Is Baptism a Jewish Ritual?

Factual Questions
1

In passing in this thread Danielinthewolvesden makes a passing note that Christianity got baptism from Judaism via John the Baptist. Without any offense to DITWD intended, of course, is this correct? I know of the micvah (sp?), and that it is required for conversion, but does it translate to Christian baptism? And did John the Baptist have to fight his way through crowds of other baptizing Jewish religious leaders to get a choice spot on the banks of the Jordan?

Sua

2

What Daniel probably meant was there were various Jewish sects that had such rituals around this period.

I forget exactly where, but on one of these threads this was discussed recently.

You’ll have to pardon his shorthand!

3

Yes and no.

Judaism had the ritual of the mikveh, a ritual bath used for ritual purification, since very ancient times (like, say, 1250 BC or so). There were all sorts of restrictions around what kind of water, (flowing water like a river was a no-no, it needed to be collected water), full immersion, etc. But the symbolism of cleansing (physically) as a metaphor for cleansing (spiritually) was very clear.

One could become “impure” in a variety of ways, from having contact with a dead body to having a menstrual period. ((ASIDE: Before anyone gets riled up, the flow of blood was viewed by traditional Judaism as symbolic of death, and hence a menstrual flow was viewed as a death-symbol and so made a woman impure. This was not a sexist thing, but a simple identification of flowing blood with death.))

BTW, one way that archaeologists know that they have uncovered a Jewish settlement rather than a Philistine settlement, is whether there is a mikveh.

OK, where was I? Oh, yeah. So the notion of physical cleansing representing spiritual cleansing was taken into Christianity from Judaism as the underlying motif behind the Baptism ritual. However, baptism brought in other elements all its own, very different from Judaic ritual. John the B used the river, for instance, into which people waded publically (presumably fully clothed). That’s very different from the mikveh tradition.

So, yes, baptism did “borrow” (or evolve, as you choose) some concepts from Judaism. And it struck out on its own, as well.