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Jewish Messiahs in a Christian Empire by Martha Himmelfarb Pdf
The seventh-century CE Hebrew work Sefer Zerubbabel (Book of Zerubbabel), composed during the period of conflict between Persia and the Byzantine Empire for control over Palestine, is the first full-fledged messianic narrative in Jewish literature. Martha Himmelfarb offers a comprehensive analysis of this rich but understudied text, illuminating its distinctive literary features and the complex milieu from which it arose. Sefer Zerubbabel presents itself as an angelic revelation of the end of times to Zerubbabel, a biblical leader of the sixth century BCE, and relates a tale of two messiahs who, as Himmelfarb shows, play a major role in later Jewish narratives. The first messiah, a descendant of Joseph, dies in battle at the hands of Armilos, the son of Satan who embodies the Byzantine Empire. He is followed by a messiah descended from David modeled on the suffering servant of Isaiah, who brings him back to life and triumphs over Armilos. The mother of the Davidic messiah also figures in the work as a warrior. Himmelfarb places Sefer Zerubbabel in the dual context of earlier Jewish eschatology and Byzantine Christianity. The role of the messiah’s mother, for example, reflects the Byzantine notion of the Virgin Mary as the protector of Constantinople. On the other hand, Sefer Zerubbabel shares traditions about the messiahs with rabbinic literature. But while the rabbis are ambivalent about these traditions, Sefer Zerubbabel embraces them with enthusiasm.
It is a little known fact that there have been more than fifty prominent Jewish Messiahs. These characters, though unrenowned today, inspired messianic fervour that at times seized the whole Jewish, Christian, Muslim and even secular worlds. The stories of these fifty Messiahs, both male and female, are unknown -- suppressed by Jewish religious authorities or ignored by historians of all religions. Until now. In this book, these Jewish Messiahs are remembered, and now their forgotten stories -- whether humorous, bizarre, tragic or solemn -- are finally told. The Messiah who killed the Pope; The Messiah who was saved from the Inquisition when the Pope hid him in the Vatican; The Messiah who demanded that his head be cut off in order to prove his immortality The Messiah who defied the Holy Roman Emperor; The 17th century Messiah whose followers continued their secret society into the 20th century. And to contemporary times and the story of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and how he inspired a passionate and devoted following. Above all, Fifty Jewish Messiahs examines humanity, not divinity, and history rather than theology. Taken together, these intriguing stories paint a vivid portrait of the universal and timeless human need for optimism, and hope in a better future.
In this book, Harris Lenowitz explores the fascinating history of Jewish messianic movements. Looking in detail at all of the Jewish messiahs about whom anything is known, he introduces each of these figures in turn, and offers extensive excerpts of the original texts that tell their stories. The messiahs whom we meet in these pages range from the inspiring to the tragic and bizarre. By examining the messianic idea in the tradition which gave birth to it, Lenowitz both sheds new light on this engrossing aspect of Jewish history and provides a firmer basis for understanding contemporary messianic groups.
Harris Lenowitz Professor of Hebrew in the Department of Languages and Literature and the Middle East Center University of Utah
Author : Harris Lenowitz Professor of Hebrew in the Department of Languages and Literature and the Middle East Center University of Utah Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA Page : 310 pages File Size : 46,8 Mb Release : 1998-10-23 Category : Religion ISBN : 9780198027454
The Jewish Messiahs : From the Galilee to Crown Heights by Harris Lenowitz Professor of Hebrew in the Department of Languages and Literature and the Middle East Center University of Utah Pdf
In this book, Harris Lenowitz explores the fascinating history of Jewish messianic movements. Looking in detail at all of the Jewish messiahs about whom anything is known, he introduces each of these figures in turn, and offers extensive excerpts of the original texts that tell their stories. The messiahs whom we meet in these pages range from the inspiring to the tragic and bizarre. By examining the messianic idea in the tradition which gave birth to it, Lenowitz both sheds new light on this engrossing aspect of Jewish history and provides a firmer basis for understanding contemporary messianic groups.
Judaisms and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era by Jacob Neusner,William Scott Green,Ernest S. Frerichs Pdf
In its approach to evidence, not harmonizing but analyzing and differentiating, this book marks a revolutionary shift in the study of ancient Judaism and Christianity.
Judaism and Christianity in the Age of Constantine by Jacob Neusner Pdf
With the conversion of Constantine in 312, Christianity began a period of political and cultural dominance that it would enjoy until the twentieth century. Jacob Neusner contradicts the prevailing view that following Christianity's ascendancy, Judaism continued to evolve in isolation. He argues that because of the political need to defend its claims to religious authenticity, Judaism was forced to review itself in the context of a triumphant Christianity. The definition of issues long discussed in Judaism—the meaning of history, the coming of the Messiah, and the political identity of Israel—became of immediate and urgent concern to both parties. What emerged was a polemical dialogue between Christian and Jewish teachers that was unprecedented. In a close analysis of texts by the Christian theologians Eusebius, Aphrahat, and Chrysostom on one hand, and of the central Jewish works the Talmud of the Land of Israel, the Genesis Rabbah, and the Leviticus Rabbah on the other, Neusner finds that both religious groups turned to the same corpus of Hebrew scripture to examine the same fundamental issues. Eusebius and Genesis Rabbah both address the issue of history, Chrysostom and the Talmud the issue of the Messiah, and Aphrahat and Leviticus Rabbah the issue of Israel. As Neusner demonstrates, the conclusions drawn shaped the dialogue between the two religions for the rest of their shared history in the West.
Redemption and Resistance by Markus Bockmuehl,James Carleton Paget Pdf
Redemption and Resistance brings together an eminent cast of contributors to provide a state-of-the-art discussion of Messianism as a topic of political and religious commitment and controversy. By surveying this motif over nearly a thousand years with the help of a focused historical and political searchlight, this volume is sure to break fresh ground. It will serve as an attractive contribution to the history of ancient Judaism and Christianity, of the complex and often problematic relationship between them, and of the conflicting loyalties their hopes for redemption created vis-à-vis a public order that was at first pagan and later Christian. Although each chapter is designed to stand on its own as an introduction to the topic at hand, the overall argument unfolds a coherent history. The first two parts, on pre-Christian Jewish and primitive Christian Messianism, set the stage by identifying two entities that in Part III are then addressed in the development of their explicit relationship in a Graeco-Roman world marked by violent persecution of Jewish and Christian hopes and loyalties. The story is then explored beyond the Constantinian turn and its abortive reversal under Julian, to the Christian Empire up to the rise of Islam.
An Inquiry into the Jewish and Christian Revelation. Wherein all the prophecies relating to the Jewish Messiah are considered, and compared with the Person and Character of Jesus Christ, and the times of the Gospel; the authority of the Canon of Scripture, the Nature and Use of Miracles, etc. In a dialogue between an Indian and a Christian by Samuel PARVISH Pdf
Jesus Christ's Competitors by Charles River Charles River Editors Pdf
*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading In the 1st century CE there lived a man named Jesus in Judea, a Roman province at the time. The humble peasant was considered by some to be a prophet, others saw him as a madman, and some considered him as a threat to the safety of the land. In his last days he preached in Jerusalem about the imminent destruction of the Holy City and its temple. He gained notoriety and his warning had an eerie feel about it. His prophecy included parabolic language. Jesus spoke, according to sources, about the wind that carried signs, possibly echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah, and enigmatic parables about the wedding groom and his bride. Some people found his words offensive, and had him arrested and flogged. Unsure what to do with him, the temple authorities handed him over to the Roman procurator. When Jesus was before him, Rome's governor questioned him and asked him what was all that he was prophesying about, but the prisoner did not utter a single word. The procurator had him whipped again, but Jesus did not complain or shed a tear. He did not curse the guards who made fun of him and beat his crushed body. Jesus lamented once again for the fate of the people of Jerusalem, and it was there, not far from the temple, that he was killed by a catapult. There are no other details about Jesus, the son of Ananias, or Jesus ben Ananias, who died near the temple of Jerusalem in 70 AD when a stone thrown by a Roman ballista hit him in the head, except that his last words were "Woe to me!." This doomed prophet was active four decades after a much more famous predecessor, Jesus of Nazareth, who was not knocked down by a stone near the temple but crucified outside the city around 30 AD. It's even possible that both individuals once crossed paths when the son of Ananias was a boy and the Nazarene was already an influential prophet. Maybe the latter was inspired by the Galilean. Historians will likely never know for sure because his disciples, if he had any, did not preserve his words or remember his deeds. Indeed, this Jesus may have been forgotten altogether if not for the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recounting his strange story The Jewish Wars, written five years after the event. The former anecdote is, above all, great evidence that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christian messiah, was not the only charismatic prophet in Judea, not even in his native Galilee, which was populated by prophets and rebels. Jesus of Nazareth was not the only Jew of his time to be considered a son of God with power to perform miracles, and he was certainly not the only one to be called the messiah during the years of Roman occupation. Like him, other Galileans were executed by the imperial forces under charges of sedition ("This is the king of the Jews"). Indeed, the founder of Christianity lived in a province and a time where others like him blossomed, spiritual men who claimed to carry a divine message or mission from the heavenly Father for the redemption of his children, Israel. For the most part forgotten, they were "the other" prophets, miracle workers and messiahs - in some cases acclaimed as kings - and they were certainly contemporaries of Jesus of Nazareth. The New Testament does not deny the existence of such characters; in fact, it gives subtle but unequivocal clues to their presence. Like Jesus, other prophets, miracle-makers and aspiring messiahs were active in Judea under Herod and his sons, and then under Rome ́s prefects, like Pilate. They felt that the authority of the Highest was with them; they proclaimed that there was no other king but God, and they promised their followers they would see miraculous signs and God's deliverance if they only resisted just a little longer.