Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
Critique of the Gospel History of the Synoptics by Bruno Bauer Volume 1 —o0o— 391 Appendix. The Messianic Expectations of the Jews at the Time of Jesus. All those who have spoken out against Strauss’s interpretation of the evangelical history in recent years also felt it was their duty to protest against the derivation of … Continue reading “Appendix. The Messianic Expectations of the Jews at the Time of Jesus”
Critique of the Gospel of John by Bruno Bauer —o0o— 415 Appendix. (To p. 142.) The Messianic Expectations of the Samaritans. The question whether the Samaritans were a purely pagan or a mixed people, formed from pagan and Israelite parts, is easily answered, if one appreciates the biblical data, the nature of the matter and … Continue reading “Appendix – The Messianic Expectations of the Samaritans”
Other posts arguing against the view that Second Temple Jews were longing for the appearance of a messiah: Were Jews Hoping for a Messiah to Deliver Them from Rome? Raising Doubts (2019-05-07) “The Chosen People Were Not Awaiting the Messiah” (2019-05-05) Myth of popular messianic expectations at the time of Jesus (2017-02-03) Questioning Carrier and … Continue reading “Bruno Bauer: Messianic Expectations of the Jews at the Time of Jesus”
I am copying here a post I just submitted on another forum, so with apologies to readers who have already seen this . . . . This topic is not about “Jewish prophecies of the messiah’s arrival”. It is not about the second century Bar Kochba rebellion. Nor is it even about popular beliefs and attitudes at the time of the 66-73 … Continue reading “Myth of popular messianic expectations at the time of Jesus”
Here for convenience is an annotated list of the recent posts on “the myth of messianic expectations”. 1. Questioning Carrier and the Common View of a “Rash of Messianism” at the time of Jesus Carrier’s claim “Palestine in the early first century ce was experiencing a rash of messianism” is introduced. His assertion that “The … Continue reading “Questioning Carrier and the Conventional Wisdom on Messianic Expectations”
I continue to examine the arguments mounted in favour of the view that Jewish messianic expectations at the time of the founding of what became Christianity as set out by Richard Carrier. Even ‘John the Baptist’ (at least as depicted in the Gospels) was a messianic figure (e.g. Jn 1.20; Lk. 3.15), or otherwise telling … Continue reading “How Do You Spot a Messiah? — Myth of Jewish Messianic Expectations continued”
It is standard practice to classify Jewish messianism as national, ethnic, political and material, and to mark Christian messianism as universal, cosmopolitan, ethical and spiritual. That Jewish anticipation of the messiah’s arrival was unusually keen in first century Palestine and constituted the mise en scène for the emergence of Christianity is a virtual axiom of … Continue reading “The Myth of a General Messianic Expectation in Jesus’ Time”
Critique of the Gospel of John by Bruno Bauer —o0o— 10 §. 2. The circle of expectation 1:19-52 1) The mission of the priests to “the” Baptist. 1:19-28 If it is detrimental to a report and must make us cautious about it from the outset if it betrays an agenda, we have every reason … Continue reading “§ 2. The circle of expectation (John 1:19-52)”
For most scholars, Boyarin’s thinking is a complete paradigm shift and in many ways something that “just isn’t done.”74 74 Horbury, Jewish Messianism, argued similarly to Boyarín yet not as forcefully. Those quotes are from Benjamin Reynolds, page 29 of his essay “The Gospel of John’s Christology as Evidence for Early Jewish Messianic Expectations: Challenges … Continue reading “Horbury Argued Similarly: Jewish Messianic Ideas Explain Christianity”
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”?”
Let’s take another set of references Richard Carrier cites to support the claim That Jewish expectations of some kind of messiah in the early Roman Empire were widespread, influential, and very diverse . . . has been well established by experts on ancient messianism.15 Carrier 2014, p. 67 I am referencing Carrier because he sets … Continue reading “Questioning Claims about Messianic Anticipations among Judeans of the Early First Century”
This post is a companion to Messiah to be Killed in Pre-Christian Jewish Expectation — the Late Evidence. It’s a topic I have never explored in any depth before but Richard Carrier points to the evidence for anyone interested to follow up for themselves. I learn things when I set them out for others to read … Continue reading “Jewish Expectations of a Slain Messiah — the Early Evidence”
This continues from Part 2 where I continued discussing what Richard Horsley has to say about popular messianic movements in Israel up to the time of Jesus in Bandits, Prophets & Messiahs. In the last post I covered “social banditry” in Palestine (especially Galilee) and those who were looked upon as rightful kings in the … Continue reading “Popular Messianic(?) Movements Up To The Time Of Jesus and Beyond – Part 3”
This post surveys the evidence and questions the conclusions of Richard A. Horsley (with John S. Hanson) in Bandits, Prophets & Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus (1999) concerning messianic hopes and movements among the common people of Palestine up to the time of Jesus. It is some years since I first read … Continue reading “Popular Messianic Movements Up To The Time Of Jesus – Part 1”