Early Jewish Messianism In The New Testament

In Early Jewish Messianism in the New Testament, Serge Ruzer explores cases where the New Testament proves an early witness for broader Jewish messianic beliefs, thus revealing a fuller picture of Judaism in the Second Temple period.

Andrew Chester focuses on Jewish messianic hope, intermediary figures, and visionary traditions of human transformation, particularly in the Second Temple period, and analyzes their significance for the origin and development of New Testament Christology. He brings together five previously published essays on these themes: these include two long chapters, one on Jewish messianic and mediatorial traditions in relation to Pauline Christology, the other on messianism and eschatology in early Judaism and Christianity, plus one on messiah and Temple in Sibylline Oracles 3-5. Two further essays, on the significance of Torah in the messianic age, and on resurrection, transformation and early Christology, have been extensively revised. There are also three substantial new chapters, all of which engage closely with recent scholarly debate. The first, on the origin of Christology, argues for the significance of Jewish visionary traditions of human transformation for understanding how 'high' Christology came about at such an early stage within the New Testament. The second discusses the complex questions of the definition, scope and nature of Jewish messianism, especially in relation to the Hebrew Bible and the more-recently available Qumran evidence, and their significance for the New Testament. The third is concerned with what Paul means by the 'law of Christ', and the wider issues raised by this.

"A compendium of approximately three hundred texts-in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, Coptic, and other languages-that are important for the study of Jewish messianism and early Christology, with a critical apparatus and translation for each text, thematic tagging that enables textual cross-referencing, and bibliography"--

In The Messiah, leading scholars offer succinct and illuminating essays on currents of messianic thought in the formative centuries of Judaism and Christianity. Special features designed with the student in mind include a map, a glossary of terms, and a timeline of significant events. Book jacket.

The essays in Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism: Royal, Prophetic, and Divine Messiahs seek to interpret John’s Jesus as part of Second Temple Jewish messianic expectations.

An exegetical and diachronic survey of messianic texts from the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition up through the first millennium CE. Jewish messianism can be traced back to the emerging Kingdom of Judah in the tenth century BCE, when it was represented by the Davidic tradition and the promise of a future heir to David’s throne. From that point, it remained an important facet of Israelite faith, as evidenced by its frequent recurrence in the Hebrew Bible and other early Jewish texts. In preexilic texts, the expectation is for an earthly king—a son of David with certain ethical qualities—whereas from the exile onward there is a transition to a pluriform messianism, often with utopic traits. Warrior, King, Servant, Savior is an exegetical and diachronic study of messianism in these texts that maintains close dialogue with relevant historical research and archaeological insights. Internationally respected biblical scholar Torleif Elgvin recounts the development and impact of messianism, from ancient Israel through the Hasmonean era and the rabbinic period, with rich chapters exploring messianic expectations in the Northern Kingdom, postexilic Judah, and Qumran, among other contexts. For this multifaceted topic—of marked interest to Jews, Christians, and secular historians of religion alike—Elgvin’s handbook is the essential and definitive guide.

"This book is a scholarly treatment of messianism in ancient Judaism and Christianity. In particular, and in contrast to other recent treatments, it is a study of what we might call the grammar of messianism, that is, the patterns of language inherited from the Hebrew Bible that all ancient messiah texts, Jewish and Christian, use. It makes the point that all ancient messiah texts are creative efforts at negotiating a shared set of linguistic possibilities and limitations inherited from the Hebrew Bible. The distinguishing features of the book are several: First, breaking with an ideologically loaded tradition, it incorporates both Jewish and Christian texts as evidence for this discursive practice. Second, rather than drawing up a taxonomy of types of ancient messiah figures, it analyzes a range of other more specific issues raised by the texts themselves. Third, it cuts the Gordian knot of the longstanding question of the prominence of messianism in antiquity, suggesting that that question is ultimately unanswerable but also entirely unnecessary for an understanding of the pertinent texts"--