Part Two, The Jordan is Not Just Water Summary and Analysis

The quotes at the beginning of this section comment on the similarities between spiritual traditions in America, Africa, and the Far East.

The author comments at length on the writings of the historian Josephus, a primary source of information about the socio-political world in which Jesus lived and taught. A primary focus of Josephus' writings, the author points out, was the Jewish belief faith that "some massive and world shaking divine intervention" will transform their world and the way they inhabit it, a philosophy that the author defines as both apocalyptic and messianic. These factors, he adds, must be taken into account when considering Josephus' writings about John the Baptist.

Here the author points out that Josephus and his work were governed as much by the political...