Judaisms and Their Messiahs

Summary of Judaisms and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era (Edited by Jacob Neusner, William Scott Green, and Ernest S. Frerichs):

Judaisms and Their Messiahs is a collection of scholarly essays exploring the diverse beliefs about the Messiah within various Jewish communities around the time of the emergence of Christianity (approximately 200 BCE to 200 CE). Rather than assuming a single, uniform messianic expectation in Judaism, the editors argue that different Jewish groups held distinct and sometimes conflicting views about messianism.

Key Themes:

• Plurality of Judaisms: The book emphasizes the multiplicity of Jewish sects (e.g., Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and early Christians), each with their own theological perspectives and expectations regarding a messiah.

• Messianic Concepts: Explores different types of messianic figures—priestly, royal, prophetic, and even heavenly or apocalyptic redeemers—as seen in texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls, apocalyptic literature, and rabbinic writings.

• Second Temple Context: Situates messianic ideas within the broader historical and political realities of the Second Temple period, including Roman occupation and internal Jewish conflicts.

• Christianity’s Emergence: Analyzes how the early Jesus movement fit into the spectrum of Jewish messianic expectations, and how its claims about Jesus as Messiah distinguished it from other groups.

• Post-Temple Developments: Considers how messianic expectations evolved after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, especially within rabbinic Judaism.

This volume is essential for understanding the diversity of Jewish messianic thought and how early Christianity emerged within—and departed from—this pluralistic landscape.