Purification in the Fourth Gospel in Light of Qumran

A number of recent discoveries have shed new light on ancient Jewish purity rituals, the topic of Hannah Harrington’s essay. Within Judaism, water rituals were associated with, and carried out in anticipation of, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and new life. Previous scholarship tended to view the Fourth Gospel’s conceptual connections among water, life, and Spirit as a peculiar development within the Johannine tradition that had no clear precedent in ancient Judaism. The scrolls challenge the notion that John’s outlook was unique and establish a much richer understanding of the broader Jewish theological context from which Johannine thought emerged.