“It is not as though our choice is between history and imagination. Our only choice is between historically informed imagination and imagination unconstrained by historical evidence.” (pg 156 of Christmaker by James F McGrath)

Who was “John the Baptist”? You might feel like you already know the answer, or you might not even care about that question, but either way, James McGrath’s recent pair of works (Christmaker and John of History, Baptist of Faith) will very likely change your mind.

In this conversation we dive right in on what motivated McGrath to take this deeper look into the historical sources on John, who the Mandaeans are, and what a nice kid from Brooklyn is doing in a life of Biblical studies.

In the intro I mention that James wrote the introduction to Alan Streett’s most recent book (which I talk with him about in this podcast) and that I wrote a review of a book that he contributed to for RSR (The Biblical World of Gender) over here. This conversation was a long time coming!

James was an extremely kind & gracious conversation partner, and I hope you appreciate this conversation even half as much as I did!

Marc Jolicoeur (aka Jolly Thoughts) is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Keywords:

John the Baptist, Jesus, influence, Gospel of Matthew, message, Brood of Vipers

Chapters:

00:01 - Intro

03:10 - The Journey to Biblical Scholarship

05:20 - Exploring John the Baptist: The Christmaker

08:00 - Researching John the Baptist: A Year of Discovery

10:20 - The Influence of John on Jesus

13:30 - The Mandaic Connection: Understanding John the Baptist

16:10 - Jesus as a Disciple of John the Baptist

19:15 - Implications for Christian Faith and Practice

32:42 - Exploring the John the Baptist Movement

35:24 - The Historical Context of Baptism

39:47 - Baptism: A New Approach to Forgiveness

48:18 - Rebaptism and Its Significance

55:18 - John the Baptist: A Unique Figure in History

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