Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Walking in the Footsteps of John the Baptist - The Samaritans

  


Walking in the Footsteps of John the Baptist - The Samaritans

James McGrath has recently traveled to Israel to walk in the footsteps of John the Baptist. I thought it might be of interest that we journey with James as well to discover the early days of Jesus' ministry through his cousin John. Enjoy.

R.E. Slater
August 25, 2022



The Samaritans: A Profile

by James F. McGrath
July 6, 2022

Reinhardt Pummer’s book The Samaritans: A Profile offers an extremely helpful overview of the history literature and archaeology of the Samaritans including some of scholars’ most significant debates and discussions about where they came from who they are and how we answer those questions.

While most academics who study ancient Judaism and/or early Christianity will know a little about the Samaritans, few of us know as much as we ought to. Among the important topics that Pummer covers is how we know Josephus is wrong about certain details related to the Samaritans, the Samaritan synagogues that have been excavated, and the texts and phrases that appear on Samaritan amulets.

For me in particular, the discussion of Dositheus and Simon Magus is especially interesting, since the Syriac author Theodore bar Koni identified the Mandaeans as “Dostheans.” Samaritan literature talks quite a bit about the Dustan sect which abolished feasts and blood sacrifice, expected the resurrection of the dead to happen soon, and prayed standing in water. That this might have something to do with John the Baptist’s movement is a very intriguing possibility. According to Samaritan sources, Dositheans persisted among them until the 9th century. Other subjects, such as Samaritan music and their history over the past millennium, are also things that I found profoundly interesting.


In 2012 the Israel Nature and Parks Authority began new works under the authority of the Civil Administration, and two weeks ago a newly restored, impressive Samaritan residential compound was open for visitors, enabling them to experience history by walking through the ancient rooms.

The compound, dated at around 200-300 BCE, is part of a large city from the Persian and Hellenistic periods which was built around a sacred precinct where once stood the Samaritan Temple, and where today stands the remains of a large Byzantine church built on top of the destroyed Temple, a heavy wall cutting right through the holy Samaritan site where Samaritan tradition holds the Tabernacle stood. During the Muslim period a military guard post was built over one of the church’s towers.

The archaeological remains go back about 2,400 years, said site director Netanel Elimelech, with the remains of the Samaritan Temple from the Persian era the oldest.


The blog Scribes of the Kingdom mentioned Simon Magus, a Samaritan who may help make a connection between John the Baptist and Gnosticism in general (as well as perhaps the Mandaeans more specifically):

John Squires wrote a couple of blog posts on Samaria in the Gospel of Luke:

Ian Paul discussed the passage in which Samaritans reject Jesus:

I will soon blog about my first visit to Samaria this summer. Stay tuned!


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Samaritans

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Samaritans
ࠔࠌࠓࠉࠌ
שומרונים
السامريون
Samaritans marking Passover on Mount Gerizim, West Bank - 20060418.jpg
Samaritans marking Passover on Mount Gerizim near Nablus
Total population
~840 (2021)[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Israel (Holon)460 (2021)Total [sic] in 2021 - 840 souls[1]
Total in 2018 – 810 souls[1]
Total number on 1.1.2017 - 796 persons, 381 souls on Mount Gerizim and 415 in the State of Israel, of the 414 males and 382 females.[1]
 State of Palestine[a] (Kiryat Luza)380 (2021)[1]
Languages
Modern spoken languages:
Israeli HebrewLevantine Arabic
Liturgical languages:
Samaritan HebrewSamaritan Aramaic
Religion
Samaritanism
Related ethnic groups
Jews; other Semitic-speaking peoples (Levantine ArabsMandaeans, etc.)

Samaritans (/səˈmærɪtənz/Samaritan Hebrewࠔࠠࠌࠝࠓࠩࠉࠌ‎,[3] romanized: Šā̊merīmtransl. Guardians/Keepers [of the Torah]; HebrewשומרוניםromanizedŠōmrōnīmArabicالسامريونromanizedas-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group whose traditions affirm they descend from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic and ethnic religion.

Samaritan tradition states that they descend from the northern Israelite tribes who were not deported by the Neo-Assyrian Empire after the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel. They believe that Samaritanism is the true religion of the ancient Israelites, preserved by those who remained in Palestine during the Babylonian captivity;[4] this belief is held in opposition to Judaism, the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, which Samaritans see as a closely related but altered and amended religion brought back by Judeans returning from Babylonian captivity. Samaritans consider Mount Gerizim (near both Nablus and biblical Shechem), and not the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, to be the holiest place on Earth.[5][6]

Once a large community, the Samaritan population shrunk significantly in the wake of the bloody suppression of the Samaritan Revolts against the Byzantine Empire (mainly in 525 CE and 555 CE). Mass conversions to Christianity under the Byzantines, and later to Islam following the Arab conquest of the Levant, also reduced their numbers significantly.[7] In the 12th century, the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela estimated that only around 1,900 Samaritans remained in the regions of Palestine and Syria.[8]

As of 2022, the total Samaritan population stands at less than 1,000 people. The Samaritan community is divided between Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim and the Samaritan compound in Holon.[b][10] The head of the community is the Samaritan High Priest. Samaritans in Holon primarily speak Israeli Hebrew, while those in Kiryat Luza speak Levantine Arabic; for the purposes of liturgy, the languages of Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic are used, written in the Samaritan script. There are also a small number of Samaritans living outside the Levant, in Brazil and in Catania (Sicily), Italy. [11]

Samaritans have a standalone religious status in Israel, and there are occasional conversions from Judaism to Samaritanism and vice-versa, largely due to interfaith marriages. While Israel's rabbinic authorities came to consider Samaritanism to be a sect of Judaism,[12] the Chief Rabbinate of Israel requires Samaritans to undergo a formal conversion to Judaism in order to be officially recognized as Halakhic JewsRabbinic literature rejected Samaritans unless they renounced Mount Gerizim as the historical Israelite holy site.[c] Samaritans possessing only Israeli citizenship in Holon are drafted into the Israel Defense Forces, while those holding dual Israeli and Palestinian citizenship in Kiryat Luza are exempted from mandatory military service.


This is an extensive article. The remainder of it may be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans


Walking in the Footsteps of John the Baptist - Part 1

 


Walking in the Footsteps of John the Baptist, Part 1

James McGrath has recently traveled to Israel to walk in the footsteps of John the Baptist. I thought it might be of interest that we journey with James as well to discover the early days of Jesus' ministry through his cousin John. Enjoy.

R.E. Slater
August 25, 2022




In the Footsteps of John the Baptist Part 1:
From the Mediterranean Sea to the Sea of Galilee

by James F. McGrath
June 27, 2022


As I prepared for my recent trip to the Holy Land focused on John the Baptist, there were moments when I wondered whether it would accomplish what I hoped for. Would standing in the same places that John, his followers, and his critics stood lead to any new insights or raise new questions? The answer came as I made a quick visit to Joppa (Yafo), the ancient port city on the Mediterranean, since it is so close to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. We aren’t told that John or early Christians ever baptized someone in the Mediterranean Sea. Why not, especially given that there are stories about the early Christian movement in the Book of Acts that take place in Joppa and in Caesarea Maritima? Even if John’s immersion ritual was focused on forgiveness rather than ritual purification, he shared the belief that flowing water (in Aramaic “living water”) was necessary for it to be valid. Whether there were baptisms in Lake Tiberias (more often called the “Sea of Galilee” even though it isn’t a sea) we are not told, but from the perspective of Jewish thought the lake was a natural mikveh or immersion pool, since it had water flowing into it as well as out of it. The Mandaeans still emphasize this, whereas ultimately Christianity abandoned the requirement that water not be “cut off” in order for it to be valid for baptism. Christian baptism is relevant but should not be the only lens through which scholars approach John’s baptism. Christianity took its symbolism as well as the practice itself in very different directions.

I will write more in subsequent posts about places that I stayed and visited during the trip. For now let me just get this series started with the above brief words, providing indication that the trip proved relevant to my research aims right from the first day, although subsequent days would seem far more revelatory in exciting ways. Let me also share some recent links to posts and articles elsewhere related to John the Baptist. Also, at the end there’s a photo from my trip that connects with another of the topics I blog about here frequently…



I see the relation of Jesus and John the Baptist as very important historically and theologically. You are of course right that some of John’s disciples became Jesus’ disciples, though I am not sure if their history with John would make them continue his baptizing work when they transferred to Jesus, if Jesus was not in favour of it! I take it that Jesus was a ‘baptist’ (John 3:25,4:1) even though the hands-on work of baptizing was done on his behalf by his disciples (as was probably also the case later with Paul and his team of companions). I think there is some reason to think that Jesus’ baptizing may have been embarrassing to early Christians, since it could be argued, and may well have been argued by some followers of John the Baptist, that the one who baptizes is greater than the one baptized; Jesus could have been seen as John’s disciple, as ‘he who comes after me’. John’s gospel clearly wants to refute that idea; see John 3:26-36, and I suspect that John 4:2 is the evangelist distancing Jesus from John in response to this discussion. We see not only John, but also Matthew responding to the same sort of question in 3:13-15.

In part five of the same interview he says that he views John as having at one point been part of the Qumran community, before charting his own course. On that subject also have a listen to this podcast featuring Sidnie White Crawford talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls. In part eleven of the Witherington-Wenham conversation they discuss why Jesus discussed his identity with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi. Has anyone suggested that it is because that place is a key source of the Jordan River, and thus the location was a perfect one to discuss whether Jesus was John the Baptist, and if not, who he was?



I have been giving a lot of thought to the question of whether John the Baptist was a nazirite, and what the implications are for how we understand various aspects of his life and teaching. The recent article by Richard Lederman about the nazir and their hair is relevant to this subject.

Let me also share this blog post from James Tabor in which he shared a video of a lecture about John the Baptist with particular focus on his ethical teaching:

Here is a direct link to the video:


Tracking John the Baptizer and His Followers - Including Jesus!
May 4, 2022

New textual and archaeological evidence on "Yochanan HaMatvil," or "John the Dipper," including the Suba cave west of Jerusalem.

I have uploaded a much shorter private camera version of this lecture before but this one has the slides--they are not the best quality but better than nothing. I am "resurrecting" some of these older lectures because they not only capture the times--but also cover materials that I have not touched upon in many years. This one was done in 2006. All the handouts and references are now found at https://jamestabor.com. Just do a search for "John the Baptist."

This lecture was part a Biblical Archaeology Society seminar, publishers of the premiere archaeology magazine, Biblical Archaeology Review. It is used with permission.

I encourage viewers to subscribe to the incredible BAS Library, with thousands of articles, books, and videos. There is nothing like this rich archive that covers
every major topic and discovery for more than 40 years. Unlimited access to the library is available for a small annual subscription price, see: https://www.baslibrary.org.


Finally, here I am at the place where the Jordan River starts (or more accurately resumes) at the southern end of Lake Tiberias. Note the Mandalorian shirt. The theme of the trip could perhaps have been “This is the Way (of John the Baptist).” The early Christian movement, according to Acts, was known as “the Way,” after all, and it might well be that that designation was taken over from John’s movement. It probably wasn’t the only one that Christianity inherited…




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John the Baptist

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John the Baptist
Titian - St John the Baptist in the Desert - WGA22807.jpg
Prophet
Bornc. 1st century BC[1]
Herodian TetrarchyRoman Empire
Diedc. AD 28–36[2][3][4][5][6]
Machaerus, Herodian Tetrarchy, Roman Empire
Venerated inChristianity (all denominations which venerate saints), IslamDruze Faith,[7] Baháʼí FaithMandaeism
CanonizedPre-Congregation
Major shrine
Feast
AttributesRed martyr, camel-skin robe, cross, lamb, scroll with words "Ecce Agnus Dei-", platter with own head, pouring water from hands or scallop shell
PatronageSee Commemoration

John the Baptist[note 1] (c. 1st century BC – c. AD 30) was a mission preacher active in the area of Jordan River in the early 1st century AD.[19][20] He is also known as John the Forerunner in ChristianityJohn the Immerser in some Baptist Christian traditions,[21] and Prophet Yahya in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively referred to as John the Baptizer.[22][23][24]

John is mentioned by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus[25] and he is revered as a major religious figure[26] in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith,[27] the Druze Faith, and Mandaeism. He is considered to be a prophet of God by all of these faiths, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian denominations. According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself,[28] and the Gospels portray John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus.[29] Jesus himself identifies John as "Elijah who is to come",[30] which is a direct reference to the Book of Malachi (Malachi 4:5),[31] that has been confirmed by the angel who announced John's birth to his father, Zechariah.[32] According to the Gospel of Luke, John and Jesus were relatives.[33][34]

Some scholars maintain that John belonged to the Essenes, a semi-ascetic Jewish sect who expected a messiah and practiced ritual baptism.[35][36] John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament[37] of his pre-messianic movement. Most Christian scholars agree that John baptized Jesus,[38][39] and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus' early followers had previously been followers of John.[40]

According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas around AD 30 after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife Phasaelis and then unlawfully wedding Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip I. Josephus also mentions John in the Antiquities of the Jews and states that he was executed by order of Herod Antipas in the fortress at Machaerus.[41]

The Preaching of St. John the Baptist by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566

Followers of John existed well into the 2nd century AD, and some proclaimed him to be the messiah.[42] In modern times, the followers of John the Baptist are the Mandaeans, an ancient ethnoreligious group who believe that he is their greatest and final prophet.[43][44]



This is an extensive article - it continues here: