Messianism Among Jews and Christians: Biblical and Historical Studies

(Paperback, 2nd edition)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

William Horbury considers the issue of messianism as it arises in Jewish and Christian tradition. Whilst Horburys primary focus is the Herodian period and the New Testament, he presents a broader historical trajectory, looking back to the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, and onward to Judaism and Christianity in the Roman empire. Within this framework Horbury treats such central themes as messianism in the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, the Son of man and Pauline hopes for a new Jerusalem, and Jewish and Christian messianism in the second century. Neglected topics are also given due consideration, including suffering and messianism in synagogue poetry, and the relation of Christian and Jewish messianism with conceptions of the church and of antichrist and with the cult of Christ and of the saints. Throughout, Horbury sets messianism in a broader religious and political context and explores its setting in religion and in the conflict of political theories. This new edition features a new extended introduction which updates and resituates the volume within the context of current scholarship.

Reviews

Several of the articles - those first in order - and substantially updated since their original publication. Throughout, bibliographic material is updated. An invaluable list of selected literature on messianism is coupled with an introductory essay, written for the volume, that surveys the history and present state of scholarship. This includes incisive criticism of the recent works of R. J. Bauckham. * Crispin Fletcher-Louis, The Journal of Theological Studies *
These studies form a substantial and impressive body [...] Examining a wide range of material some of it relatively obscure or little known, Horbury deftly demonstrates underlying messianic themes and undertones that would normally be hidden from a casual or less focussed reading. * Susan Pierce, Journal of Beiefs and Values, Vol. 25 *
There is very much that is valuable in the essays. Horbury is a keen reader of texts, and he has read from an assortment of literatures that for most of us are separated by the boundaries of academic disciplines or linguistic competence. * W. A. Meeks, Jewish Quarterly Review *

Author Bio

William Horbury is Professor of Jewish and Early Christian Studies, University of Cambridge, UK.