Was John the Baptist Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Essene, or Mandaean?

Answer 1

John the Baptist was born Jewish racial and raised in the Jewish faith. The Christian faith would not begin until several years after his death. The Muslim religion would be founded until 600 years after his death. So he could not be considered part of either faith.

The Essene were a sect within the Jewish religion, so a member of the faith would still be Jewish. Like a Baptist would be a Christian. There is no historical or Bible evidence that connects John with the Essene sect. They are sometimes associated with each other because the Essene also praticed a form of baptism.

The Mandaeans are a group which hold John the Baptist to be their dounder, and reject Jesus as a false Messiah. Then you come to the question, is Jesus a Christan? Is Buddha a Buddist? Is the founder of a religion considered to be a follower of that religion? You will have to make your own call on that one.

So the one that is "safe" is say is that he was Jewish.

Answer 2

You mention several overlapping categories, which confuses things. He was not a Muslim unless you are simply using this term to denote someone who submits to God. Islam as an organized religion arose significantly later. He clearly was Jewish. The Mandaeans may or may not be a group that traces its roots back to him, but since all our sources about Mandaeism is much later, we cannot simply read these sources and assume they tell us about the historical John the Baptist.

Was he an Essene? This is a Jewish sect and so still under the Jewish category. If he was at some point, he was no longer part of that group when he appeared publicly in the way described in Josephus and the New Testament - his baptism, and openness to others, are different from the emphases found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (our primary source of knowledge about the Essenes).

There is no evidence that he was a Christian. The Gospel of John makes him a clear believer, but the earlier evidence from the Synoptic Gospels indicates that he had doubts - which may suggest that he thought Jesus might be the Messiah, the "one who is to come" that he predicted, but he was not entirely certain. The ongoing existence of groups connected with John but with no knowledge of Jesus seems to confirm this (such groups are mentioned in the New Testament in Acts, and their existence seems to be implied by the Gospel of John as well; they are also mentioned in the Pseudo-Clementine literature).

Answer 3

The accounts by St. Luke in the original translations say his parents were Zachary who was a Priest of the course of Abia and Elizabeth -- the first cousin of Mary, the Blessed Virgin -- who lived in "a city of Juda" ... "in the hill-country".

I would surmise from this that he was Jewish and that as the last Prophet of Christ also a member of those Jews from whom Christianity arose.

Answer 4

Obviously Jewish. He had taken the vow of a Nazarite, as I recall, but also followed Christ, the promised Messiah. It was he that was sent beforehand to announce Christ's coming.

Answer 5

He was Jewish his father was from the tribe of
Levi and so was his Mother. So that makes 100%
from the tribe of Levi so yes he was Jewish

Answer 6

I believe that within the Meshugganah tribe, he was a member of the group called הטביע (כדורסל)‬ (roughly translated as "dunker.")

I hope this helps!