Grammar of Messianism - An Ancient Jewish Political Idiom and Its Users

In this book, Novenson gives a revisionist account of messianism in antiquity. He shows that, for the ancient Jews and Christians who used the term, a messiah was not an article of faith but a manner of speaking: a scriptural figure of speech useful for thinking kinds of political order.

List of contents

• Acknowledgements


• Abbreviations


• 1. After the Messianic Idea


• 2. Oil and Power in Ancient Israel


• 3. Messiahs Born and Made


• 4. Messiahs Present and Absent


• 5. The Quest for the First Messiah


• 6. The Jewish Messiah-Christian Messiah Distinction


• 7. The Fate of Messiah Christology in Early Christianity


• 8. The Grammar of Messianism


• Bibliography


• Index of Subjects


• Index of Ancient Sources


• Index of Modern Authors

About the author

Matthew V. Novenson is Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh. He has also been a visiting professor at Dartmouth College and Duke University and a visiting research fellow at Durham University. He is the author of Christ among the Messiahs (Oxford University Press, 2012).

Summary

In this book, Novenson gives a revisionist account of messianism in antiquity. He shows that, for the ancient Jews and Christians who used the term, a messiah was not an article of faith but a manner of speaking: a scriptural figure of speech useful for thinking kinds of political order.

Additional text

In this powerfully argued book, Matthew Novenson offers a fresh approach to the study of ancient Jewish and Christian messianism, urging us to jettison the concept of the 'messianic idea' that has dominated much of scholarly discussion and to replace it with an understanding of messianism as an interpretive tradition, and then demonstrating how fruitful this approach can be.

Product details

• Authors: Matthew V. Novenson, Matthew V. (Senior Lecturer Novenson, Novenson Matthew V.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.05.2019
• EAN: 9780190053215
• ISBN: 978-0-19-005321-5
• No. of pages: 384
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; RELIGION / Judaism / General, RELIGION / Christianity / History, RELIGION / Judaism / History, RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, RELIGION / Christianity / General, RELIGION / Biblical Studies / General, RELIGION / Judaism / Theology, Theology, Christianity, Christian theology, History of Religion, Judaism, Criticism and exegesis of sacred texts, Biblical Studies & Exegesis, Judaism: theology