John the Baptist

==In Josephus's ''Antiquities of the Jews''==
An account of John the Baptist is found in all extant manuscripts of the ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'' (book 18, chapter 5, 2) by [[Flavius Josephus]] (37–100):<ref>"Josephus, Flavius." In: Cross, F. L. (ed.) (2005) ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', 3rd ed. Oxford University Press</ref>

{{blockquote|Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's [Antipas's] army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to [[Machaerus|Macherus]], the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him.<ref name="Josephus18a">[[Flavius Josephus]], [http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-18.htm ''Jewish Antiquities'' 18. 5. 2.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000901024533/http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-18.htm |date=1 September 2000 }} (Translation by William Whiston). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0145%3Abook%3D18%3Awhiston+chapter%3D5%3Awhiston+section%3D2 Original Greek] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901045622/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0145%3Abook%3D18%3Awhiston+chapter%3D5%3Awhiston+section%3D2 |date=1 September 2021 }}.</ref>}}

According to this passage, the execution of John was blamed for the defeat Herod suffered. Some have claimed that this passage indicates that John died near the time of the destruction of Herod's army in AD 36. However, in a different passage, Josephus states that the end of Herod's marriage with Aretas's daughter (after which John was killed) was only the beginning of hostilities between Herod and Aretas, which later escalated into the battle.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hoehner|first1=Harold W.|title=Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ|page=101|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fS28b9GC1dcC&pg=PA101|isbn=9780310877103|date=10 August 2010|publisher=Zondervan Academic|access-date=18 June 2017|archive-date=26 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026090936/https://books.google.com/books?id=fS28b9GC1dcC&pg=PA101#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Biblical scholar [[John Dominic Crossan]] differentiates between Josephus's account of John and Jesus, saying, "John had a monopoly, but Jesus had a franchise." To get baptized, Crossan writes, a person went only to John; to stop the movement one only needed to stop John (therefore his movement ended with his death). Jesus invited all to come and see how he and his companions had already accepted the government of God, entered it and were living it. Such a communal praxis was not just for himself, but could survive without him, unlike John's movement.<ref>Crossan, John Dominic (2007), ''God and Empire'', London: HarperCollins, p. 117 ff</ref>