Jewish Messianism in the Time of Early Christianity
Online
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This lecture will explore Jewish messianism in the period of the early Roman Empire, when Christianity was forming, through a series of snapshots of Herod the Great, Jesus of Nazareth, Simon bar Giora, Bar Kokhba, and R. Judah Ha-Nasi.
About the “Messiahs and Messianism” Series
Messianism in Jewish life has long been seen as both dynamic and threatening. But just who or what was a messiah in the eyes of Jews in antiquity? Did a messianic movement always stand in tension with normative Judaism? How were such figures received by non-Jews, and what traditions did Jews draw on for messianic narratives? This series delves into the history of Jewish messianic actors and thinkers, including famous and less familiar figures, from the first through the nineteenth centuries.
About the image above: Illustration from Account of a Journey from Venice to Palestine, Mount Sinai and Egypt (German, ca. 1467), British Library, Egerton 1900, courtesy of PublicDomainReview.org.
Featuring
Matthew Novenson
University of Edinburgh
Matthew Novenson is Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Christian Origins at the University of Edinburgh and author of Christ among the Messiahs (Oxford University Press, 2012), The Grammar of Messianism (Oxford University Press, 2017), and other studies in ancient Judaism and Christianity.
Cosponsors
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Klatt Family and the Harry Stern Family Foundation.
