Abstract
This volume is not what would be understood as an ‘encyclopaedia’ in the British sense of the word. In order to avoid any misconceptions, this is a coherent and tightly arranged collection of essays looking at key texts, collections of literature and groups in which Jewish messianic developed and circulated in antiquity. The main time span covered is the second temple period and the phase of nascent rabbinic Judaism after the destruction of the Temple. There is, however, a helpful opening essay by Christophe Nihan that explores the origins of messianic ideas in the pre-exilic period as part of utopian royal ideology (pp. 13–82). This essay situated the earliest developments in messianic thinking and shows that there were precursors to messianic thinking prior to the second temple period.
The main emphasis of the volume is a close textual study of relevant texts and bodies of literature. Cécile Dogniez probes Septuagintal texts for evidence of traces of increased messianism. It is noted that the translators of the LXX operate with ‘le plus grande fidélité possible’ towards the Hebrew text, and consequently the LXX cannot be seen as a major intellectual development of messianic texts. However, alongside this it is noted that some of the translational choices were particularly conducive for the messianism that developed in early Christianity, which drew on the LXX as its bible. Other texts studied include the book three of the Sibylline Oracles (pp. 123–151), the Psalms of Solomon (pp. 153–203), and the writings of Philo (pp. 287–302) and those of Josephus (pp. 303–331). For New Testament scholars the chapter by Xavier Levieils, ‘Le Messianisme dan le Judaïsme Chrétien’ (pp. 333–390), is particularly noteworthy. There is a very clear overview of research on the messianism of Jesus, with a discussion of Jesus’ own messianic consciousness. This is followed by a classic study of title attributed to Jesus and an assessment of their messianic import. It may have been helpful to have articulated a little more fully the messianic perspective of individual New Testament authors, however, there were no doubt constraints in terms of space. The final two main chapters probe messianism in rabbinic and synagogue-based Judaism (pp. 391–427), and the presence of messianic ideas in the Targums (pp. 429–463).
This volume is a very useful addition to scholarly perspectives on the emergence of messianic ideas in early Judaism. There is a good coverage of the relevant literature, and the collection has an obvious coherence. The essays will be consulted with profit for many years to come.