Messianism: From the Age of Revelation to Age of Revolution

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Level: 
Master's
CEU credits: 
4
Academic year: 
2009/2010
Semester: 
Winter
Start and end dates: 
25 Nov 2009
Co-hosting Unit(s) [if applicable]: 
Department of History
Department of Medieval Studies
Jewish Studies Project
Nationalism Studies Program
Religious Studies Program
Stream/Track/Specialization/Core Area: 
Culture, Religion and Intellectual History in a Comparative Perspective
CEU Instructor(s): 
Matthias Riedl
CEU Instructor(s): 
Michael Laurence Miller
Additional information: 
Goals: The goals of the course are: • to provide a solid knowledge of the role of messianism in shaping Jewish and Christian traditions in order • to relate this knowledge to phenomena in modern society and thought, • to create the ability to evaluate the ongoing relevance of the messianic traditions in modern thought and politics, and • to identify the religious dimensions in seemingly secular ideologies and movements.
Learning Outcomes: 
The students will learn about • the original meaning of the messiah in the foundational text • the understanding of the messiah in intertestamental Judaism • the understanding of the messiah in the Rabbinic tradition • the transformation of the messianic idea in Christian thought from Late Antiquity to Modernity • the interactions between Jewish and Christian messianic movements • the role of messianism in Jewish-Christian polemics • the relations between messianism and nationalism • the relations between modern ideologies/philosophies and the messianic idea • the relevance of messianism in new religious movements
Assessment : 
Attendance Attendance at all lectures is mandatory and will be kept record of. Students taking the class for grade must not miss more than two sessions. Students taking the class for audit must not miss more than three sessions. Course requirements and grading: 1) A mid term open-book exam in week six (40 %) 2) A take home exam in week twelve (40 %) 4) Active class participation (20 %)
Full description: 

Schedule and Readings

Week I: Introduction

Session a) Introduction to the topic 

Session b) Introduction to the sources

1) Jaroslav Pelikan, Whose Bible is it? A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages, London: Penguin, 2005, pp.27-117. [pdf] 

Week II: Ancient Judaism

Session a) The Hebrew Bible

1) A selection of sources from the Hebrew Bible [pdf] 

Session b) The Greco-Roman Period

1) 1 Maccabees, 1 [pdf]

2) The Book of Daniel 2 and 7-12 [pdf]

3) 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch [pdf]

4) Selections from the Dead Sea Scrolls (Community Rule, Damascus Document, Messianic Rule) [pdf]

5) James C. VanderKam, “Messianism and Apocalypticism,” in John J. Collins (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism vol.1: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity, New York: Continuum, 2000, pp.193-228. [pdf] 

Week III: Early Christianity

Session a) The Christian Bible

1) A selection of texts from the New Testament [pdf]

2) Richard A. Horsley, “The Kingdom of God and the Renewal of Israel: Synoptic Gospels, Jesus Movements, and Apocalypticism,” in John J. Collins (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism vol.1: The Origins of Apocalypticism in Judaism and Christianity, New York: Continuum, 2000, pp.303-344. [pdf] 

Session b) Patristic Literature

1) Tertullian, On the Flesh of Christ, c.4-5 [pdf]

2) Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks, c.11-12. [pdf]

3) Augustine, The City of God Against the Pagans, Book IX,15-17; X,32; XIV,10-11; XV,1-2; XVIII,27-30. [pdf] 

Week IV: The Rabbinic Tradition

Session a) Messianism in the Talmud

1) Babylonian Talmud. Tractate Sanhedrin. Chapter 11 (selections) [pdf]

2) Gershom Scholem, “Toward an Understanding of the Messianic Idea in Judaism,” in The Messianic Idea in Judaism and Other Essays on Jewish Spirituality, New York: Schocken: 1971, 1-36. [pdf] 

Session b) Messianic mysticism

1) Gershom Scholem, "The Messianic Idea in Kabbalism," in The Messianic Idea in Judaism, New YorK: Schocken, 1971, 37-48. [pdf] 

Week V: Medieval Philosophy

Session a) Maimonides

1) Moses Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Book 14, Judges: Kings and Wars, Commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, Chapter 10; Epistle to Yemen  [pdf] 

Session b) Scholasticism

1) Anselm of Canterbury, Cur deus homo II,1-16.  [pdf]

2) Thomas Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles, IV,53-55. [pdf] 

Week VI: Christian-Jewish Polemics

Session a): Christian-Jewish Polemics

1) "The Vikuah of Nahmanides: Translation and Commentary," in Hayam Maccoby, ed., Judaism on Trial: Jewish-Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages, London and Washington: Littman, 1993. [pdf] 

Session b) Exam 

Week VII: Millennarianism

Session a) Millennarian movements in Central Europe

1) Cohn, Norman, The pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millennarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages, London: Pimlico, 1993, pp.205-280. [pdf]

2) Müntzer, Thomas, “Sermon to the Princes” in: Baylor, Michael G./Raymond Geuss/Quentin Skinner, The Radical Reformation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 11-32. [pdf] 

Session b) Cromwell and the Jews

1) Todd M. Endelman, The Jews of Georgian England, 1714-1830: Tradition and Change in a Liberal Society, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999, Chapter 4: "Philo-Semitism in Anglo-Christianity" [pdf]

2) Menasseh ben Israel, Humble Addresses (1655) to Oliver Cromwell [pdf] 

Week VIII: Early Modern Jewish Movements

Session a) Sabbateanism

1) Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, in Marc Sapperstein, ed., Essential Papers on Messianic Movements and Personalities in Jewish History, New York: NYU Press, 1992, 289-334. [pdf] 

Session b: Hasidism

1) Gershom Scholem, "The Neutralization of the Messianic Element in Early Hasidism," in The Messianic Idea in Judaism, New York: Schocken, 1971, 176-202. [pdf]

2) Benzion Dinur, "The Origins of Hasidism and Its Social and Messianic Foundations," in Gershon Hundert, ed., Essential Papers on Hasidism, New York: NYU Press, 1991, 86-172. [pdf] 

Week IX: Messianism and Philosophy of History

a) Hegel

1) G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History, Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 1995, vol.3, pp.1-25. [pdf]

2) G.W.F. Hegel, "Letter to Niethammer," in: The Letters, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984.  [pdf]

3) G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, trans. T.M. Knox, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952, §§341-360. [pdf]

3) Löwith, Karl, "Hegel," in Meaning in History, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1957. pp.52-59. [pdf] 

b) Marx

1) Karl Marx, Selections from the German Ideology  [pdf]

2) Karl Marx, Selections from the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844.   [pdf]

3) Löwith, Karl, "Marx," in Meaning in History, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1957. pp.33-51. [pdf] 

Week X: Messianism & Nationialism

Session a) Polish

1) Andrzej Walicki, Philosophy and Romantic Nationalism: The Case of Poland (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982), 237-333. [pdf] 

Session b) Russian

1) Peter J.S. Duncan, Russian Messianism: Third Rome, Revolution, Communism and After, London: Routledge, 2000, pp.6-61.  [pdf] 

Week XI: Modern Messianic Movements

Session a) Zionism

1) Jacob Katz, "Israel and the Messiah," in Essential Papers, 475-491. [pdf]

2) Yaacov Shavit, "Realism and Messianism in Zionism and the Yishuv," in Jonathan Frankel, ed., Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. 7 (1991):Jews and Messianism in the Modern Era: Metaphor and Meaning,100-127. [pdf] 

Session b) American Messianism

1) Nicole Guetin, Religious Ideology in American Politics : A History (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009), 154-170.  [pdf]

Week XII: Messianism, Sectarianism, Rebellion 

Session a) Tai Ping

1) Jack Gray, Rebellions and Revolutions. China from the 1800s to the 1980s, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 52-76. [pdf] 

Session b) Waco

1) James D. Tabor: “Patterns of the End: Textual Weaving from Qumran to Waco,” in Peter Schäfer and Mark Cohen (eds.), Toward the millenium: messianic expectations from the Bible to Waco, Leiden and Boston: Brill, 1998, pp.409-430. [pdf]