Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ

by William Horbury

Demonstrates that there were more messianic beliefs in Judaism at the time of Jesus than is commonly recognised.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0334027136
• ISBN13: 9780334027133
• Release Date: May 2012
• Publisher: SCM Press
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Jewish Messianism

Horbury is obviously knowledgeable, both of the ancient materials and of contemporary scholarship. The book is a valuable contribution to the study of the issue. It seemed to me that he sees more nearness and coherence to the material than I do. He purposely opposes the current "standard" position of Neusner and Green's Judaisms and Their Messiahs and Charlesworth and Co.'s The Messiah. While I am not sure Horbury has the better of the argument, I am delighted he has stuck his oar in the water. We'll wait now for Joe Fitzmyer, and see what happens.

a must read for any scholar of Jewish and/or Christian messianism

Four densely argued chapters argue for a coherent and pervasive messianic concept in the Old Testament and subsequent Jewish literature in a way that cuts across recent trends in the field. Horbury's first chapter ("Messianism and the Old Testament") lays out the case for a messianism that grows organically out of the Old Testament materials from earliest times. While not rigid, a coherent messianic myth probably existed from the early monarchy. Far from being an insignificant concept, the 'widespread currency of the unexplained technical term' for 'Messiah' together with fuller designations had spread across several languages by at least the second century BC, coherently referring to a 'rightful ruler of Israel ... the coming Davidic king'. This chapter complements analysis of the textual inventory with attention to 'landmarks in the study of the origins of messianism.' The argument is advanced that the supposed mutual incompatibility between God's unmediated rule and Messiah's rule which has much occupied scholars is a false dichotomy, since the texts show little concern to exclude one while focussing upon the other. The editing of the individual biblical books reflects a messianic preoccupation that encourages finding in the canon a 'coherent series of messianic prophecies'. This circumstance fomented both the reading of still further oracles in this light and greater specificity as the tradition advanced. Such a development of the tradition will have been influenced by forms familiar to Israel's cultural neighbours, as by the presence of 'messianic prototypes' within the Bible itself (Moses, David, et al.). The second instalment of Horbury's argument ('The Prevalence of Messianism in the Second-Temple Period') maintains the focus on the period during which the biblical materials were edited and collected but allows its attention to move beyond the biblical literature. Horbury contests the view that messianism had all but died out the Roman period in Judea, arguing instead that messianic hope was 'more continuously vigorous and widespread' than the scholarly tradition represented by R.H. Charles and C.H. Dodd would allow. The royalist and Davidic messianism of Chronicles and other late biblical materials is recognised, as is messianic inclination in the Septuagint. Further, the 'relatively non-messianic Apocrypha' are placed alongside 'outspokenly messianic' sections of the LXX and the abundant messianism of Ecclesiasticus, I Maccabees, and others, the silence of the former group being presented as understandable in prose historical narrative, as is true also of the biblical tradition itself. Even when not overtly messianic however, 'hagiographical presentations' in historical narrative 'surround contemporary rulers with a messianic atmosphere', a resource that is then exploited in explicitly messianic manner by prayer and apocalypse. The Qumran materials come into play because messianic expectation appears across the spectrum o