Posts from April 2025

Last week in this space, we considered the work of John the Baptist. John’s baptism was something unique in its time, though it drew on Jewish background. Like other Jewish ritual washings, John’s baptism was an immersion. Like them, too, it was associated with purification and cleansing. But John’s baptism was something altogether different in several ways. It was administered by him rather than being self-administered—hence his title “the Baptizer” or “the Immerser.” Further, while related to cleansing, it operated…