Dr Wink examines the treatment of John in the Gospels, Acts and the Q source.

An analysis that challenges the conventional Christian hierarchy of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth While the Christian tradition has subordinated John the Baptist to Jesus of Nazareth, John himself would likely have disagreed with that ranking. In this eye-opening new book, John the Baptist in History and Theology, Joel Marcus makes a powerful case that John saw himself, not Jesus, as the proclaimer and initiator of the kingdom of God and his own ministry as the center of God's saving action in history. Although the Fourth Gospel has the Baptist saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease," Marcus contends that this and other biblical and extrabiblical evidence reveal a continuing competition between the two men that early Christians sought to muffle. Like Jesus, John was an apocalyptic prophet who looked forward to the imminent end of the world and the establishment of God's rule on earth. Originally a member of the Dead Sea Sect, an apocalyptic community within Judaism, John broke with the group over his growing conviction that he himself was Elijah, the end-time prophet who would inaugurate God's kingdom on earth. Through his ministry of baptism, he ushered all who came to him—Jews and non-Jews alike—into this dawning new age. Jesus began his career as a follower of the Baptist, but, like other successor figures in religious history, he parted ways from his predecessor as he became convinced of his own centrality in God's purposes. Meanwhile John's mass following and apocalyptic message became political threats to Herod Antipas, who had John executed to abort any revolutionary movement. Based on close critical-historical readings of early texts—including the accounts of John in the Gospels and in Josephus's Antiquities—as well as parallels from later religious movements, John the Baptist in History and Theology situates the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism and compares him to other apocalyptic thinkers from ancient and modern times. It concludes with thoughtful reflections on how its revisionist interpretations might be incorporated into the Christian faith.

The earliest of the four Gospels, the book portrays Jesus as an enigmatic figure, struggling with enemies, his inner and external demons, and with his devoted but disconcerted disciples. Unlike other gospels, his parables are obscure, to be explained secretly to his followers. With an introduction by Nick Cave

"Clare K. Rothschild offers the first comprehensive examination of why current models of Q feature traditions concerning John the Baptist both prominently and favorably. A close hermeneutical investigation of the NT Gospels, including literary phenomena such as the double attribution of sayings to John and to Jesus, contradictions among sayings of Jesus, and significant thematic continuities between Baptist traditions and Q sayings on topics such as the Son of Man and Kingdom of God, support the argument that at some point in the undoubtedly complex pre-history of its redactions Q existed as a source of Baptist traditions exclusively. This study also includes an important new interpretation of the Markan transfiguration narrative."--BOOK JACKET.

"What was Jesus' relationship with John the Baptist? Did Jesus baptize people like John? Where did Christian baptism come from? In this book Dr. Dapaah looks at these and other important questions, coming up with some intriguing answers. His well-written work offers thought-provoking insights into the questions of the historical Jesus, and I very warmly commend it." — David Wenham, Dean and Lecturer, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University

Examines how and why the authors of the first three Gospels shaped the story of John the Baptist around the story of Jesus. Careful comparison of these foundational texts yields not only the perspectives of the Synoptic authors but also a provisional sketch of the historical figure of the Baptist, which is then placed within the religious, political and economic context of first-century C.E. Judea. Special attention is given to the interface between John and the Qumran community that scholars have proposed ever since the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.

For the first time in nearly 50 years, a casual yet informative method to learn about John the Baptist… "Why did each of the four evangelists make John the gateway to the Gospel, the first preacher of Good News? What were the reasons for the early Church's intense interest in a desert hermit whose public ministry lasted two years or less? Why in early Christian tradition was John the Baptist accorded an exalted religious stature, almost equal to that of Mary? The irony is that most modern scholarship on John has missed the true sources of his religious significance…in his links to Christ and to the very earliest beginnings of the Christian religion."—from the Introduction Alexander Burke pieces together the mystery of this well-known disciple of Jesus one chapter at a time, covering John's preaching, arrest and execution, his role in Eastern and Western Christian Tradition, and the many paradoxes surrounding him. An excellent resource for group or individual study, John the Baptist offers questions for reflection at the end of each chapter. Discover a fresh perspective of John the Baptist. Let him rise to the top of the beadroll of Christian heroes where Jesus believed he belonged. Step back and see the beautiful mosaic of mysteries that made up this fascinating saint's life.