precision, with discussions of Bethany beyond the Jordan in the Wadi Kharrar (Murphy-O’Connor 2013) or southwest Batanaea (Riesner 1987). Aenon near Salem is located either in Samaria (Boismard 1973, Murphy-O’Connor 2012) or in the northern Jordan Valley (Riesner 1987, Gibson 2004). Seitz 1960 explores whether a local tradition about twelve stones might have influenced John’s words in Matthew 3:9 and Luke 3:8. Schwartz 2000 situates part of John’s mission in Samaria, making sense of the traditional tomb of John being at Sebastiya.

• Boismard, Marie-Émile. “Aenon près de Salem (Jean, III, 23).” Revue Biblique 80 (1973): 218–229.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Explores the location of Aenon near Salem (John 3:23) as being at the sources of the Wadi Farah, Ain Farah, in the heart of Samaria, 12 kilometers (km) northeast of ancient Shechem, but associated with a village named Salem in the plain to the east.

  Find this resource:

• Ernst, Josef. “Wo Johannes taufte.” In Antikes Judentum und frühes Christentum: Festschrift für Hartmut Stegemann zum 65. Geburtstag. Edited by Bernd Kollmann, 350–363. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 1999.

  DOI: 10.1515/9783110806069Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Explores various theories about the placements, including those that focus on meaning. While Bethany beyond Jordan can be reasonably well determined as lying in the lower Jordan Valley, Aenon has not been identified. John’s locus as being in the region beyond the Jordan, baptizing in the river Jordan, is most assured, partly because of its importance in the heilsgeschichte of Israel.

  Find this resource:

• Gibson, Shimon. The Cave of John the Baptist. New York: Doubleday, 2004.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Supports the identification of Salem with Tel Shalem, following Eusebius’s Onomasticon (Onom.) 40:1 and the Madaba map, and also provides a summary of the remains around the Byzantine pilgrimage site on either side of the river Jordan at Bethabara. However, mainly he argues for a cave close to Ein Karim as having some significance for John the Baptist and gives details of the archaeological excavation of this cave.

  Find this resource:

• Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. “Place-Names in the Fourth Gospel (I): Aenon near Salem (Jn 3:23).” Revue Biblique 119.4 (2012): 564–584.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Rejects Eusebius’s identification of Aenon as “8 milestones south of Scythopolis” (Onom. 40:1) and proposes that Aenon was near Salem in Samaria (5 km from Nablus), though not at the springs at Ain Farah because they were malarial pools; rather, Aenon was on the eastern slope of Mount Gerizim. Jesus and John engaged in the same mission at the same time, John in Samaria and Jesus in Judea.

  Find this resource:

• Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. “Place-Names in the Fourth Gospel (II): Bethany (Jn 1:28; 11:18) and Ephraim (Jn 11:54).” Revue Biblique 120.1 (2013): 85–98.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Has a section on “Bethany beyond the Jordan” that discusses the important archaeology of the Wadi Kharrar, noting Herodian-period pottery in association with mud-brick houses that have been long gone.

  Find this resource:

• Riesner, Rainer. “Bethany beyond the Jordan (John 1:28): Topography, Theology and History in the Fourth Gospel.” Tyndale Bulletin 38.2 (1987): 29–63.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Supports the Byzantine tradition of Aenon near Salem as being the springs near Tell Shalem, 12 km south of Beth Shean (Scythopolis). Explores the location of Bethany beyond the Jordan (John 1:28) close to Byzantine Monastery of St. John, near the Wadi Charrar, but ultimately opts for “Bethany” as meaning the southwestern edge of Batanea.

  Find this resource:

• Schwartz, Joshua. “John the Baptist, the Wilderness, and the Samaritan Mission.” In Studies in Historical Geography and Biblical Historiography: Presented to Zechariah Kallai. Edited by Gershon Galil and Moshe Weinfeld, 104–117. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 81. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2000.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Identifies John’s activity as being better suited to the “Desert of Samaria,” connected with a supposed Samaritan mission of John. Spurns identification of Aenon with Tell er-Raghda but does not address the huge spring area adjacent to Tell Shalem. Locates Aenon instead at Ain el-Biddan in Samaria, 3 km south of Ain Farah and close to Salem.

  Find this resource:

• Seitz, Oscar J. F. “What Do These Stones Mean?” Journal of Biblical Literature 79.3 (1960): 247–254.

  DOI: 10.2307/3263930Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Observes that the reference to stones becoming children of Abraham (Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8) may relate to twelve stones believed to have been set up by Joshua close to the Jordan River (Joshua 4:7), thereby providing a locus for John’s activity.

  Find this resource:

John’s Diet and Clothing

Many scholars have attached special significance to the information on John’s diet and clothing reported in the Gospels. Böcher 1971 proposes that John’s ascetic diet (no meat, no wine) aimed at avoiding potential sources of demonic contamination. Others have interpreted references to locusts and wild honey as indications of an apparently Essene-type diet (Davies 1983, and also Charlesworth 2006, cited under John and the Essenes), or of a peculiar non-Essene and non-Pharisaic purity halakha observed by John (Lupieri 1988, Lupieri 2001). Taylor 1997 assigns to the notices on John’s food and clothing a meaning of a more general kind; that is, strong confidence in God’s providence (eating food found in nature) and a humble and repentant attitude (wearing a rough sackcloth). Still other studies, such as Meier 1994 and Kraeling 1951 (the latter cited under Older Historical Monographs), deny any meaning whatsoever both to food and clothing, viewing them as mere instances of what a wilderness nomad could plausibly eat and wear. An exhaustive status quaestionis on the interpretations of John’s diet is available in Kelhoffer 2005, which is the definitive work on the subject, while Kelhoffer 2004 approaches the topic in relation to the specific question of the possible Essene connection (here dismissed). On the issue of whether John’s dress was meant to recall Elijah, see also Scriptures and Models.

• Böcher, Otto. “Ass Johannes der Täufer kein Brot (Luk. vii.33)?” New Testament Studies 18.1 (1971): 90–92.

  DOI: 10.1017/S0028688500023523Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Sees the Greek ἄρτος (bread) in Luke 7:33 and Matthew 11:18 as a mistranslation of the Hebrew leḥem, which could also mean “meat,” and, on this assumption, likens John to various ancient philosophers, magicians, and mystics who purposely abstained from meat and wine to protect themselves from demonic contamination.

  Find this resource:

• Davies, Stevan L. “John the Baptist and Essene Kashruth.” New Testament Studies 29.4 (1983): 569–571.

  DOI: 10.1017/S0028688500006354Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Assuming that John was or had been an Essene, and that locusts and honey could be distinctive of an Essene diet, Davies explains John’s eating habits reported in Mark 1:6 as a strategy for keeping the Essene kashruth as he traveled in deserted or scarcely populated areas, where no Essene settlement could be found, or perhaps after separation from the Essene movement, while still keeping allegiance to his former vows.

  Find this resource:

• Kelhoffer, James A. “Did John the Baptist Eat Like a Former Essene? Locust-Eating in the Ancient Near East and at Qumran.” Dead Sea Discoveries 11.3 (2004): 293–314.

  DOI: 10.1163/1568517042643756Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues against the claim of any link between John and the Essenes, on the basis of dietary notices in Mark 1:6c and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The presence of locusts in the diet proves nothing, since eating locusts was a widespread and common habit in the ancient Near East. If there is something distinctive at all in Mark 1:6c, it is instead the lack of any qualification regarding what kind of locusts could be eaten and how to cook them.

  Find this resource:

• Kelhoffer, James A. The Diet of John the Baptist: “Locusts and Wild Honey” in Synoptic and Patristic Interpretation. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 176. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2005.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Offers an impressive amount of information and interpretations from Antiquity on locust eating and types of wild honey. Contends that while John may indeed have eaten such food from time to time, he could not have relied on it solely. Unremarkable within John’s Palestinian context, such a diet was first given theological significance by Mark (or his source) to characterize John as the herald in the desert.

  Find this resource:

• Lupieri, Edmondo. Giovanni Battista fra storia e leggenda. Biblioteca di Cultura Religiosa 53. Brescia, Italy: Paideia, 1988.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues that the notices on John’s clothing and diet represent old undeveloped traditions that originally indicated the kind of halakha followed by John, according to which only food found in nature and untouched by human hands was pure, while the dark-brown camel cloth was intentionally opposed to the priestly style of Essene linen garments (pp. 169–172).

  Find this resource:

• Lupieri, Edmondo. “‘The Law and the Prophets Were until John’: John the Baptist between Jewish Halakhot and Christian History of Salvation.” Neotestamentica 35.1–2 (2001): 49–56.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Examines John’s anti-Zadokite halakha and its subsequent Christian interpretation.

  Find this resource:

• Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. Vol. 2, Mentor, Message, and Miracles. Anchor Bible Reference Library. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues that John’s clothing identified him neither as an Elijah-like figure nor as a prophet, but it was simply common dress for nomads living in the wilderness. Similarly, locusts and wild honey were just food available in desert regions, without representing any special, religiously motivated diet (be it antidemonic, Nazirite, or Essene).

  Find this resource:

• Taylor, Joan E. The Immerser: John the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism. Studying the Historical Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  John wore camel hair sackcloth to express his attitude of humility and repentance, rather than to associate himself with prophets of old. Both his clothing and his habit of eating only what could be found naturally testify to an asceticism of total dependence on God’s providence (pp. 32–42).

  Find this resource:

John’s Disciples, Baptist Sects, Mandaeans

As examined in Ernst 1989, John had disciples during his lifetime, both in the wide sense of people who accepted his teaching and lived it out while going back to their normal lives, and in the narrow sense of a small group of followers who stayed with him and assisted him in his ministry. What is disputed is to what degree it is possible to speak of an enduring and recognizable “Baptist group” developing into a proper “Baptist sect” (or sects) rivaling the early churches with competing claims centered on John. A historical connection between the followers of John and Baptist sects of the 1st to 4th centuries (as defined in Thomas 1935 and, in terms of Mandaeans, in Rudolph 1960–1961 and Rudolph 1981) seems in the end tenuous, according to Backhaus 1991.

• Backhaus, Knut. Die “Jüngerkreise” des Täufers Johannes: Eine Studie zu den religionsgeschichtlichen Ursprüngen des Christentums. Paderborner Theologische Studien 19. Paderborn, Germany: Schöningh, 1991.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues that John’s circle of disciples—to whom Jesus did not belong, a certain spiritual rooting notwithstanding—didn’t survive its master. The widespread scholarly construct of an enduring Baptist movement rivaling Early Christianity is therefore unjustified. Rather, what we have in the Fourth Gospel and the Pseudo-Clementines is a polemic against a later 2nd-century community (with no actual link to John’s original circle) that revered John as the returned Elijah.

  Find this resource:

• Ernst, Josef. Johannes der Täufer: Interpretation, Geschichte, Wirkungsgeschichte. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1989.

  DOI: 10.1515/9783110868357Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  There may have been a group of John supporters, distinct from those who followed Jesus, who continued on. While a belief that John was the Messiah is found in the Pseudo-Clementine literature, which may be traced to the 2nd century CE, the Mandaean texts, traced to the 6th–7th centuries, do not have John as Messiah but as the great prophet and teacher of morality. Their value is difficult to affirm as a historical indicator.

  Find this resource:

• Käsemann, Ernst. “The Disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus.” In Essays on New Testament Themes. By Ernst Käsemann, 136–148. Translated by W. J. Montague. Studies in Biblical Theology 41. London: SCM, 1964.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  English translation of “Die Johannesjünger in Ephesus,” published in Exegetische Versuche und Besinnungen I (Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1960). Argues that the disciples in Ephesus in Acts 19:2ff. were actually John’s disciples, which Luke turned into an odd, embryonic, species of Christians in order to eliminate any trace of a rival Baptist community.

  Find this resource:

• Lupieri, Edmondo. The Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics. Translated by Charles Hindley. Italian Texts and Studies on Religion and Society. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  The best historical and sociological introduction to Mandaeanism to date, also offering an anthology of Mandaean texts with introduction and notes. Originally published as I mandei: Gli ultimi gnostici (Brescia, Italy: Paideia, 1993).

  Find this resource:

• Lupieri, Edmondo. Giovanni e Gesù: Storia di un antagonismo. Frecce. Rome: Carocci, 2013.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Originally appeared in 1991. A journey through the vicissitudes of the two figures and their relationship in a wide range of religious traditions: Christian, Gnostic, Jewish, Samaritan, Mandaean, Islamic, and American Indian.

  Find this resource:

• Rudolph, Kurt. Die Mandäer. 2 vols. Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 74–75. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1960–1961.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Vol. 1, Prolegomena: Das Mandäerproblem; Vol. 2, Der Kult. An important phenomenological study that explores the Mandaeans as the mysterious last representatives of Gnostic religion; also reflects comparatively on their cultic and ritual texts, which include a “Book of John.” It is noted that in Mandaean tradition the prophet John is opposed to Jesus, and the beginnings of Mandaeanism are traced speculatively to a marginalized and Gnostic Baptist group of the Jordan Valley that moved eastward and influenced Manichaeism.

  Find this resource:

• Rudolph, Kurt. Antike Baptisten: Zu den Überlieferungen über frühjudische und -christliche Taufsekten. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1981.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Places John and his disciples within the context of sects (Essenes, Baptists, Hemerobaptists, Masbotheans, Elkasaites, Mandaeans, Ebionites) that, according to Thomas 1935, formed a widespread religious movement that developed on the margins of Jewish religion between the 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE, centered on baptism as a rite taking the place of sacrificial worship, with an emphasis on asceticism, heterodoxy, and spirituality.

  Find this resource:

• Thomas, Joseph. Le mouvement baptiste en Palestine et Syrie (150 av. J.-C.–300 ap. J.-C.). Gembloux, Belgium: J. Duculot, 1935.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  These baptizing/immersing Jews (the Essenes and John the Baptist) and Jewish Christians are defined as being sectarian, forming a type of heterodox Judaism different from the mainstream and adopting baptism as a means of purifying, healing, or inclusion in a specific group, meant as a protest against the sacrificial Temple cult. The later forms are mainly reported as heresies in the writings of the Church Fathers.

  Find this resource:

John and the Essenes

A possible relationship among the Essenes, Jesus, and John was explored already in 19th-century scholarship but became particularly popular after the publication of the first Dead Sea Scrolls, identified as Essene documents. Parallels of thought and expression evidenced in the Scrolls (understood to be Essenes living at Qumran) and John are explored in Brownlee 1957 and Daniélou 1958, with Betz 1992 and Charlesworth 2006 maintaining that this indicates that John might have once been an Essene. Works since the late 20th century reject John’s being an Essene and explain such parallels in relation to a common cultural milieu, rather than in terms of a direct link, as argued in Taylor 1996, McDonald 2004, Stegemann 1998, and Lichtenberger 1992, as well as in Webb 2000 (cited under Reference Works).

• Betz, Otto. “Was John the Baptist an Essene?” In Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by Hershel Shanks, 205–216. New York: Random House, 1992.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Suggests on the basis of parallels that John was once a member of the Qumran community, but that he left to pursue an independent career.

  Find this resource:

• Brownlee, William H. “John the Baptist in the New Light of Ancient Scrolls.” In The Scrolls and the New Testament. Edited by Krister Stendahl, 33–53. London: SCM, 1957.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Points to various overlapping interests of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the message of John the Baptist, with mention in particular of Isaiah 40:3 as providing a link. John grew up with the Essenes in the wilderness, which explains Luke 1:80. Republished as recently as 1992 (New York: Crossroad).

  Find this resource:

• Charlesworth, James H. “John the Baptizer and the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Second Princeton Symposium on Judaism and Christian Origins. Vol. 3, The Scrolls and Christian Origins. Edited by James H. Charlesworth, 1–36. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Like Betz 1992, emphasizes similarities between John and the Essenes, arguing for the historical probability of a link between the two, and then offers an imaginative hypothesis explaining both John’s separation from the Qumran community and the peculiar characteristics of his subsequent independent prophetic ministry.

  Find this resource:

• Daniélou, Jean. The Dead Sea Scrolls and Primitive Christianity. Translated by Salvator Attanasio. Baltimore: Helicon, 1958.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Follows Brownlee 1957. Both John and the Essenes were located in the desert of Judaea, used Isaiah 40:3, and had priestly associations. Luke 1:80 indicates that John grew up in the desert with the Essenes, they both ate locusts and were celibate, and they both used eschatology. But John was not closed off like the Essenes and witnessed that in Jesus the Messiah had arrived.

  Find this resource:

• Lichtenberger, Hermann. “The Dead Sea Scrolls and John the Baptist: Reflections on Josephus’ Account of John the Baptist.” Paper presented at a symposium sponsored by Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi at the University of Haifa and at Tel Aviv University, 20–24 March 1988. In The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research. Edited by Devorah Dimant and Uriel Rappaport, 340–346. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 10. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1992.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues against John being an Essene, and also against Josephus as presenting John’s baptism accurately.

  Find this resource:

• McDonald, J. Ian H. “What Did You Go Out to See? John the Baptist, the Scrolls and Late Second Temple Judaism.” Paper presented at a conference held on 5–6 May 1998 at New College, Edinburgh, hosted by the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh. In The Dead Sea Scrolls in Their Historical Context. Edited by Timothy H. Lim, Larry W. Hurtado, A. Graeme Auld, and Alison Jack, 53–64. London: T&T Clark, 2004.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A useful assessment of the issue of the relationship between John and the Qumran scrolls. McDonald examines similarities and differences in relation to the following points: desert, Isaiah 40:3, asceticism, ritual purity and immersion, priestly background, and sharing of property. The conclusion is that John was distinctive and there was no relationship with Qumran, with resemblances being explicable on the basis of common Jewish tradition.

  Find this resource:

• Stegemann, Hartmut. The Library of Qumran: On the Essenes, Qumran, John the Baptist, and Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  English translation of Essener, Qumran, Johannes der Täufer und Jesus (Freiburg, Germany: Herder, 1993). Dismissing any link to Essenism, Stegemann sees John as a prophet of salvation active symbolically on the east bank of the Jordan, in order to set the situation of contemporaneous Israel in parallel to that of the “desert generation” at Joshua’s time.

  Find this resource:

• Taylor, Joan E. “John the Baptist and the Essenes.” Journal of Jewish Studies 47.2 (1996): 256–285.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Argues against the case associating John with the Essenes, on the basis of John’s character as a loner, lack of interest in forming a sect, and different eschatology. Isaiah 40:3 is interpreted differently by John to the interpretation of 1QS. Supposed parallels are often common features of Second Temple Judaism. However, John’s concept of repentance preceding immersion overlaps with what is stated in 1QS.

  Find this resource:

John’s Baptism in Context

In the past there have been attempts to trace a link between the baptism of John and either the Jewish proselyte’s immersion or some special sacrifice-substitute immersions of an alleged widespread Palestinian and pre-Christian “baptist movement” (see John’s Disciples, Baptist Sects, Mandaeans). In the early 21st century, however, scholars agree that the only plausible antecedent for John’s baptism must be reckoned in the ordinary purificatory immersions prescribed in the biblical legislation and actually widely practiced, as attested by the huge number of miqvaot that archaeologists have unearthed all around Palestine. There is, however, considerable disagreement concerning the actual meaning and functions of John’s baptism. On the one hand there are scholars who think that John prophetically reinterpreted the common purificatory immersions in an ethical and symbolic direction, therefore creating an original once-for-all ritual of moral cleansing—effecting or granting the remission of sins—that also functioned as rite de passage into a restored eschatological community. On the other hand, other scholars maintain that the nature of John’s baptism was completely in line with the ordinary immersions for the removal of ritual impurities. Among the general surveys on the topic, Ferguson 2009 and Hellholm, et al. 2011 stand out for comprehensiveness and the impressive amount of data they offer. Besides these almost encyclopedic works, several excellent overviews on baptism and immersions in Judaism, John, and the church are available: among the entries in standard biblical dictionaries, one may consult especially Taylor 2008 and the lengthier Hartman 1992, to which one may add the essay in Yarbro Collins 2000. Among the more recent full-scale monographs, Légasse 1993 and Hartman 1997 stand out, but Dunn 2010 is also useful, although it is often concerned with theological issues.

• Dunn, James D. G. Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re-examination of the New Testament Teaching on the Gift of the Spirit in Relation to Pentecostalism Today. 2d ed. London: SCM, 2010.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Originally published in 1970, the book surveys the New Testament evidence concerning the relationship between the ritual of baptism in water and the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism is seen as a rite symbolically expressing and occasioning the repentant attitude that brought the forgiveness of sins, but without any sacramental efficacy.

  Find this resource:

• Ferguson, Everett. Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A comprehensive study surveying five centuries of theological, liturgical, and artistic evidence on early Christian baptismal practice, with extensive treatment also of pagan and Jewish washings. Argues for the originality and nonderivability of John’s baptism as a once-for-all ritual mediating the forgiveness of sins (in polemical competition with the Temple), with a strong eschatological dimension and an initiatory function.

  Find this resource:

• Hartman, Lars. “Baptism.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 1, A–C. Edited by David Noel Freedman, 583–594. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  See Hartman 1997. A more concise treatment for a standard reference work.

  Find this resource:

• Hartman, Lars. “Into the Name of the Lord Jesus”: Baptism in the Early Church. Studies of the New Testament and Its World. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1997.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A survey of the New Testament evidence on baptism. The first Christians inherited and Christianized the baptism of John while retaining its constitutive and distinctive dimensions: the eschatological framework, the efficacy in view of the forgiveness of sins, the rite de passage character, and its community orientation. The book is the English translation of “Auf den Namen des Herrn Jesus”: Die Taufe in die Neutestamentlichen Schriften, which appeared in 1992 (Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk).

  Find this resource:

• Hellholm, David, Tor Vegge, Øyvind Norderval, and Christer Hellholm, eds. Ablution, Initiation, and Baptism: Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity. 3 vols. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011.

  DOI: 10.1515/9783110247534Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A multilanguage, massive reference work. Of special interest for students of John is the first volume, which treats the subject in respect to Egyptian and Mandaean water rituals, Greco-Roman mystery cults, Gnostic texts, Manichaeism, Early Judaism and Jewish intertestamental literature, and Early Christianity and the New Testament. Especially relevant are three articles on Jewish purification rites and Christian baptism (by Antje Labahn and by Seán Freyne) and proselyte baptism (by Dieter Sänger).

  Find this resource:

• Légasse, Simon. Naissance du baptême. Lectio Divina 153. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1993.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  A sound inquiry on the origins of the Christian baptism, particularly focused on the Gospel narratives about John and Jesus. Légasse sees the Christian rite as a reprise of the main features of John’s baptism (passive, once for all, warranting forgiveness), which in turn was practiced by Jesus in an early phase of his career.

  Find this resource:

• Taylor, Joan E. “Baptism.” In The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. 3, I–Ma. Edited by Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, 390–395. Nashville: Abingdon, 2008.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Summary of immersions in biblical law and Early Judaism, with Taylor’s thesis regarding John’s “baptism of repentance” presented as understandable in the light of Josephus’s testimony of it being a “purification of the body” after the soul’s cleansing by righteousness (Antiquities of the Jews 18:116). In Luke-Acts, Hebrews, and Didache, the imparting of the Holy Spirit was associated with this type of baptism, creating a distinctive Christian practice antecedent to Pauline innovations.

  Find this resource:

• Yarbro Collins, Adela. “The Origin of Christian Baptism.” In Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism. By Adela Yarbro Collins, 218–238. Brill’s Scholars’ List. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2000.

  Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

  Sees John’s baptism as a prophetical reinterpretation in ethical terms of the Levitical purificatory washings, within a framework of eschatological expectation of judgment, and argues for an unbroken continuity in the baptismal practice from John and Jesus to the early Christians.

  Find this resource:

John as a Prophet / Eschatological Teaching

The prophetic understanding of John the Baptist has always been the dominant paradigm within scholarly research, as shown by the fact that many monographs on John treat the topic of his baptism only after the study of his prophetic message. Many works have investigated the social typology of John as a prophet, the influence of the Hebrew Scriptures on his ministry and preaching, and questions related to his eschatological proclamation (e.g., the identity of the Coming / Stronger One and the nature of his baptism).

John and Jesus

The issue of the relationship between John and Jesus is a crucial one within the quest of the historical Jesus, as can be seen from the divide in post-1990 research between proponents of an apocalyptic Jesus in strong continuity with John (e.g., Meier 1994, cited under John in Books on the Historical Jesus) and advocates of a sapiential non-eschatological Jesus who broke with John’s apocalyptic outlook (e.g., Crossan 1991, cited under John in Books on the Historical Jesus). Most scholars, however, opt for a middle way, where a fundamental formative influence of John on Jesus is acknowledged, while on the whole the points of discontinuity are given more weight. Besides assessments of similarities and dissimilarities, every sort of developmental theory—often very original and imaginative—have been proposed in order to explain the relationship between the two (Did John ever recognize in Jesus the Coming One? Did Jesus try to fit this expectation?) and how Jesus shifted from John’s discipleship (which is assumed by most scholars) to his own original ministry (Was baptism part of his activity? How long? And how was it left aside?).