Bethany Beyond The Jordan (John 1:28) Topography, Theology And History In The Fourth Gospel -- By: Rainer Riesner

Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 38:1 (NA 1987)
Article: Bethany Beyond The Jordan (John 1:28) Topography, Theology And History In The Fourth Gospel
Author: Rainer Riesner


Bethany Beyond The Jordan (John 1:28)
Topography, Theology And History In The Fourth Gospel

Rainer Riesner

For Bargil Pixner OSB on his 65th Birthday

The Tyndale New Testament Lecture 1986

I. Introduction

One of my friends, who has a most noteworthy biography, is Bargil Pixner.1 He was born in the South Tyrol, and as a young German soldier opposed to Hitler’s National Socialism he almost paid with his life. After the War a political career was open to him in his native land, but he became a missionary and for many years he was, among other things, the leader of a leprosy station in the Philippines. Since 1968 he has lived in Israel and belongs to the Benedictine Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He has two main concerns in his life: first, he strives to bring about unity among Christians, and hopes to achieve this preeminently through corporate prayer and the study of the Scriptures; secondly, he has dedicated himself to the investigation of biblical topography and archaeology. In this area his most important contribution is probably the claim that in New Testament times the Essene Quarter was situated on Mt Zion, that is on the south- western hill of old Jerusalem.2

The stimulus for the following exposition I owe to Bargil Pixner. The interpretation of the Johannine topographical designation ‘Bethany beyond the Jordan’ which I advocate here, was his own independent discovery. Later on, as a matter of fact,

we saw that already in 1877 a famous topographer of the Holy Land, Claude R. Conder, had advocated the same view. On the other hand Captain Conder does not seem to have known that there was an allusion to this interpretation as early as 1658 by another Englishman, John Lightfoot, in the Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae. Perhaps we can only make ‘new’ discoveries in New Testament exegesis because in the meantime we have forgotten the history of the investigation of the New Testament at least before the middle of the last century. Over against this particular scepticism I hope, however, to be able to formulate some fresh observations which may be helpful for understanding the characteristics of John’s Gospel.

My interest in the old topographical riddle ‘Bethany beyond the Jordan’ was awakened in 1982 during an excursion with Bargil Pixner to Tel Salem, some 12 km south of Beth Shean, the old Scythopolis. The earliest tradition we...

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