Baptism in the Jordan River: immersing in a contested transboundary watercourse

Abstract

As the boundary of the Holy Land and the site of the baptism of Jesus Christ, the Jordan River is the most important river in Christianity. For centuries, pilgrims have traveled long distances to immerse themselves in this holy water and despite its relatively small size, the image of the 'mighty' Jordan has come to dominate popular imaginations. Over the past century, however, the Jordan has fallen victim to the ongoing regional conflict and suffered severe environmental degradation. Once a meandering river full of rapids and cascades, the Jordan has been extensively developed, with dams, diversion canals, and large-scale irrigation projects on the river, its tributaries, and headwaters. As a result, flow has been reduced to about one tenth of the historic value and water quality has sharply deteriorated, with raw sewage, saline flows, and agricultural run-off polluting the remaining water. Yet despite the river's changed physical state, the Jordan's mythical status and its association with defining moments of Jewish and Christian history continue to dominate collective imaginations in the religious realm, with nearly a million annual visitors at the three baptism sites in Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank. Why is there such a disconnect between the physical river and its spiritual counterpart? How can the sense of indifference and lack of awareness about the degradation of this holy river be explained? And what can be done to restore the Jordan River?

The Sources of the Nile and Paradoxes of Religious Waters

“…Descartes's influence stopped on the northern shores of the Mediterranean." [27] Another famous and highly polluted river is the holy Ganga-the very water body of the goddess herself. [28] While polluting other holy substances or places, like an altar, is a sacrilege and a heinous sin, cosmologically speaking, polluting holy water in the right way is not, which probes to the core of the rationale and ways holy water is believed to work.…”

Holy water: the works of water in defining and understanding holiness

“…This does not touch upon the aspect of faith … Pollution is a Western concern, it is Cartesian. Descartes's influence stopped on the northern shores of the Mediterranean’ (Ref , p. 225).…”

Scientific contagion heuristic: Judgments about the acceptability of water for religious use after potential scientific treatment

“…Several Muslims have faith in the divine properties of the Zamzam well and pilgrims drink the water during their religious visit to Mecca. Similarly, water from the Jordan River has been important to Christian religious history for rituals and religious purity (De Châtel, 2014). Such narratives are common across various water sites, in turn adding reverence to the belief in its healing, religious, and consecrated properties.…”