Search Results for: hengel isaiah daniel

Questioning Carrier: Was the Book of Daniel Really a “Key Messianic Text”?

I expect this post will conclude my series challenging Richard Carrier’s arguments in On the Historicity of Jesus attempting to justify the common belief that early first century Judea was patchwork quilt of messianic movements. This belief has been challenged by specialist scholars* (see comment) especially since the 1990s but their work has still to … Continue reading “Questioning Carrier: Was the Book of Daniel Really a “Key Messianic Text”?”

How Did Daniel Understand Isaiah’s Suffering Servant?

Isaiah’s Suffering Servant has been co-opted by Christians as a prophecy of Jesus Christ but how did pre-Christian Jews understand this figure? My last post in a series examining Martin Hengel’s scholarly work on this question was From Israel’s Suffering (Isaiah’s Servant) to Atoning Human/Messianic Sacrifice (Daniel). Here is the long overdue follow up post. … Continue reading “How Did Daniel Understand Isaiah’s Suffering Servant?”

Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Before Christianity

A bibliography of a few Vridar posts taking an in-depth look at the Suffering Servant figure in Isaiah and how it was understood before Christianity. . . . The Influence of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Before Christianity Isaiah 53 and the Suffering Servant is a major text for Christianity (in the New Testament it is used to interpret Christ’s death) … Continue reading “Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Before Christianity”

From Israel’s Suffering (Isaiah’s Servant) to Atoning Human/Messianic Sacrifice (Daniel)

These posts trace the evolution of Isaiah’s “Suffering Servant” from a poetic symbol for the nation of Israel into a dying and rising Messiah even before Christianity emerged on the scene. (See the Wikipedia article for background on the Servant Songs in Isaiah.) The previous post showed the apparent influence of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 upon the … Continue reading “From Israel’s Suffering (Isaiah’s Servant) to Atoning Human/Messianic Sacrifice (Daniel)”

The Influence of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Before Christianity

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 The Suffering Servant 13 Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. 14 As many were astonished at him— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men— 15 so shall he startle many nations; … Continue reading “The Influence of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Before Christianity”

Suffering and Dying Messiahs: Typically Jewish Beliefs

So Easter is here again and everybody is mourning the death of Tammuz and rejoicing in the new life to hatch from digested easter bunny eggs. But let’s be serious and respect the meaning of the season. Let’s talk about messiahs, especially suffering and dying ones. There’s much to write about but I’ll try to keep to just a … Continue reading “Suffering and Dying Messiahs: Typically Jewish Beliefs”

Questions for Professor McGrath re Those Proofs

I trust I have set out Professor McGrath’s proofs for the historical existence of Jesus fairly and accurately in my previous post. Since the Professor has declined to engage in discussion with me I wonder if any interested readers would like to raise the following questions with him and alert us here of his responses. … Continue reading “Questions for Professor McGrath re Those Proofs”

And now it’s Bart’s turn

One does expect a little better from someone who makes a living out of biblical studies and even charges audiences for his scholarly wisdom. There was not a Jew on the planet who thought the messiah was going to be crushed by his enemies — humiliated, tortured, and executed.  That was the *opposite* of what … Continue reading “And now it’s Bart’s turn”

Suffering Messiah Is a Very Jewish Idea

Daniel Boyarin is a Jewish scholar of some repute. His work is worth consideration alongside what often amounts to little more than Christian apologetics thinly disguised as disinterested scholarship. In The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ Boyarin argues that the Christian belief in a suffering messiah who atones for our sins was far … Continue reading “Suffering Messiah Is a Very Jewish Idea”

So some Jews did expect a suffering Messiah?

Before continuing with the second part of my previous post I’ll post here something unexpected that I read last night. Daniel Boyarin is Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture and rhetoric at the University of California whose views on Christian origins are not unanimously welcomed by Christian theologians. I don’t know at this stage what to … Continue reading “So some Jews did expect a suffering Messiah?”