The Immerser: John the Baptist Within Second Temple Judaism (Studying the Historical Jesus)

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Summary: Essential resource on John the Baptist
Review: This book is Volume II in an ongoing series called "Studying the Historical Jesus", edited by Bruce Chilton and Craig Evans, a thorough and superb study of John the Baptist. Taylor refutes (once and for all, hopefully) theories which associate John with the Essenes: He lived in the wilderness himself, but he sent people home after baptizing them; he was an ascetic, but the particular foods he rejected were accepted by the Essenes; he wore camel hair sackcloth, the Essenes wore white garments; he lived in the lower Jordan, they lived on the western shores of the Dead Sea. Enough is enough! About the Pharisees, Taylor concludes that they were probably not overly hostile to John. They may have disagreed with the belief that a purification rite like baptism needed prior repentance, but they certainly would not have been offended by a prophet who was turning sinners back to righteousness. Her chapter dealing with John's execution is very helpful, probably the best in the book. She notes that unlike other wilderness prophets of the first century (whose followers were also rounded up and slaughtered), John did not gather people in order to march on Jerusalem. He did believe that the Kingdom was coming -- and thus that the powers-that-be would soon "get their due" -- but his methods were less seditious, as he sent people home to await the Kingdom after they were baptized. But Herod Antipas no doubt worried that this "Baptist movement" could flower into the popular form of prophetic revolution, and so John's criticism of his marriage was just the excuse he needed to do away with him. Finally, Taylor explores the relationship between John and Jesus, suggesting that Jesus counted himself among the followers of the Baptist who needed repentance, and who upon immersion had a prophetic calling, went out into the wilderness himself...and then began his own movement, in which he continued the practice of baptizing.

This book is satisfyingly through, about twice the length of other books in this series, whose titles so far are: "Pure Kingdom" by Bruce Chilton, "God's Final Envoy" by Marinus de Jonge, and "Jesus Outside the New Testament" by Robert Van Voorst. May there be many more installments to come.