849 Messiah
nounces the End of Time,” and “Praise of the ■ Bruhn, S., Messiaen’s Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity
Immortality of Jesus”
– Couleurs de la Cité céleste for solo piano and en-
semble (Colors of the Heavenly City; 1963); five
movements prefaced with verses from the book
of Revelation: “A rainbow encircled the
throne,” “And the seven angels had seven
trumpets,” “ The star was given the key to the
shaft of the Abyss,” “The brilliance of the Holy
City was like a jasper, clear as crystal,” and
“The foundations of the city walls were deco-
rated with every kind of precious stone …”
– Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum for wind,
brass and percussion (I expect the Resurrection
of the Dead; 1964); five movements with head-
ings quoting from the Bible: “From the depths,
I have cried out to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my
voice!,” “Christ being raised from the dead di-
eth no more; death hath no more dominion
over him,” “The hour is coming when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God,” “They
shall be raised in glory, with a new name,
when the morning stars sing together, and all
the sons of God shout for joy,” and “And I hear
the voice of a great multitude”
– Eclairs sur l’au-delà for orchestra (Glimpses of
the Beyond; 1988–92); seven movements ad-
dressing “Apparition of the Glorious Christ,”
“The Constellation of Sagittarius,” “The Lyre-
bird and the Bridal City,” “The Elected Ones
Marked With the Seal,” “To Abide in Love,”
“The Seven Angels with the Seven Trumpets,”
and “God Will Wipe Every Tear from their
Eyes”
– La Ville d’en-haut for thirty-one wind instru-
ments, piano, and percussion (The City on
High; 1987)
5. The Exemplary Follower of Christ.
– Saint-François d’Assise, opera (Saint Francis of
Assisi; 1975–83); eight tableaux, entitled “The
Cross,” “Lauds,” “Kissing the Leper,” “The
Journeying Angel,” “The Angel-Musician,”
“The Sermon to the Birds,” “The Stigmata,”
“Death and the New Life.” Three textual/musi-
cal components that recur as spiritual brackets
or refrains are quotations from the Bible:
Brother Leo’s theme song, “I am afraid on the
road” (after a passage from Ecclesiastes); the
Angel’s paraphrase of a verse from the first
epistle of John, with which he reminds the
leper of God’s greater love and comforts the
dying Francis; and Francis’ parable in Tableau
V: “The sun has one kind of splendor, the
moon another, and the stars another; and star
differs from star in splendor. So will it be with
the resurrection of the dead”
Bibliography: ■ Bruhn, S., Messiaen’s Contemplations of Cove-
nant and Incarnation (Hillsdale, N.Y. 2007). ■ Bruhn, S., Mes-
siaen’s Explorations of Love and Death (Hillsdale, N.Y. 2008).
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(Hillsdale, N.Y. 2008). ■ Dingle, C., Messiaen’s Final Works
(Farnham 2013). ■ Goléa, A., Rencontres avec Olivier Messiaen
(Paris 1960). ■ Johnson, R. S., Messiaen (Berkeley, Calif.
1975/1989). ■ Samuel, C., Olivier Messiaen: Music and Color
(trans. E. T. Glasow; Portland, Oreg. 1994). ■ Sholl, R. (ed.),
Messiaen Studies (Cambridge 2008).
Siglind Bruhn
See also / Music, Bible in
Messiah
I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
II. New Testament
III. Judaism
IV. Christianity
V. Islam
VI. Other Religions
VII. Literature
VIII. Visual Arts
IX. Music
X. Film
I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
“Messiah” (māšîahø ; LXX Χριστός; Lat. “christus”) is
the adjectival form of the verb “to anoint” (māšahø )
and translates as “anointed” or “anointed one.” The
HB/OT contains thirty-eight attestations to “mes-
siah,” five of which are adjectival: “the anointed
priest” (Lev 4:3, 5, 16; 6:22); and “the anointed
ruler” (Dan 9:25). The remaining attestations are
nominal and generally refer to the king as
“YHWH’s anointed,” especially in 1–2 Samuel and
in the Psalms (1 Sam 16:6; 24:7 [2x], 11; 26:9, 11,
16, 23; 2 Sam 1:14, 16; 2 Sam 19:22; also Lam 4:20).
Other forms are: “His anointed one” (1 Sam 2:10;
12:3, 15; 2 Sam 22:51; Pss 2:2; 18:50 [MT 18:51];
20:6 [MT 20:7]; 28:8; Isa 45:1 [in reference to King
Cyrus]); “My anointed one” (1 Sam 2:25; Ps 132:17);
“Your anointed” (Pss 84:9 [MT 84:10]; 89:38, 51
[MT 89:39, 52]; 132:10; 2 Chr 6:42; Hab 3:13]); “an
anointed one” (Dan 9:26); and “the anointed of the
God of Jacob” (2 Sam 23:1). In one case, the patri-
archs who are called prophets are described as “My
anointed ones” (Ps 105:15 = 1 Chr 16:22).
The “messiah” or “anointed one” is most com-
monly connected to the ideology of kingship, and is
often used as a synonym for king (melek). This equa-
tion of king and “anointed one” likely derives from
the ritual of anointing the king (cf. 1 Sam 16:13);
the language of the “messiah” therefore emphasizes
the unique relationship between YHWH and the
king. In Judg 9:7–15, Jotham narrates the fable
about the trees that went out to anoint a king over
themselves and eventually ask the bramble to reign
over them. The story, a critical reflection about the
introduction of kingship in Israel, shows that the
ritual of anointment was part of the enthronement
of the king. Accordingly, it is reported that kings
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such as Saul, David, Solomon and Joash were
anointed. The king was therefore called “anointed
of the Lord” or “of God” (e.g., 1 Sam 12:3, 5; 2 Sam
19:22; 23:1; Ps 2:2; 18:51; 132:17). The anointment
of David is of particular importance. He was
anointed separately as king of Judah (2 Sam 2:4) and
of Israel (2 Sam 5:3). When Samuel chooses David as
“YHWH’s anointed,” YHWH tells Samuel to select
David according to the merits of his heart, not his
external appearance (1 Sam 16:6–7). Multiple times,
David spares Saul’s life because he would not raise
a hand against YHWH’s anointed (1 Sam 24:6;
26:9). The idea of YHWH’s anointed becomes
deeply connected to David and to his line, whose
throne YHWH promises to secure in perpetuity
from Jerusalem (2 Sam 7). YHWH promises to show
“steadfast love (hø esed) to his anointed, to David and
his descendants forever” (2 Sam 22:51). This prom-
ise was the basis for the expectation of a Davidic
messiah in several Jewish texts and also for the des-
ignation of Jesus as “Son of David” (see below).
In 2 Sam 7, as well as in certain Psalms, the ide-
ology of YHWH’s anointed is inseparable from Jeru-
salem, where both YHWH and the king or
“anointed one” reside. In Ps 2:6–7, YHWH declares:
“I have installed (nāsaktî) my king on Zion, my holy
mountain,” and, in language reflective of the en-
thronement ceremony, tells the king, “You are my
son, I have born you (yĕlidtîkā) this day.” Egyptian
ideology may have influenced the language and rit-
uals of enthronement in Jerusalem, including the
notion of “bearing” or “begetting” the king in Ps 2.
In Egypt, the legitimate king sat at the right hand
of the god and was, quite literally, the son of the
god; Judah’s exaltation of the king’s status was far
less extreme. The king was mortal, possibly adopted
by YHWH to sit at the right hand of the divine (cf.
Ps 110:1). Nonetheless, certain Psalms reveal clear
mythical undertones in the language of kingship;
for example, Psalm 45:6–7 (MT 45:7–8) may even
refer to the king as “God” (Ĕlōhîm), who is anointed
by “God, your God” and whose throne endures for-
ever. In the books of Samuel and the prophets, how-
ever, mythological language for the “anointed one”
is absent. According to Isa 45:11, the Persian king
Cyrus, worshiper of a foreign god, is also YHWH’s
anointed. He was chosen for the specific task of de-
livering YHWH’s people.
This promise was the basis for the expectation
of a Davidic messiah in several Jewish texts and also
for the designation of Jesus as “Son of David.” An-
other root of “messiah” as a designation for particu-
lar persons is the anointing of priests. In Exod
28:41; 30:30; 40:13–15 Moses is advised by God to
anoint Aaron and his sons as priests. Leviticus 8:12
tells of Aaron’s anointment by Moses; in Lev 7:36
it is God himself who anoints Aaron and his sons.
Therefore, they are called “anointed priests” (Num
3:3). In Exod 40:15 this anointment is described as
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admitting them to an “eternal priesthood” (cf. Sir
45:15). The designation “anointed priest” also oc-
curs in several places in Leviticus (4:3, 5, 16; 6:15;
cf. 21:10, 12: the anointing oil, τὸ ἐλαίον τὸ χριστόν,
has been poured out upon the priest; cf. 2 Macc
1:10).
Sometimes also other persons are denoted as
“anointed.” In Isa 61:1 the prophet declares that the
spirit of God is upon him because the Lord has
anointed him. In Ps 105:15 (LXX 104:15) and 1 Chr
16:22 the patriarchs are called “anointed ones.” In
Isa 45:1 even the Persian king Cyrus is called
“anointed of the Lord.” In these instances the char-
acterization of “anointed” is not based on a real act
of anointment, but instead is applied metaphori-
cally to a particular person was commissioned by
God to act on his authority or to carry out a specific
mission. Even when the ritual of anointment was
no longer conducted, the use of the expression
“anointed of the Lord” (“messiah”) remained in use.
Of particular importance for the expectation of
“anointed ones of God” (“messiahs”) in the future
are the anointments of David and Aaron as royal
and priestly messiahs, since their anointments were
rewarded with eternal kingship and priesthood.
The notion of the messiah in the book of Daniel
is distinct. The apocalyptic visions in this book date
to the late Hellenistic period (2nd cent. BCE), when
there was no king of Judah. The “anointed ruler”
and “anointed one” in Dan 9:25–26 could therefore
refer to the archangel Michael, to the high priest, or
to Zerubbabel, the descendant of David. Some
would argue that the “anointed one” in Daniel is
the first and only attestation of an eschatological
messiah in the HB/OT.
Bibliography: ■ Juel, D., “Messiah,” EDB (ed. D. N. Freed-
man; Grand Rapids, Mich. 2000) 889–900. ■ Hamilton,
M. W., The Body Royal (Biblical Interpretation Series 78; Lei-
den 2005). ■ Hamilton, V., “Māshîahø ,” TWOT 1 (ed. A. Rich-
ardson; 2012 [11962]) 1255. ■ Collins, J. J., “King and Mes-
siah as Son of God,” in Reconsidering the Concept of
Revolutionary Monotheism (ed. B. Pongratz-Leisten; Winona
Lake, Ind. 2011) 291–315.
Mahri Leonard-Fleckman
II. New Testament
In the Hebrew Bible and in Jewish literature the
term “Messiah” (māšîahø ) is mostly applied to kings,
to the high priest and to prophets, occasionally also
to other persons. In the NT the Hebrew (or Aramaic)
term occurs twice in Greek transcription (μεσσίας)
in the Gospel of John (1:41 and 4:25) as a designa-
tion for Jesus. In both cases it is immediately trans-
lated or explained: “which is translated anointed”
or: “who is called Christ.”
1. The Term Jesus Christ. The designation of Je-
sus as “Christ” appears in early Christian confes-
sions such as 1 Cor 15:3b–5; 1 Cor 8:6; or Phil 2:11.
Moreover, in these and other texts “Christ” is used
as a name for Jesus. This is corroborated by the ex-
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pression “Jesus Christ” or “Christ Jesus” – or by the
use of “Christ” alone as in 1 Cor 15:3. In these and
other texts the designation “Christ” does not carry
the meaning “the anointed one” anymore. Instead
by its application to Jesus of Nazareth, his activity,
his death, and his resurrection, it has taken on a
new meaning.
This becomes evident from the fact that “Christ”
as a name for Jesus is closely connected to his death
as an atonement for sins (1 Cor 15:3: “Christ died
for our sins”) and to his exaltation and veneration
as “Lord,” even to his preexistence (1 Cor 8:6: “one
Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and
through whom we exist”; cf. Phil 2:11: “every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father”).
The close connection of the designation “Christ”
to the person of Jesus can also be recognized from
the fact that the followers of Jesus were called
“Christians” (Χριστιανοί; Christiani) from an early
stage and later even referred to themselves in this
way (cf. e.g., Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet 4:16; Did. 12:4;
Ign. Eph. 11:2; Mag. 4:1; Trall. 6:1; Mart. Pol. 3:2;
7:3; 10:1; Diogn. 1:1; 2:6.10; Tacitus, Ann. 15:44:2;
Plinius, Ep. 10:96).
In Paul the designation “Christ” for Jesus in
most cases is used without its specific meaning as
“the anointed one.” An exception is Rom 9:5. In
enumerating Israel’s distinctions Paul also men-
tions the “Christ according to the flesh,” i.e., the
earthly (or human) descent of Christ from Israel.
Usually, however, Paul uses “Christ” as a second
name for Jesus (as in the phrase “Jesus Christ” or
“Christ Jesus”) or even as his proper name. This us-
age is widespread also in the Deutero-Pauline let-
ters, Acts, the Catholic Epistles, and Revelation.
2. In Paul. For Paul, Jesus Christ was sent as
God’s son (Gal 4:4; Rom 8:3); he died for our sins
(1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:14, 21; Rom 5:6–8); and he was
resurrected and exalted to the right hand of God (1
Thess 4:14; 1 Cor 15:4, 12–20; 2 Cor 4:14). The Gos-
pel of Jesus Christ is God’s power for salvation for
everyone who believes (Rom 1:16) because right-
eousness can be gained only through faith in Jesus
Christ (Gal 2:16; Rom 3:21–22). The Spirit of Christ
who is also the Spirit of God dwells in the believers
as the “first fruit” (ἀπραχή; Rom 8:23) or as a
“pledge” (ἀρραβών; 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5). For Paul,
therefore, the designation “Christ” (or “Messiah”) is
no longer related to its meaning in Jewish writings.
Instead, its meaning is entirely determined by God’s
saving activity through Jesus as “Christ.”
3. In Mark. In the Gospels the case is different.
The Gospel of Mark uses “Christ” at its beginning
in the same way as it appears in Paul’s letters and
in other New Testament letters: “The beginning of
the good news of Jesus Christ” (ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
᾽Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ). However, in the narrative itself the
designation “Christ” is applied to Jesus in a more
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nuanced way. In Mark 8:29 Peter’s response to Je-
sus’ question, “But who do you say that I am?” is
“You are the Messiah.” This confession makes sense
only if Peter interprets Jesus’ power over the de-
mons, his healings, his teaching about the kingdom
of God, etc. – i.e., how Mark has depicted Jesus so
far – as indications that Jesus is “the Christ” (ὁ
Χριστός). Within the Markan narrative the designa-
tion “Christ” is therefore not interpreted to begin
with against the background of the Jewish texts
mentioned above. Instead, it is related to Jesus’ ac-
tivity as the Son of God who was bestowed with
God’s spirit (1:9–11) and to its self-designation as
“Son of Man,” which is used to characterize Jesus as
the human being who is authorized by God to act
on earth in his name (2:10: “the Son of Man has
authority on earth to forgive sins”; cf. 2:28: “the
Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath”). Later, in a
dispute with the Sadducees, the Markan Jesus by
quoting Psalm 109:1 LXX emphasizes that the
Christ is not the Son of David, but the exalted Lord
(12:35–37). This episode points to a possible misun-
derstanding of “Christ” in relation to Jesus. He will
not act as the Davidic messiah as described in Pss.
Sol. He will therefore also not fulfill the expecta-
tions of the crowd that welcomed him at his entry
into Jerusalem shouting, “Blessed is the one who
comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the com-
ing kingdom of our father David!” (Mic 11:9–10).
Instead, Jesus as Christ acts in God’s authority on
earth, he will suffer, die and rise again (Mark 8:31;
9,31; 10:33–34), he will be exalted to the right hand
of God and return as judge at the end of time. The
latter aspect becomes clear at Jesus’ interrogation by
the high priest. Jesus answers the question of the
high priest “Are you the Messiah (ὁ χριστός), the
Son of the Blessed One?” by saying: “I am; and you
will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of
the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
(14:61). The designation “Messiah” is interpreted in
this dialogue by two other expressions: “Son of the
Most High” (or “Son of God”) refers to Jesus’ exclu-
sive relationship with God; “Son of Man” alludes to
Dan 7:13 and refers to Jesus’ return as judge in final
judgement (cf. also 8:38 and 13:26). Finally, in the
crucifixion scene Jesus’ is mocked by bystanders
saying: “Messiah (ὁ χριστός), the King of Israel,
come down from the cross now, so that we may see
and believe” (Mark 15:32). This reflects the perspec-
tive of those who reject Jesus and do not understand
the way he fulfills the expectations related to God’s
Messiah: Jesus as messiah will not be the king of
Israel according to human standards. Instead, his
messianic reign will be established in a hidden way
in the present and will be brought to completion by
God himself in the future. Therefore, Jesus as Christ
can only be perceived by understanding his entire
way through suffering and death to resurrection
and exaltation and eventually to his return as Son
of Man at the final judgement.
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855 Messiah
4. In Matthew, Luke, and John. Matthew fol-
lows Mark in denoting Jesus as “Christ,” but he also
emphasizes that he was sent by God to his people
as Son of David (1:1; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30). For
Matthew the activity of Jesus as “Christ” is therefore
closely related to the fulfillment of the Scriptures.
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is also introduced as God’s
messenger who fulfills the expectations related to
the “anointed prophet” in the book of Isaiah (Luke
4:18–19, quoting Isa 61:1–2 in combination with
58:6). Moreover, in Luke-Acts as in Matthew there
is a close relationship between the designation of
Jesus as “Christ” and the fulfillment of God’s prom-
ises to David. Already at the announcement of Jesus’
birth to Mary the angel Gabriel declares: “He will
be great and will be called the Son of the Most High
and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his
ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Ja-
cob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end” (Luke 1:32–33). This promise, however, was
not fulfilled during Jesus’ earthly activity, but will
be only with his resurrection and exaltation. There-
fore, in his Pentecostal speech in Acts 2 Peter ex-
plains that David, according to Jewish tradition the
composer of the psalms, did not speak about him-
self when he declared: “For you will not abandon
my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience
corruption” (Acts 2:27, quoting Psalm 15:10 LXX).
Rather, David as a prophet spoke about the resur-
rection of Christ who was exalted to the right hand
of God. John’s Gospel particularly emphasizes that
Jesus’ descent from Galilee contradicts the claim
that he would be the Christ since “the scripture said
that the Messiah is descended from David and
comes from Bethlehem, the village where David
lived” (7:42). Jesus as “Christ” in the Gospel of John
is therefore the incarnated Logos who brings God’s
light, truth and love to the world. Unlike Matthew
and Luke, the Gospel of John does not make an at-
tempt to reconcile the tradition of a Davidic mes-
siah with the earthly Jesus. Instead it opposes faith
in Jesus which is able to see that Jesus and the Fa-
ther are one (10:30) with the disbelief that insists
on Jesus’ earthly origin from Nazareth and it can
consider him only as a human being.
5. Conclusion. The NT writings already presup-
pose that “Christ” (“Messiah”) was applied to Jesus
as a characterization of his activity and fate. Against
the background of the term “Messiah” in Jewish
writings it is not entirely clear why it was used for
Jesus at all. It could have originated in the context
of his crucifixion as “King of Israel” as the inscrip-
tion on the cross and also Mark 15:32 indicate. The
political overtone of the designation is supported by
the episode of Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem. It may also
have occurred already during Jesus’ earthly activity
as a reaction to his self-understanding as God’s
earthly representative. As 1 Cor 15:5b shows, it was
used very early in a Christian confession related to
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Jesus’ death. The early Christian tradition about Je-
sus as “Son of David” in Rom 1:3 as well as in the
birth stories in Matthew and Luke (see also Acts
13:22–23; Rev 5:5; 22:16) may be understood as a
reflection on the application of the designation
“Christ” to Jesus: If he was “the Christ” he must be
descended from the seed of David, even if he fulfills
the role of the Davidic messiah only in a very unex-
pected way.
The meaning of the designation “Messiah” or
“Christ” changed significantly with its application
to Jesus. “Christ” is not the anointed king, priest,
or prophet anymore, but Jesus, the Son of God, who
was empowered by God’s Spirit, acted with God’s
authority on earth as “Son of Man,” was crucified,
resurrected, and exalted to heaven and will return
at the last judgement.
Bibliography: ■ Charlesworth, J. H. (ed.), The Messiah: Devel-
opments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity (Minneapolis,
Minn. 1992). ■ Collins, J. J., The Scepter and the Star (New
York 1995). ■ Jonge, M. de, “Christ,” ABD 1 (1992) 914–21.
■ Jonge, M. de, “Messiah,” ABD 4 (1992) 777–88. ■ Hengel,
M./A. M. Schwemer, Der messianische Anspruch Jesu und die An-
fänge der Christologie (WUNT 138; Tübingen 2001). ■ Karrer,
M., Der Gesalbte: Die Grundlagen des Christustitels (FRLANT
151; Göttingen 1990). ■ Neusner, J. et al. (eds.), Judaisms
and their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era (Cambridge
1987).
Jens Schröter
III. Judaism
■ Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism ■ Rabbinic
Judaism ■ Medieval Judaism ■ Modern Judaism
A. Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism
While most scholars accept that the expectation of
a messiah was a typical feature of Judaism as it
emerged in the last several centuries prior to the
destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, our evi-
dence for messianic expectation is complicated.
Problematizing the reconstruction of messianic ide-
ologies is the uneven nature of our evidence. Only
a small minority of the Second Temple texts unam-
biguously speak of messianic figures; those that do
often do not use the term “messiah.” Therefore, de-
termining what messianic expectation entailed is
not simply a matter of looking for the Hebrew term
māšîahø (lit., “anointed one”) or its Greek translation
χριστός. Ideas about messiahs show up in docu-
ments of diverse literary genres using a variety of
titles other than “messiah” itself and very often ex-
press different ideas about who and what a messiah
is. Therefore, it is useful to begin with a baseline of
common features.
First, we can say that beliefs about messianic fig-
ures were intertwined with eschatology, that is, be-
liefs pertaining to the end of the world. A messiah is
therefore an individual who will appear at a decisive
moment in the history of the world, a moment after
which the continuation of the world and humanity
is going to be fundamentally altered in some way.
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857 Messiah
Second, a messiah holds a position of leadership on
earth. This expectation takes different forms in dif-
ferent texts; commonly, the messiah is presented as
the legitimate king of God’s people, Israel, by right
of genetic descent from King David (thus the gene-
alogies of Jesus of Nazareth given in Mark and Luke
in the NT). However, not all messiahs are royal mes-
siahs; some authors of Dead Sea Scrolls documents
clearly expected a messianic figure descended from
Aaron to serve as the eschatological High Priest.
Third, the messiah appears at a time of extreme dif-
ficulty or oppression for God’s people and is the
agent by which that oppression is ended. This is of-
ten, though not always, through the messiah’s com-
mand of military forces.
1. Messiahs in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigra-
pha. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls near
the site of Qumran in the mid-20th century dramat-
ically increased the number of documents from the
late Second Temple period attesting some form of
messianic expectation. Among the Second Temple
texts known prior to this, the Psalms of Solomon hold
pride of place for their unambiguous messianic
ideas present in a pre-Christian text. In particular,
Pss. Sol. 17 and 18 present a picture of the messiah
that is quite at home with much of the earliest lit-
erature of the Jesus movement. Here we encounter
the idea of God raising up a future king who is a
legitimate descendant of King David (17:21) in or-
der to destroy those who are oppressing Jerusalem
(17:22), after which he will lead a holy people in
whom he has established justice and eliminated all
evil (17:26–27). This figure will also abolish sin
(17:36) and will rule over all the peoples of the
world and lead them to Jerusalem to witness the
glory of the God of Israel (17:31). Furthermore, both
17:32 and 18:5 explicitly use the Greek term
χριστός, “anointed/messiah” to designate this fu-
ture leader.
The clarity with which the Pss. Sol. 17 attests el-
ements of a royal messianic expectation is unparal-
leled, at least outside Qumran. However, the Simili-
tudes of Enoch (ch. 31–71 of the Ethiopic 1 Enoch)
repeatedly speaks of the “Son of Man,” a term ap-
propriated from Daniel 7 (where it denotes an an-
gelic figure) and which is quite famously used as a
messianic title by Jesus and his followers. Who ex-
actly this figure is cannot be definitively deter-
mined: 1 En. 71:14 seems to identify the Son of Man
with Enoch himself, while 70:1 seems to distin-
guish them as separate entities. This Son of Man is
characterized by righteousness (e.g., 46:3; 71:14)
and was chosen by God and hidden before the crea-
tion of the world (48:3). He will cast down earthly
kings from their thrones and himself be enthroned
in glory to judge all the earth, consigning the
wicked to supernatural torments (62:1–11). More-
over, at two points in the text the Son of Man is
explicitly called “anointed,” or messiah (48:10 and
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52:4). Whoever the Son of Man is, it seems to be a
preexistent messianic figure, chosen by God to
crush the earthly oppressors of God’s people and to
reign over all the world.
Two apocalypses composed shortly after the de-
struction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE, 4 Ezra
and 2 Baruch, likewise provide evidence for Jewish
messianic expectation in the period. In the visions
of 2 Baruch, we find a messiah who appears after a
period of tribulation (29:3; 70:7–9); he defeats and
kills the enemies of God’s people (39:7–40:3) and
judges all the nations (72:2). Similarly, 4 Ezra explic-
itly envisions a preexistent messiah, descended
from David, sent to earth during the eschatological
period, who will judge and destroy the wicked
while delivering the remnant of God’s people (4 Ezra
12:31–34; 13:25–26). Uniquely, 4 Ezra 7:26–29 envi-
sions an idyllic reign by the messiah after which the
messiah dies prior to the culmination of the escha-
ton. It is unclear if the later messianic visions in the
work (such as the vision of the eagle in 11:1–12:39
and the vision of the man from the sea in 13) share
this view of the messiah’s role.
Finally, messianism is not as pronounced in the
Jewish literature from Hellenistic Egypt, but the
savior king “from the sun” in Sib. Or. 3:652–656
could plausibly be interpreted as a messiah figure,
albeit most likely a gentile one (compare Cyrus in
Deutero-Isaiah). It is clear, however, that Egyptian
ideologies of a deliverer-king (such as found in the
Potter’s Oracle) are certainly at play in the third
Sibyl alongside Jewish notions of the messiah.
2. Messiahs in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The texts
from Qumran famously include a number of previ-
ously unknown, sectarian documents heavily
freighted with eschatological expectation, including
reference to various messianic figures. Most fa-
mously, both the Damascus Document and the
Community Rule clearly envision a dual messian-
ism, expecting a (Davidic) messiah to rule the na-
tion, as well as an anointed eschatological high
priest. 1QS 9:11 reads: “until the prophet and the
messiahs of Aaron and Israel come.” The Damascus
Document (CD) contains the similar phrase, “mes-
siah(s) of Aaron and of Israel” (12:23; 14:19; 19:10).
While there is some debate about the references in
CD – some scholars maintain that the referent to
the phrase “messiah of Aaron and Israel” is a single
messiah – other texts of the Qumran sectarians
make fairly clear that an anointed eschatological
high priest was to function beside the messiah of
Israel. Thus, in the Rule of the Congregation (1QSa)
we find a special role carved out for “the chief
priest” in a description of an eschatological feast
featuring the “Messiah of Israel.” This eschatologi-
cal diarchy is a distinctive feature of Qumran messi-
anic expectation, although the idea of a messianic
priest is not unique to sectarian documents. The
idea of a messianic role for a priestly figure is also
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attested in other (non-sectarian) documents found
at Qumran, such as Jubilees and Aramaic Levi.
Among the functions of Qumran’s messiah was
the prosecution of the eschatological war against
the forces of evil. In the War Scroll, this figure is
identified as the Prince of the Congregation, a title
which there is good reason to believe refers to the
Davidic messiah. The fragment 4Q285 (possibly
from a copy of the War Scroll) seems to link the
Prince of the Congregation with “the branch of Da-
vid,” a clear messianic title (see 4Q252); the Prince
of the Congregation is likewise clearly a messianic
figure in 1QSb 5.
One text that has elicited quite a lot of attention
is 4Q246, the so-called “Son of God Text.” Column
2 of this Aramaic composition begins with the
words, “Son of God he will be called, and Son of
the Most High they will call him.” John Collins and
others have identified this figure as the Davidic
Messiah; the dual title is incredibly close to the ti-
tles applied to Jesus in Luke 1:32, 35. If this figure
is a messiah, the parallel to early Christian ideas
about Jesus is intriguing. However, other scholars
such as J. T. Milik and Émile Puech see instead a
reference to a hubristic historical king who claimed
divine honors for himself while persecuting God’s
people.
In addition, there are clear references to a special
eschatological “Teacher” or “Interpreter of the Law”
(CD 6:11; 4QFlorilegium 1:11). This figure can plau-
sibly be interpreted as an eschatological prophet, as
1QS clearly envisions the messiahs of Aaron and Is-
rael being accompanied by a prophet at the escha-
ton. This idea may be similar to the tradition of the
eschatological return of the prophet Elijah, which
would become conspicuous in later Rabbinic Juda-
ism. It must, however, be said that evidence for an
eschatological prophet is meager at Qumran, and
the eschatological Teacher/Interpreter is perhaps
more plausibly understood to be the eschatological
high priest, or Messiah of Aaron.
3. Messianism in Action in the Hellenistic Pe-
riod. In addition to literary texts speaking of a
messiah coming at some point in the future, there
are a small number of historical references to mili-
tary leaders of revolts against Rome who seem to
have harbored or encouraged messianic associa-
tions. Josephus briefly reports on one Theudas who
declared himself a prophet with miraculous powers,
and who was arrested and executed around 44–46
CE (A.J. 20.97–98). Eusebius (Hist. eccl. 4.2) relates
that late in the reign of Trajan, Cyrenean Jews re-
volted under the leadership of a certain Loukuas
who, claiming the title king, likely harbored messi-
anic pretensions. Most famous is the leader of the
Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (132–36 CE), Si-
mon bar Koseba. He is now better known by his
ancient nickname of Bar Kokhba, a transparent allu-
sion to the messianic interpretation of Numbers 24
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and, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, he was be-
lieved to be the messiah by R. Aqiva (yTaan 4:5).
Whether Aqiva really held this view, claims of mes-
sianic office were linked to military leaders, revolu-
tionaries, and prophetic pretenders in the late Sec-
ond Temple period, leveraging the political and
ideological implications of such claims in service to
their causes.
Bibliography: ■ Abegg, M. J., Jr., “The Messiah at Qumran:
Are We Still Seeing Double?” DSD 2 (1995) 125–44. ■ Bock-
muehl, M./J. Carleton Paget (eds.), Redemption and Resistance:
The Messianic Hopes of Jews and Christians in Antiquity (London
2007). ■ Collins, J. J., The Scepter and the Star (Grand Rapids,
Mich. 22010). ■ García Martínez, F., “Two Messianic Fig-
ures in the Qumran Texts,” in id., Qumranica Minora II (STDJ
64; Leiden 2007) 13–32. ■ Horbury, W., Jewish Messianism
and the Cult of Christ (London 1998). ■ Neusner, J. et al.
(eds.), Judaisms and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian
Era (Cambridge 1987). ■ Novenson, M. V., The Grammar of
Ancient Messianism (Oxford 2017). ■ Puech, É., “4QApocry-
phe de Daniel ar,” in Qumran Cave 4, XVII (ed. J. VanderKam
et al.; DJD 22; Oxford 1996) 165–84. ■ Reed, A. Y., “Messi-
anism Between Judaism and Christianity,” in Rethinking the
Messianic Idea in Judaism (ed. M. L. Morgan/S. Weitzman;
Bloomington, Ind. 2015) 23–62. ■ Schiffman, L. H., The Es-
chatological Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls (SBLMS 38; At-
lanta, Ga. 1989). ■ Trafton, J. L., “What Would David Do?
Messianic Expectation and Surprise in Ps. Sol. 17,” in The
Psalms of Solomon: Language, History, Theology (ed. E. Bons/P.
Pouchelle; SBLEJL 40; Atlanta, Ga. 2015) 155–74. ■ Zim-
merman, J., Messianische Texte aus Qumran (WUNT 104; Tü-
bingen 1998).
Matthew Neujahr
B. Rabbinic Judaism
The figure of a messiah is present in most of rab-
binic literature, in the Targumim, in prayers, reli-
gious poetry and the Hekhalot literature, but not ev-
erywhere with the same frequency. In early texts he
is to be encountered only rarely, but grows in im-
portance over time and especially in periods of cri-
sis, as above all in the first half of the 7th century.
At the beginning of the rabbinic period Simeon
ben Koziba, the leader of the second revolt against
Rome (132–35 CE), apparently continues the series
of messianic figures of the 1st century CE, as the
title naśi, “prince,” on his coins and documents
(e.g., Papyrus Murabbaat 24: “year two of the re-
demption of Israel by Simeon son of Kosiba nas´i of
Israel”), but above all his surname Bar Kokhba, “son
of the star” (derived from Num 24:17) seems to im-
ply. This is first made explicit by Eusebius (Hist. eccl.
4.6), but also in yTan 4:8 where R. Aqiva is said to
have acclaimed Bar Kokhba the Messiah, applying
to him Num 24:17 (the attribution is most likely
not historical: Novenson: 571–72). The failure of
this revolt may have contributed to the reticence of
the early rabbis regarding messianic aspirations.
J. Heinemann identified Bar Kokhba with the
warrior “Messiah son of Joseph who was killed”
who is mentioned in bSuk 52a together with the
Messiah son of David; later, so Heinemann, this
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warrior messiah was identified with the Messiah
son of Ephraim. This proposal is problematic since
the idea of a double messiah appears only late. The
Jerusalem Talmud (ySuk 5:2) applies Zech 12:12 to
a lamentation for the Messiah, thus a messiah who
had died, but without further detail. Only bSuk 52a
identifies him with the Messiah son of Joseph. RutR
2:14 applies Isa 53:5 to the vicarious suffering of
the Messiah who will later be restored to his throne;
just as Moses, the first redeemer, was revealed and
then hidden for three months, thus also the last re-
deemer. This passage knows of no split between a
royal messiah and a suffering messiah; the whole
idea is not developed further. A suffering messiah
does play a central role in the story of bSan 98a:
Elijah tells R. Joshua b. Levi that he may find the
Messiah at the gate of the city (of Rome), sitting
among the lepers. He alone unties and ties his ban-
dages one by one in order to be ready when he is
wanted. Asked, when he is coming, the Messiah
tells him, “Today.” As Elijah later explains, this
means: “Today, if you would listen to his voice” (Ps
95:7). The suffering messiah, as depicted here, is
waiting at the gates of Rome, in the very center of
Israel’s arch-enemy, for the moment when he will
be called for his task. As the continuation of the
passage implies, this messiah is the “Son of David,”
as most rabbinic texts see him, not a second messi-
anic figure (as in bSuk 52a). The suffering and dying
messiah becomes most prominent in Pesiqta Rab-
bati (mainly PesRab 34–36), where he is constantly
called Messiah (ben) Ephraim. He suffers tremen-
dous pains for the sins of Israel, but his death is
nowhere explicitly stated; he rather prepares the
coming of the final salvation of Israel. There are im-
pressive parallels to the Christian presentation of
Christ as asuffering messiah (although the Pesiqta
does not know of death and resurrection of its mes-
siah); one may understand these texts with Ulmer
as a reaction to Christian ideas, although probably
not as early as she assumes (2013: 120: “parts of the
messianic passages of Pesiq. Rab. date to the third
century,” although the homilies still have a long
history afterwards; see Schäfer: 270 for a date in the
period after 632 CE).
A clear reaction to Christian traditions may also
be found in yBer 2:4 (cf. EkhR 1:16) on the birth of
the Messiah. An Arab tells a Jew that the temple has
been destroyed and the King Messiah has been
born. His name is Menahem, his father’s name Hez-
ekiah, and he is from Bethlehem. The Jew becomes
a peddler of diapers while searching the baby mes-
siah. When he comes to Bethlehem, only Mena-
hem’s mother does not want to buy diapers; she has
no money. But when the Jew later comes back, the
mother declares that the wind had carried away her
baby. This strange and much-studied story places
the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem and connects
it with the destruction of the temple, just as Chris-
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tian tradition connects the end of the temple with
the mission of Christ. The Arab is frequently inter-
preted as Elijah, the traditional messenger of the
coming of the Messiah. Here alone in classical rab-
binic literature the mother of the Messiah is central,
but strangely enough does not care for her baby.
There are parallels to Rev 12:1–6, but also to Jesus’
birth narratives in the Gospels, although the precise
relationship to the Gospels and the meaning of the
rabbinic reworking are not clear (for details see
Schäfer: 214–35). The catastrophe of the destruction
of the temple is the beginning of a new hope; the
Messiah exists already and remains hidden until his
time shall come.
In the context of this story the rabbis ask for the
name of the Messiah. David, Tsemah (“shoot”; Zech
6:12) and Menahem (“comforter”) are mentioned
(the last two are identified because they have the
same numerical value); EkhR 1:16 adds YHWH tsid-
qenu (“the Lord is our righteousness”; Jer 23:6),
Shilo (Gen 49:10), H  aninah (“favor”; Jer 16:13), Yin-
non (“shall continue”; Ps 72:17; see also bSan 98b).
The names either emphasize the Messiah’s renewal
of the Davidic kingdom or stand for his expected
functions (for further names see Goldberg).
The turbulent events of the early 7th century
CE – the Persian conquest of Palestine and rule over
the country in the years 614–28, the recapture of
the land by Heraclius and the Arab invasions since
632 strengthened messianic hopes in the Jewish
people. Hebrew apocalypses (all contained in Even-
Shmuel’s collection) were written to interpret the
events as signs of the messianic redemption. Best
known among these texts is the Sefer Zerubbabel,
written still before the Arab conquest. It knows of
two messianic figures, a Messiah ben Joseph named
Nehemiah who dies in the battle against Armilus,
the anti-Christ, but thereby prepares the way for
Menahem ben Ammiel, the Davidic messiah whose
mother Hephzibah is also mentioned (the only time
the mother of the Messiah is named). Some of these
details recall earlier rabbinic texts. Absolutely new –
with a parallel in the Sefer Eliyahu (in its final form
probably from the same period) – is the figure of
the anti-Christ, called Tarmila in Sefer Eliyahu, Armi-
los in Sefer Zerubbabel, the latter perhaps a transfor-
mation of Romulus (others derive it from the Greek
eremolaos, “destroyer of the people”) and perhaps a
caricature of Heraclius. According to Sefer Zerubbabel
he is the son of a marble statue in the form of a
beautiful woman, impregnated by Satan, clearly a
parody of the Christian veneration of Mary. At-
tempts to use these texts for the reconstruction of
the history of these decades remain problematic.
These apocalypses had a long reception history – an
early example is the piyyut Oto ha-yom, “The day
when the Messiah comes” and somewhat later PRE
19 where Menahem ben Amiel ben Joseph fights
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863 Messiah
against the kings of the nations. They were copied,
rewritten, and transformed until the high Middle
Ages.
Bibliography: ■ Even-Shmuel, Y., Midreshei Geullah: Chap-
ters of Jewish Apocalypse Dating from the Completion of the Babylo-
nian Talmud until the Sixth Millennium (Jerusalem 1943, repr.
with new introductions by O. Irshai/H. Newman, 2017).
[Heb.] ■ Goldberg, A., Erlösung durch Leiden (FJS 4; Frank-
furt a.M. 1978). ■ Goldberg, A., “Die Namen des Messias
in der rabbinischen Traditionsliteratur: Ein Beitrag zur Mes-
sianologie des rabbinischen Judentums,” in id., Mystik und
Theologie des rabbinischen Judentums 1 (ed. M. Schlüter/P. Schä-
fer; TSAJ 61; Tübingen 1997) 208–74. ■ Heinemann, J.,
“The Messiah of Ephraim and the Premature Exodus of the
Tribe of Ephraim,” HTR 68 (1975) 1–15. ■ Himmelfarb,
M., “The Mother of the Messiah in the Talmud Yerushalmi
and Sefer Zerubbabel,” in The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-
Roman Culture, vol. 3 (ed. P. Schäfer; TSAJ 93; Tübingen
2002) 369–89. ■ Himmelfarb, M., “The Messiah Son of Jo-
seph in Ancient Judaism,” in Envisioning Judaism, FS P. Schä-
fer, 2 vols. (ed. R. S. Boustan et al.; Tübingen 2013) 2:771–
90. ■ Himmelfarb, M., Jewish Messiahs in a Christian Empire
(Cambridge, Mass. 2017). ■ Levey, S. H., The Messiah: An Ar-
amaic Interpretation (Cincinnati, Ohio 1974). ■ Mitchell,
D. G., “Messiah ben Joseph: A Sacrifice of Atonement for
Israel,” Review of Rabbinic Judaism 10 (2007) 77–94. ■ Neus-
ner, J., Messiah in Context (Lanham, Md. 1988). ■ Pérez Fer-
nández, M., Tradiciones mesiánicas en el Targum Palestinense
(Valencia 1981). ■ Novenson, M., “Why Does R. Akiba Ac-
claim Bar Kokhba as Messiah?,” JSJ 40 (2009) 551–72.
■ Pickup, M, “The Emergence of the Suffering Messiah in
Rabbinic Literature,” in Approaches to Ancient Judaism, vol. 11
(Atlanta, Ga. 1997) 143–62. ■ Schäfer, P., The Jewish Jesus
(Princeton, N.J. 2012). ■ Ulmer, R., “The Contours of the
Messiah in Pesiqta Rabbati,” HTR 106 (2013) 115–44.
Günter Stemberger
C. Medieval Judaism
In medieval Jewish thought, the Messiah is at times
perceived as the creator of an era and at times as its
product. Rationalist Spanish, Provençal, Italian, and
Byzantine thought emphasized intellectual and po-
litical dimensions of the Messiah. By contrast, Ash-
kenazi thought emphasized aspects that emerge
from midrash and aggadah, hence its tendency to
present the Messiah as a miraculous and martyro-
logical figure for whom the sanctification of the
name had proved paradoxically successful. Mystical
trends (Kabbalah, Hasidism) were thus more in-
clined toward Ashkenazi thought.
1. Messianic Types. The characteristics of the
Messiah’s figure do indeed optimally reflect the
messianic position as a whole. Variations in the de-
scriptions of the Messiah’s character and personality
can be classified into four groups:
a. A Charismatic Leader. Many sources present the
Messiah as a charismatic commander and ideal
hero, who is also an acclaimed politician. According
to the King David paradigm, the Messiah heroically
wages the wars of the Lord and, through the force
of his personality, gathers behind him the people of
Israel and all its exiles to renew the sovereignty of
the realm and religious worship in the Holy Land.
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This was the dominant approach among Span-
ish and Provençal medieval rationalists. Saadia
Gaon (882–942), who was active in Egypt, the land
of Israel, and Babylonia in the 10th century, pre-
sented the Messiah in the wake of Sefer Eliyahu as
struggling against a demonic figure, who finally
succeeds in conquering Jerusalem and gathering the
Jews in the land of Israel. Except for the demonic
aspects, Maimonides (1138–1204), the most influ-
ential Jewish medieval thinker, presented the Mes-
siah in similar terms. He views the Messiah as the
ideal leader and concludes his monumental ha-
lakhic treatise, Mishneh Torah, with two chapters
(MishT, Sefer Shoftim, Hilkhot Melakhim 11–12)
that present the messianic enterprise – restoring
worship in the temple, returning the Jewish people
to their tribal structure (by exposing the precise ge-
nealogy of every single Jew as belonging to a specific
tribe) and, ultimately, bringing world peace.
b. A Humble Suffering Figure. Other sources
present the Messiah as a pained figure, “humble
and riding on a donkey” (Zech 9:9), a sufferer
among sufferers and a leper among lepers. Christian
sources contributed to the development of this ap-
proach in medieval Jewish philosophy that is also
found, for example, in the Zohar (see 2:212a). In
Raya mehemna (Aram. “the faithful sheperd”) one of
the Zohar’s later strata, the Messiah appears in the
image of Moses, a tragic figure who died without
attaining self-fulfillment, did not enter the Holy
Land, and whose grave is even unknown. Never-
theless, the Messiah is presented in this text as a
manifestation of Moses, a suffering figure, an ap-
proach that also prevails among Ashkenazi exegetes
endorsing literal interpretations such as Rashi
(1040–1105), who stresses the Messiah’s character
as “humble and riding on a donkey.” (ad loc.)
c. A Scholar and Spiritual Leader. Some present the
Messiah as an intellectual, a spiritual Torah leader,
and a kind of traditional Jewish scholar. This messi-
anic figure, epitomizing erudition and knowledge,
features mainly in Spanish and Provençal rationalist
literature. Maimonides presented the Messiah as a
scholar, paving the way for rationalists such as R.
David Qimh i (1160–1235), who argued that the
Messiah teaches the people Torah (Comm. on Isa
2:3). His disciples and those of Maimonides’ succes-
sors presented the Messiah as a symbol of wisdom.
Thinkers such as R. Levi b. Abraham (Provence, end
of the 13th cent.), R. Samuel Ibn Zarza (mid-14th
cent.) and their colleagues presented the Messiah as
conveying devotion to the Active Intellect and inter-
preted the Messiah in Scripture and in rabbinic ag-
gadot as symbolizing wisdom. Rationalists, then,
replaced the miraculous dimension of the Messiah
in aggadic sources with ordinary virtues, to such
ane extent that they came to be suspected of not
believing at all in the Messiah as a real figure.
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d. A Magician. Some present the Messiah as a ma-
gician, who effects the changes of the messianic era
by resorting to wondrous, supernatural powers, like
the anonymous authors of Sefer ha-Meshiv (Book of
the Responding [Angel]; 15th cent.), which relies on
the anti-Christian motifs in the polemic work Toldot
Yeshu, and of Kaf ha-qetoret (The Spoonful of incense;
15th/16th cent.), which modifies the messianic con-
cept found in Sefer Zerubbabel. In kabbalistic litera-
ture the Messiah is integrated into the system of ten
divine manifestations (sefirot), most prominently by
King David representing the tenth sefirah, Malkhut,
symbolized also by the Assembly of Israel, which is
subject to demonic powers. In addition, the kabba-
listic idea of metempsychosis (gilgul), applies the
concept of the Messiah (and his soul) to the name
Adam, to be read as an acronym for Adam, David,
Messiah (Idel: 189).
2. The Messianic Personality. Obviously, the
Messiah’s personality can incorporate several fea-
tures, but the fusion of most or all of them posed
a challenge to thinkers. Below are three attempts
combining the martyr, the intellectual, and the
ideal leader into a single figure:
(1) Some claimed the Messiah could not possibly
be a martyr while also ruling the entire world and,
therefore, pointed out that “humble and riding on
a donkey” denotes only that he is humble rather
than a martyr (R. David Qimh i, the 13th-cent. Span-
ish rationalist, and R. Moshe Butarel, the 14th-cent.
Spanish kabbalist who copied his words).
(2) The widespread allegory on the verse “hum-
ble and riding on a donkey” (Zech 9:9), which relies
on the linguistic closeness between hø amor (donkey)
and hø omer (matter), became an important compo-
nent of the Messiah’s perception as a scholar.
(3) Alternatively, one or another characteristic
may be conveyed by splitting the Messiah into two
figures-the son of Joseph and the son of David as,
respectively, the suffering and the triumphant war-
rior messiahs. Saadia Gaon adopted this approach
and presented it in the eighth article of his Book of
Beliefs and Opinions.
Evidently, then, choosing one of the Messiah’s
specific characteristics or even integrating several of
them conveys the messianic approach of the thinker
who presents it, with the Messiah as one aspect of a
broader idea.
3. The Messiah and the Messianic Era. Another
question that emerges in this context is the relation-
ship between the Messiah’s personality and the
messianic era. In some approaches, the Messiah is
an indication of the era and messianic events take
place deterministically, independent of a special
person or a nation’s collective activity. These ap-
proaches view the appearance of the Messiah as ex-
pressing the beginning or the end of an era. By con-
trast, some hold that the Messiah is the one who
brings about the messianic era and actively fulfills
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the messianic promises. The essential or contingent
dependence of redemption on the Messiah is thus
part of the differences between the various ap-
proaches.
Bibliography: ■ Aescoly, A. Z. (ed.), Messianic Movements in
Israel (Jerusalem 1956). [Heb.] ■ Berger, D., “Three Typo-
logical Themes in Early Jewish Messianism: Messiah Son of
Joseph, Rabbinic Calculations, and the Figure of Armilus,”
AJS Review 10 (1985) 141–64. ■ Friedman, M. A., Maimoni-
des: The Yemenite Messiah and Apostasy (Jerusalem 2002). [Heb.]
■ Idel, M., Messianic Mystics (New Haven, Conn. 1998).
■ Liebes, Y., “The Messiah of the Zohar,” in Studies in the
Zohar (Albany, N.Y. 1993) 1–84. ■ Saracheck, J., The Doctrine
of the Messiah in Medieval Jewish Literature (New York 1932).
Dov Schwartz
D. Modern Judaism
In modern Judaism, while the term “messiah”
sometimes continues earlier notions of a traditional
redeemer, the scope of that term was often broad-
ened. In some cases, it was attributed metaphori-
cally to particular individuals, without a belief in
them as the traditional or religious messiah. In
other cases, the term did not denote an individual
at all but rather a utopian state, a messianic era.
There were also cases in which Jews believed that a
certain individual had a messianic destiny, without
believing that he was the messiah himself, but his
herald or assistant.
1. Early Modern Period. The most significant
messiah in early modern Judaism was Shabbetai
Tsevi (1626–1676; q.v.) who was announced as the
messiah in 1665 by Nathan of Gaza (1643–1680;
q.v.). Nathan became Tsevi’s prophet, initiated the
Sabbatean movement and developed its major doc-
trines. Tsevi aroused interest among Christians of
his time. Since many of the events of the Sabbatean
movement occurred in 1666, and since 666 is the
“Number of the Beast” from the Book of Revela-
tions (13:18), Tsevi was also sometimes identified
by Christians as the Antichrist. While Tsevi was
characterized as a relatively traditional Jewish mes-
siah, he was forced to convert to Islam, an event that
resulted in a crisis in the Sabbatean movement. His
prophet Nathan of Gaza developed a theory of a sec-
ond coming that would take place after Tsevi’s
death, when he would come again and fulfill his
messianic destiny. That theory was based on Jewish
sources and not on Christian ones.
Some messianic pretenders made changes to the
Bible or biblical law (halakhah), claiming that the
existing Torah is for the pre-messianic time,
whereas the messiah will bring with him a new To-
rah. Shabbetai Tsevi, for example, allowed his fol-
lowers to eat the prohibited fat of animals (Lev
7:23–25). The Italian kabbalist and poet Moses H  ay-
yim Luzzatto (1707–1746), who had messianic aspi-
rations and may have perceived himself as the mes-
siah, composed 150 new psalms, and was accused
by his opponents of claiming that in the messianic
era, his psalms would replace the biblical psalms.
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867 Messiah
2. Hasidism. The figure of the messiah was less
important in the Hasidic movement that emerged
in 18th-century Eastern Europe. In a celebrated
epistle attributed to the founding father of Hasid-
ism, Israel Baal Shem Tov (known as the Besht; ca.
1700–1760), he reported on a spiritual journey to
Heaven, during which he met the messiah and
asked him when he would come. The messiah re-
sponded to him in the words of Prov 5:16: when
“your springs will be scattered abroad,” a response
that was understood as a directive to the Besht to
disseminate the teachings of Hasidism. It is thus
clear that the Besht did not see himself as the mes-
siah and, similarly, most Hasidic leaders did not
identify themselves as such. However, there were a
few exceptions. Most notable was R. Nah man of
Bratslav (1772–1810), who saw himself as having a
messianic role; he may even have seen himself as
the messiah. In particular, he may have seen his role
as that of “Messiah the son of Joseph,” who, accord-
ing to some Jewish traditions, must die prior to ac-
complishing the messianic mission. At the same
time, R. Nah man probably understood himself as
an embodiment of Moses, who would rectify the
biblical Moses’ sin of “the waters of Meribah” (Num
20:13). Notably, the biblical Moses was also attrib-
uted messianic roles. In R. Nah man’s Secret Scroll,
delivered to just a few of his disciples, the figure of
the messiah is compared to King Solomon, and the
messianic era to Solomon’s kingdom. Thus, accord-
ing to R. Nah man, the Messiah was a natural king.
3. Yemen. The figure of the messiah was not al-
ways connected with a detailed messianic idea.
There were more popular manifestations of messi-
anism. During the 1860s, two figures appeared
among the Jews of Yemen, who each claimed to be
the messiah. The first of them, whose name was
Shukr Kuh ayl, was killed by the Muslim ruler of
Yemen. The other claimed that he was Shukr Ku-
h ayl and that he had been resurrected by Elijah the
Prophet, the traditional harbinger of the messiah,
who also guided him in his messianic mission.
Shukr Kuh ayl II sent epistles to various Jewish com-
munities, in which he presented himself as the mes-
siah, while quoting numerous verses with messianic
resonances (such as Isa 11:1–4, 52:7). According to
one source, Shukr Kuh ayl II also preached among
Muslims, introducing biblical material alongside
the Qurān.
4. Zionism. The emergence of Jewish national
movements during the 19th century was sometimes
understood in messianic terms. In particular, cer-
tain figures were described as modern manifesta-
tions of messianic figures. For example, Laurence
Oliphant (1829–1888), the British author and diplo-
mat, who moved to Palestine and promoted Jewish
agricultural settlement there, was described by Jews
as King Cyrus the Great, who facilitated the return
of Jews to the land of Israel after the destruction of
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the First Temple (Ezra 1), and who was described as
a messianic figure (Isa 45:1). Theodor Herzl (1860–
1904), the founder of the Zionist movement, was
also described, both by himself and by others, in
messianic terms, and sometimes as a combination
of the messiah and Moses, who led the Israelites
from exile to their homeland. Later in the Zionist
movement, David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973) tended
to describe the Zionist project in messianic terms,
and in particular as an implementation of the mes-
sianic visions of the biblical prophets. Ben-Gurion’s
opponents hinted that he attributed to himself the
role of the messiah, but he explicitly claimed that
his vision was of messianism without an individual
messiah. That approach of “messianism without a
messiah” also characterizes the religious Zionist cir-
cles stemming from the school of Rabbi A. I. Kook
(1865–1935), the first chief rabbi of Mandate Pales-
tine.
5. Philosophy. Modern Jewish philosophers who
were interested in Jewish messianism often under-
stood the Jewish messiah not as a concrete figure
but as an ideal, expressing an ethical demand. Her-
mann Cohen (1842–1918), for example, understood
the Jewish messiah in contradistinction to Christi-
anity. While Jesus was a messiah who did arrive,
the Jewish messiah, according to Cohen, will never
arrive. The Jewish messiah, described by Cohen in
biblical terms, was understood by him as the per-
sonification of the ethical destiny of the Jews. Since
that destiny cannot be completed, the Jewish mes-
siah will not come. There were modern Jewish phi-
losophers who did not emphasize biblical messian-
ism. Emmanuel Levinas afforded more importance
to talmudic formulations, including “Messianic
Texts” from the Talmud in his collection Difficult
Freedom.
6. Habad and Menachem Mendel Schneer-
son. The most striking Jewish messianic figure of
the 20th century was probably Menachem Mendel
Schneerson (1902–1994), the leader of Habad (Cha-
bad) Hasidism. Schneerson emphasized the impor-
tance of striving to bring the messiah, and urged
his followers to disseminate hopes for the messiah.
Time and again he returned to the aforementioned
verse (Prov 5:16) “your springs will be scattered
abroad,” used by the Besht. But while the Besht
probably referred to the dissemination of the teach-
ings of Hasidism, Schneerson referred more particu-
larly to the dissemination of the hopes for the mes-
sianic coming. This verse became a slogan of the
Habad group and its messianic activity, together
with other slogan such as “We want Moshiach
now.”
Notably, the messianic vision of Schneerson in-
cluded non-Jews. While Jews are expected to ob-
serve Jewish law, non-Jews were urged to commit
to performing the ‘Seven Laws of Noah,’ which are
general laws that apply to all humankind, includ-
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ing, for example, the prohibition of murder. The
messianic vision of Schneerson also afforded a sig-
nificant role to women, a role that was sometimes
presented as more important than that of men.
Here too, biblical verses were used homiletically as
the basis of the demand, in particular the verse “a
woman encompasses a man” (Jer 31:21).
As messianic hopes increased, the followers of
Schneerson began to believe that he was the mes-
siah. And when he talked about the messiah it was
never entirely clear whether he was referring to
himself. The belief in Schneerson as the messiah
persisted among some of his followers after he died,
who also developed hope in his second coming.
Some of the Hasidim even believe that he is still
alive. Those beliefs generated furious critique. Their
most notable opponent was David Berger, an Ortho-
dox Jewish historian, who argued that by believing
in the second coming of Schneerson, these Habad
Hasidim had violated a crucial distinction between
Judaism and Christianity, and that therefore they
should be excommunicated. Eventually, that con-
troversy faded away, and belief in Schneerson as the
messiah continues without significant opposition.
Bibliography: ■ Berger, D., The Rebbe, the Messiah and the
Scandal of Orthodox Indifference (Oxford 2001). ■ Eraqi Klor-
man, B., The Jews of Yemen in the Nineteenth Century (Leiden
1993). ■ Green, A., Tormented Master (Tuscaloosa, Ala.
1979). ■ Lenowitz, H., The Jewish Messiahs (New York/Ox-
ford 1998). ■ Mark, Z., The Scroll of Secrets (trans. N. Moses;
Brighton 2012). ■ Morgan, M. L., “Levinas and Messian-
ism,” in Rethinking the Messianic Idea in Judaism (ed. M. L.
Morgan/S. Weitzman; Bloomington, Ind. 2015) 195–225.
■ Saperstein, M. (ed.), Essential Papers on Messianic Movements
and Personalities in Jewish History (New York 1992). ■ Scho-
lem, G., Sabbatai Sø evi: The Mystical Messiah, 1626–1676 (trans.
R. J. Zwi Werblowsky; Princeton, N.J. 1973); rev. trans. of
id., Shabbetai Tsevi weha-tenu ah ha-shabtait bi-yemei hø ayyaw,
2 vols. (Tel Aviv 1957). ■ Shavit, Y., “Realism and Messian-
ism in Zionism and the Yishuv,” in Jews and Messianism in the
Modern Era (ed. J. Frankel; New York/Oxford 1991) 100–27.
Gadi Sagiv
IV. Christianity
■Patristics, Orthodox Churches, and Early Medieval
Christianity ■ Medieval Christianity and Reformation
Era ■ Modern Europe and America ■ New Christian
Churches and Movements ■ World Christianity
A. Patristics, Orthodox Churches, and Early
Medieval Christianity
1. Preview: Presuppositions and Problems. The
transliteration Μεσσίας (John 1:41) raises no ques-
tions of interpretation, since the text presupposes
its equivalence to Χριστός, as well as the etymologi-
cal connection between Χριστός and χρίειν. Due to
Luke 4:18, Acts 4:27 (᾽Ιησοῦν ὃν ἔχρισας), and 10:38,
the anointing of Jesus is understood as anointing
with the Holy Spirit – the ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως of
Ps 44:8 – which is interpreted christologically in
Heb 1:8–9. In the history of the tradition, the pre-
vailing idea underpinning the motif concerns the
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consecration of kings, priests/high priests, prophets
and patriarchs. When applied to Jesus, however,
this kind of analogy requires clarification in order
to assure the uniqueness of Jesus’ anointing. Other
questions that need to be clarified relate to the spe-
cific point of reference concerning Jesus (when was
he anointed?) and how the anointing motif is to be
encompassed in Christology.
2. Etymology and Point of Reference. The ety-
mological connection between Χριστός and χρίειν is
well-known (Justin, 2 Apol. 5[6].3, and many others).
The anointing of Jesus is understood as anointing
with the Holy Spirit, owing to Luke 4:18 and Acts
10:38 (Eusebius of Caesarea, Eccl. theol. 1.20.26/83;
Gregory of Nyssa, Adversus Apolinarium [GNO 3/1,
225]; Cyril of Alexandria, Quod unus sit Christus [PG
75:1276a]). Diodor of Tarsus (Commentarii in Psalmos
[CCSG 6:268]) clarifies why Ps 44:8 (Crawford: 23–
31) does not refer to Solomon but to Jesus Christ:
Solomon is never called “god,” and the wording εἰς
τὸν αἰῶνα is not fitting for him. Canticles 1:2, Acts
10:38, and Ps 44:8 are combined in Bede’s exegesis
to explain the name, Christus, id est unctus (Bede, In
Cantica Canticorum 1:2 [CCSL 119 B:192]). Origen
(Princ. 2.6.4), explicating διὰ τοῦτο in Ps 44:8, states
that the perfection of love in Jesus forms the ration-
ale for his anointing (Beeley: 34–35). Whereas some
early authors identify Jesus’ baptism as the moment
of anointing to which the motif refers (Matthaeus
Cantacuzenus, Commentarius in Canticum Canticorum
1:1 [PG 152:1001ab], who refers also to Isa 61:1),
others identify the point of reference with Jesus’ in-
carnation (Augustine, Trin. 15.26; Ps.-Germanos of
Constantinople, Mystica contemplatio [PG 98:385c]).
3. The Typology of Anointing. Historically, Jew-
ish messianic expectation is mentioned only rarely
within Christian tradition during this period (Hip-
polyt of Rome, Benedictiones Iacob 15 [TU 38:31]:
Jesus fulfills the expectation of the Messiah from
Judah and from Levi; Theophylact, Enarratio in Evan-
gelium Iohannis [PG 123:1141a]: ᾿O γὰρ προσ-
δοκώμενος αὐτοῖς εἷς ἦν).
In early Christianity, the phrase μέτοχοι in Ps
44:8 may refer to believers of Christ who are μέτοχοι
by imitation (Origen, Princ. 4:4.4). They participate
not in Jesus Christ’s θεότης but in the σῶμα τῆς
δόξης (Theodoret of Cyrus, Interpretatio Epistulae ad
Hebraeos [PG 82: 688a]). The reference to “present
preachers” is an argument against Celsus, who had
asked why God should have wanted to reveal him-
self in a remote corner of the world (Origen, Cels.
6.79).
In later times, the motif is typically understood
as an allusion to the anointing of kings, (high)
priests, prophets, and patriarchs. However, these
antecedents do not embody anointing in fullness
(Origen, Cels. 6.79, and Gregory of Elvira, In Canti-
cum Canticorum 1.15 [CCSL 69:174] refer to Col 2:9)
but only in part (Justin, Dial. 86.3; Eusebius of Cae-
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871 Messiah
sarea, Dem. ev. 4.10; Ps.-Cyril of Alexandria, De Sacro-
sancta Trinitate 22 [PG 77:1164a]; Ps.-Oecumenius of
Tricca, Commentarius in Epistolam ad Hebraeos [PG
119:288bc]; Matthaeus Cantacuzenus, Commentarius
in Canticum Canticorum 1:1 [PG 152:1001ab]; Greg-
ory of Elvira, In Canticum Canticorum 1.14 [CCSL
69:174]; Bede, Retractatio in Acta Apostolorum [CCSL
121:117]). According to Nicephorus Blemmyda (Ex-
positio in Psalmos [PG 142:1462bc]), παρά in Ps 44:8
marks the distinction between Jesus and the kings
and priests and prophets; the union of divine and
human (ἕνωσις κατ’ ὑπόστασιν) is realized only in
Jesus Christ. The discussion of unction sometimes
also prompts references to Christian baptism (Theo-
doret of Cyrus, Explanatio in Canticum Canticorum [PG
81:60bc]; Ps.-Germanos of Constantinople, Mystica
contemplatio [PG 98:385c]).
4. Christological Problems. In Acts 2:36, the use
of ἐποίησεν could be construed as contradicting
John 1:1. John Chrysostom (Hom. Act. 6.3) is content
with stating that Acts 2:36 is not about Jesus
Christ’s οὐσίωσις but about πᾶν … περὶ το7του.
Gregory of Nyssa (Contra Eunomium 3.4.59 [GNO 1/
2:157]) clarifies the character of the designation
χριστός more precisely: it can be regarded as προση-
γορία, which indicates not Jesus’ οὐσία but his βασι-
λεία (O’Leary). Theodoret of Cyrus (Interpretatio Epis-
tulae ad Hebraeos [PG 82:685d–688a]) interprets Heb
1:8 (ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα) with regard
to the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the anointing
motif in Heb 1:9 with regard to his humanity, due
to the last sentence (ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς
μετόχους σου). According to Ps.-Cyril of Alexandria
(De Sacrosancta Trinitate 22 [PG 77:1161d–1164a]),
the name “Christ” refers to the composite nature of
the ὑπόστασις of Jesus Christ; the anointing is the
divinity, the anointed is the humanity.
Unction is also relevant in the controversies re-
garding the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit.
Against the so-called “Macedonians,” Gregory of
Nyssa (Adversus Macedonios 15 [GNO 3/1:102]) refers
to Acts 10:38 to ask how someone can confess Jesus
Christ in an adequate way if the confession does not
include Jesus’ anointing by the Holy Spirit. Hence,
the Holy Spirit is also consubstantial with God the
Father and God the Son.
Bibliography: ■ Beeley, C. A., The Unity of Christ: Continuity
and Conflict in Patristic Tradition (New Haven, Conn. 2012).
■ Crawford, M. R., Cyril of Alexandria’s Trinitarian Theology of
Scripture (Oxford 2014). ■ O’Leary, J., “Incarnational Ontol-
ogy and Paschal Transformation: Acts 2,36 in Contra Euno-
mium III 3,” in Gregory of Nyssa: Contra Eunomium III (ed. J.
Leemans/M. Cassin; Leiden 2014) 613–24. ■ Williams, R.,
“Christological Exegesis of Psalm 45,” in Meditations of the
Heart: The Psalms in Early Christian Thought and Practice (ed. A.
Andreopoulos et. al.; Turnhout 2011) 17–32.
Martin Meiser
B. Medieval Christianity and Reformation Era
Questions about the arrival of the Messiah and
claims of messiahship flourished in Western Chris-
tianity in the Middle Ages, especially in the 12th
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century and following. The evangelists Tanchelm
(d. 1115) and Éon de l’Etoile (d. around 1148) in-
spired messianic movements and followers. Joachim
of Fiore believed in the imminent return of Christ
was also influential for other messianic theories and
for the teaching of Francis of Assisi.
In the context of the medieval period, the Chris-
tian and Jewish images of the Messiah influenced
one another, but this exchange only convinced each
side that its own thoughts and ideas were correct.
A considerable amount of messianic expectations is
reported in both Jewish and Christian sources
around 1240 and 1260. Part of these messianic ex-
pectations included the legend of the “Red Jews”
(see “Messianic Age II. Christianity B. Medieval
Times and Reformation Era”). There were several
public disputations between Christians and Jews. It
is particularly interesting that the question of the
Messiah was not mentioned at a disputation about
the Talmud that took place in Paris in 1240 – even
though one of the Jewish participants believed in
the imminent coming of the Messiah within the
same year. This changed at the Disputation of Bar-
celona. The Catalonian Raymond Martini, who was
an instructor of Hebrew in Barcelona, used the Tal-
mud, Midrash, and Rashi to prove that the Messiah
must suffer and die (esp. in his “Capistrum Iudaeo-
rum,” 1267). These Talmudic arguments were also
used in the lengthy Disputation of Tortosa (1413–
14) under Antipope Benedict XIII and King Ferdi-
nand I of Aragon. The medieval Rabbi Samuel trea-
tise proved how Jesus was the real Messiah. This
treatise was reprinted several times in the 16th cen-
tury.
For Martin Luther the concept of Jesus Christ as
the Messiah played a significant role in his so-called
“Jewish writings” (“Judenschriften”). Luther’s
“That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew” (“Dass Jesus
Christus ein geborner Jude sei,” 1523; WA 11:314–
336) proved the coming of the Messiah, Christ,
mainly by referencing HB/OT writings (esp. Gen
49:10, Dan 9:24–27; WA 11:325, 25–336, 13). Al-
though the official status of Jews remained difficult
and uncertain, it is possible that the atmosphere
within Jewish communities in the 1520s changed
because of the publication of this treatise (cf. “Mes-
sianism II. Christianity B. Medieval Times and
Reformation Era”). Luther used many references to
the coming of the Messiah from both the Old and
New Testaments and other writings. In his “That
Jesus Christ was Born a Jew,” Luther referenced pri-
marily HB/OT passages and so did many following
printed dialogues. Before this new approach to mis-
sion the classical references were often taken from
the NT (like in the Christian “Pharetra catholicae
fidei” which is clearly influenced by Franciscan
thoughts; Oberman 1981: 110–12).
Other Hebrew sources were used by Christian
theologians with Hebraist interests. An interest in
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873 Messiah
Jewish writings was present in a certain humanistic
milieu, too. Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522) be-
lieved that the Kabbalah and the Talmud proved the
truth of Christianity. Expounding his view on the
Kabbalah he also found the proofs for Jesus as the
real messiah (esp. in his “De arte cabalistica tres,”
1517, with reference to Isa 53:1–12; Reuchlin 2010).
The interest in Jewish literature goes along with a
clear point of view of the validity and correctness of
Christianity. Reuchlin thought that the Jews suf-
fered so long in exile due to their denial of the Mes-
siah (“A German Missive, Why the Jews Have Suf-
fered so Long in Exile,” “Tütsch missive, warumb
die Juden so lang im Ellend sind,” 1505; Reuchlin
1999: 1–12).
Messianic ideas were relatively widespread in
the milieu of the Baptists and the spiritualists.
When Hans Hut died in 1527, Augustin Bader pro-
longed the unfulfilled predications of Hut by antici-
pating that his newborn son would become the
messiah. Hut and Bader (d. 1530) were both part of
the Radical Reformation movement (cf. “Messianic
Age II. Christianity B. Medieval Times and Refor-
mation Era”).
Bibliography. Primary: ■ Luther, M., D. Martin Luthers
Werke: Kritische Ausgabe, 120 vols. (WA; Weimar 1883–2009).
■ Raimundi Martini, Capistrum Iudaeorum, 2 vols. (Corpus Is-
lamo-Christianum: Series Latina 3; Würzburg/Altenberge
1990/93). ■ Reuchlin, J., Werke, vol. 4.1: Schriften zum
Bücherstreit: Reuchlins Schriften (ed. W.-W. Ehlers; Stuttgart
1999). ■ Reuchlin, J., Werke, vol. 2.1: De arte cabalistica libri
tres (ed. W.-W. Ehlers/F. Felgentreu; Stuttgart 2010).
Secondary: ■ Baylor, M. G. (ed./trans.), Radical Reformation
(Cambridge 1991). ■ Bell, D. P./S. G. Burnett (eds.), Jews,
Judaism, and the Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Germany (Lei-
den/Boston, Mass. 2016). ■ Kaufmann, T., Luthers “Juden-
schriften” (Tübingen 22013). ■ McGinn, B., Apocalyptic Spiri-
tuality: Treatises and Letters of Lactantius, Adso of Montier en-Der,
Joachim of Fiore, the Franciscan Spirituals, Savonarola (CWS; New
York 1979). ■ Oberman, H. A., Wurzeln des Antisemitismus:
Christenangst und Judenplage im Zeitalter von Humanismus und
Reformation (Berlin 1981). ■ Oberman, H. A., Luther: Man Be-
tween God and the Devil (New Haven, Conn. 1989), trans. of
id., Luther: Mensch zwischen Gott und Teufel (Berlin 1982).
■ Schreiner, S., “Jüdische Reaktionen auf die Reformation –
einige Bemerkungen,” Jud 39 (1983) 150–65. ■ Selge, K.-V.,
“Trinität, Millenium, Apokalypse im Denken Joachims von
Fiore,” in Gioacchino da Fiore tra Bernardo di Clairvaux e Inno-
cenzo III (ed. R. Rusconi; Rome 2001) 47–69. ■ Stemberger,
G., “Die Messiasfrage in den christlich-jüdischen Disputa-
tionen des Mittelalters,” in Der Messias (JBTh 8; Neukirchen-
Vluyn 1993) 239–50. ■ Williams, G. H., The Radical Reforma-
tion (Kirksville, Mo. 2000).
Christoph Schönau
C. Modern Europe and America
The question of an adequate understanding of the
Messiah is a major topic within modern Jewish-
Christian dialogue. In the Christian tradition, the
Greek term χριστός (Heb. mashiahø , i.e., the
“anointed one”) is identified with the person of Je-
sus. The title “Christ,” which originally interpreted
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Jesus as savior, thus becomes part of his name. In
contrast to Christianity – and also to Islam – Juda-
ism has never acknowledged Jesus to be the Mes-
siah. According to Judaism, salvation and redemp-
tion has to be perceptible within public history, as
G. Scholem has pointed out. In this sense, the his-
torical events seem to contradict a messianic under-
standing of Jesus. Christian theology, on the con-
trary, does not only interpret Jesus as Messiah, but
also understands messianism in the light of Jesus.
The debate about the Messiah – and specifically the
question, “who is the Messiah?” – has therefore
been transformed into the question about Jesus:
“Who is Jesus?”
The theological topos of the Christian doctrine
about Jesus as Messiah is Christology. According to
the first six Councils (325–681), the relationship of
humanity and God in one person developed as a pri-
mordial challenge. In modern Christology, it has be-
come problematic to include the Hebrew-Aramaic
notion “Messiah” within the christological interpre-
tation of Jesus.
Even Karl Rahner, in his famous article “Prob-
leme der Christologie von heute” (“Current Prob-
lems in Christology”) in which he offers a new un-
derstanding of the Council of Chalcedon (451), uses
the title “Messiah” only in his thoughts on biblical
theology and, therefore, in a historical context. The
notion “Christ” is used in a less messianic and more
onto-theo-logical way to explain the hypostatic un-
ion. After the Shoah, and after exposure to the mes-
sianic concepts of W. Benjamin, F. Rosenzweig, and
G. Scholem among others, Christian theologians
have become aware of the implications of Jewish
messianism. In particular, H. J. Kraus, F. W. Mar-
quardt, and J. Moltmann have rediscovered the
“Messianic dimensions” of Christology (Moltmann).
The temporality of time, i.e., time as a process,
comes to mind and, thereby, the eschatological as-
pects of salvation and redemption.
Concerns for a post-Holocaust theology on the
one hand, and for post-metaphysical thinking (Ha-
bermas) on the other, have become predominant. A
first consequence of this historical context is the
conception of a non-antisemitic Christology (Breu-
ning). Secondly, there has emerged a post-meta-
physical necessity for an anthropological approach
to the interpretation of Jesus. In his influential es-
say “Un Dieu-Homme?” E. Levinas has worked out
two philosophical aspects of the Christian interpre-
tation of Jesus: (1) “the idea of a self-inflicted humil-
iation” of God, and (2) “the idea of expiation for
others” (substitution) (Levinas: 53–54). Since the
question of the subjectivity of Jesus as Messiah and
Son of God is the main topic of modern Christology,
the contribution of Levinas has been read as deepen-
ing the anthropo-theological relationship (Wohl-
muth). At the very end of his contribution, Levinas
interprets subjectivity in the context of messianism
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as a “reversal of being” (Levinas: 60) – being under-
stood as “conatus essendi.” The messianic subject
is elected even before their own decision to assume
responsibility for the whole world. The Jewish per-
spective on this interpretation becomes clear since
the messianic subject is not limited only to Jesus.
This is an original attempt to rewrite Christology
today, insofar as Christology has to be opened to
pneumatology by way of an anthropological disclo-
sure of the hypostatic union (Rahner; Wohlmuth).
The structure of messianic time is also reflected
in a post-Shoah and post-metaphysical understand-
ing of the Messiah (Agamben). A philosophical re-
reading of the letters of Paul reveals how they are
historically situated. The Messiah has come. This
event is part of the past, and the absence of the pres-
ence of the Messiah reveals a new understanding of
time: the messianic transformation of time. For-
merly, the historicity of Jesus as Messiah has been
understood either as a refusal of his messianic role
or as the fixed event of the first appearance of the
Messiah. A second coming of Jesus – the so-called
παρουσία has been expected as an event located in
the future. Agamben’s interpretation shows the
original meaning of παρουσία: a time beside the
chronological, present time. Παρουσία in this literal
sense contradicts the usual interpretation of “a life
lived in deferment” (Agamben: 69); παρουσία
means the opportunity to make time “graspable”
(ibid.: 71).
According to these philosophical thoughts, the
understanding of Jesus as Messiah has the following
implications: (1) The personal understanding of
messianism leads to an understanding of the messi-
anic approach to subjectivity. In a messianic per-
spective, the “I” is responsible for humanity, and
thus for a new heaven on earth. In this sense the
Messiah is not only engaged in historical questions
of right or wrong, but challenges each person in
their own life. In terms of Christian theology, Chris-
tology can be understood as a primordial and
unique interpretation of Jesus the Messiah. (2) Re-
flection concerning Jesus as Messiah reveals a struc-
ture of messianic time that is not identical with any
chronological event in history but that is both ab-
sent and present in every moment of time. This
messianic transformation is not simply obvious but
has to be developed by reading and interpretation.
The Christian-Jewish Dialogue has been im-
proved by the different interpretations of Jesus by
Christian and Jewish authors. In his book, “The
Jewish Gospels” (2012), D. Boyarin reflects on (and
rejects) the “commonplace … statement that what
divides Christians and Jews most sharply is the idea
that the divine Messiah could suffer and die”
(2012: 129). Instead, he shows that there “is no es-
sentially Christian (drawn from the cross) versus
Jewish (triumphalist) notion of the Messiah, but
only one complex and contested messianic idea,
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shared by Mark and Jesus with the full community
of the Jews” (ibid.: 155). For the ongoing dialogue
between Christians and Jews, the matter of Christol-
ogy (and its double questions of “who is the Mes-
siah?” and “who is Jesus?”) still remains one of the
most controversial, but also one of the most inter-
esting aspects.
Bibliography: ■ Agamben, G., The Time that Remains: A Com-
mentary on the Letter to the Romans (trans. P. Dailey; Stanford,
Calif. 2005); trans. of id., Il tempo che resta (Torino 2000).
■ Appel, K./E. Dirscherl (eds.), Das Testament der Zeit (QD 278;
Freiburg i.Br. 2016). ■ Auffarth, C. et al., “Messias/Messi-
anismus,” RGG 4 5 (2002) 1143–62. ■ Biller, G./U. Dierse,
“Messianismus, messianisch,” HWPh 5 (1980) 1163–66.
■ Boyarin, D., The Jewish Gospels (New York 2012). ■ Breun-
ing, W., Grundzüge einer nicht antijüdischen Christologie, JBTh 8
(1993) 293–312. ■ Dausner, R., Christologie in messianischer
Perspektive (Studien zu Judentum und Christentum 31; Pa-
derborn 2016). ■ Derrida, J., Specters of Marx (New York
1994); trans. of id., Spectres de Marx (Paris 1993). ■ Ho-
molka, W., Jewish Jesus Research and its Challenge to Christianity
Today (Leiden/Boston, Mass. 2017). ■ Levinas, E., A Man-
God?, in id., Entre nous: On Thinking-of-the-Other (New York
1998) 53–60. ■ Kaiser, O. et al., Der Messias: Jüdische und
christliche Vorstellungen messianischer Figuren (BThZ 31; Leipzig
2014). ■ Liska, V., Giorgio Agambens leerer Messianismus
(Vienna 2008). ■ Metz, J. B., Glaube in Geschichte und Gesell-
schaft (Gesammelte Schriften 3.1; Freiburg i.Br. 2016).
■ Moltmann, J., Der Weg Jesu Christi (München 1989); ET: id.,
The Way of Jesus Christ (London 1990). ■ Novenson, M. V.,
The Grammar of Messianism (New York 2017). ■ Rahner, K.,
Probleme der Christologie von heute, in id., Sämtliche Werke. Bd.
12: Menschsein und Menschwerdung Gottes (Freiburg i.Br. 2005),
261–301. ■ Strauß, H. et al., “Messias/Messianische Bewe-
gungen,” TRE 22 (1992) 617–38. ■ Wohlmuth, J., Die Tora
spricht die Sprache der Menschen (Paderborn 2002).
René Dausner
D. New Christian Churches and Movements
The term “messianic leader” is sometimes loosely
applied to leaders of many controversial new reli-
gious groups, including those that are not neces-
sarily Christian-related. More specifically, within
millennial movements the word “messiah” de-
scribes either a movement’s human leader to whom
superhuman powers are attributed, or an expected
supernatural figure who will transform the world.
Many new Jewish and Christian organizations
continue to employ the term in the traditional sense
to designate a coming savior, as promised in the Bi-
ble. Messianic Jews acknowledge Jesus as the mes-
siah while retaining their Jewish identity, whereas
Lubavich Jews hail the American rabbi Menachem
Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994) as messiah.
Among New Christian groups, numerous lead-
ers have been accorded messianic status. Sun Myung
Moon (1920–2012), founder-leader of the Unifica-
tion Church, taught that Jesus did not fully accom-
plish his mission, which should have included mar-
riage and raising sinless children. Thus Moon and
his wife Hak Ja Han came to be regarded jointly as
the messiahs for the present “Completed Testa-
ment Age.”
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David Koresh (born Vernon Howell, 1959–
1993), leader of the Branch Davidians of Waco,
taught that Jesus did not die for the sins of the en-
tire world but only those who were present at the
cross, and that Koresh himself was the antitypical
present-day messiah. His assumed name, “Koresh,”
is a form of “Cyrus,” whom the Bible describes as
God’s anointed (Isa 45:1).
In Father Divine’s Peace Mission, founder-leader
George Baker (1879–1965) is held to be the divine
Second Coming of Christ and the fulfillment of bib-
lical prophecies. In making this connection, the
movement refers to biblical texts such as: “The tab-
ernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with
them, and God Himself shall be with them, and he
shall be their God, and they shall be his people”
(Rev 21:3). Father Divine’s dwindling community,
who live in Woodmont, Pennsylvania, do not accept
that he died, believing that his continued presence
remains with them.
Some movements blend Christian messianic
teachings with other forms of spirituality. Theoso-
phist Alice Bailey (1880–1949) predicted the immi-
nent arrival of an Ascended Master – one of the
Great White Brotherhood who is simultaneously the
Christ, the bodhisattva Maitreya, and Islam’s Imam
Madhi – who would inaugurate a new “Aquarian
Age.” One of her followers, Benjamin Creme (1922–
2016), claimed to have received messages from As-
cended Masters, and made similar equations be-
tween Christ, Maitreya, Imam Madhi, as well as the
coming Hindu avatar Kalki. In 1982 he declared
that Maitreya had returned and was to be found in
London; the movement’s followers subsequently re-
ported sightings in various parts of the world.
Theosophical ideas, mingled with Eastern Or-
thodox Christianity, Kabbalah, and Eastern reli-
gions, influenced Maria Devi Christos (born Maria
Tsvigun, 1960). Christos claimed to have traveled
to the “Heavenly Sphere” in 1990, after which she
declared that Jesus Christ had entered her body and
that she was the messiah. She also claimed to be the
“woman clothed in the sun” (Rev 12:1) who would
purify the world (which was controlled by the Anti-
christ) with fire and light. She was expected to have
a “sacrificial death” on November 10, 1993, fol-
lowed by a resurrection three days later. Some 700
followers of her Great White Brotherhood (or Yus-
malos) attempted to force their way into Saint So-
phia Cathedral in Kiev on that date, resulting in
their arrest.
UFO-religion leader Raël (born Claude Vorilhon,
1946) has described himself as the messiah, as well
as the coming Buddha Maitreya and the Paraclete.
Raël’s teachings purportedly derive from meetings
with extraterrestrials, who interpreted the Bible for
him. This interpretation incorporates eschatological
ideas about the imminent arrival of the Elohim –
beings from another planet – who will rule the
earth wisely.
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The many other messianic claimants through-
out the centuries, up to the present day, have en-
abled mainstream Christians to find vindication of
Jesus’ prediction that many false teachers and mes-
siahs would arise (Mark 13:22).
Bibliography: ■ Bailey, A., The Reappearance of the Christ
(New York 1948). ■ Chryssides, G. D., The Advent of Sun
Myung Moon (London 1991). ■ Burnham, K. E., God Comes
to America (Boston, Mass. 1979). ■ Newport, K. G. C., The
Branch Davidians of Waco (Oxford 2006). ■ Raël (Vorilhon,
C.), Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers (2005) [Avail-
able at https://openlibrary.org] ■ Robbins, T./S. J. Palmer,
Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem (London 2013).
George D. Chryssides
E. World Christianity
Christians all over the world share the hope for a
better and more glorious future. In the Majority
World believers refer to this circumstance of a better
tomorrow as the messianic Age with Jesus being the
messiah who will usher in the age. The anticipation
of this age drives Christians in the Global South to
have an extravagant belief in Jesus as the messiah,
the anointed one, who has been appointed by God
to carry out the special mission of redemption and
liberation.
Africans need not walk far before they encoun-
ter and understand the Christian teachings about
the messiah because there are enduring elements of
redemption through a messiah in their pre-Chris-
tian religious traditions. The Christian doctrine of
redemption through the messiah will be brought
low without the illumination of the African tradi-
tional views of the messiah that Christians in Africa
have retained through Christianity. It is widely
claimed among the Yoruba Christians in West Af-
rica, for example, that Moremi was a devoted
mother who gave up Ela, her only son, to be the
messiah. Ela lived a godly life and taught his people
how to defend themselves against the evil forces of
the world. Many miracles were credited to Ela be-
fore he ascended to heaven alive where he still re-
sides with Olodumare, God in traditional Yoruba
religion. Some Christians in Yorubaland still recog-
nize Ela as the Jesus in the gospel, and they regu-
larly pray to “the God of Ela” during Christian wor-
ship. Many African Christians have transformed
effectively the messiah of the Christian religion to
their existential realities in order to gain the full
length of their Christian maturity.
Christians in Southeast Asia have also expressed
identical views that Jesus is the Messiah, but they
have done so through the prism of indigenous spiri-
tuality and pre-Christian messianic categories of the
stories of redemption and liberation. God’s redemp-
tive vision through the messiah predates the mod-
ern Christian era. It is incontrovertible that through
the bondage of modern Christian expression, be-
lievers in the Global South are also set free to ex-
press their pre-Christian understanding of the mes-
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879 Messiah
siah. Thus the Christian messianic belief was
already present in the traditional religious para-
digm, but receives its full and greater value through
modern Christian teachings.
The messianic Age is an era of universal peace
anticipated by all followers of Jesus Christ. Chris-
tians in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have solid
grounds for establishing such belief in God as the
agent of deliverance and salvation. The concept of
“messiah” has a comprehensive history in the tradi-
tion of the church in the Global South, and one can
trace that history to Judaism in the HB/OT. Chris-
tians in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are explicit
that the messiah will have a divine origin as re-
corded in the Bible and the identity of Jesus of Naz-
areth as the Messiah is a well-recognized line of
thought among Christians worldwide.
Christians in the Majority World have inherited
a historically grounded understanding of the mes-
siah without question. In many African cultures
where Christianity has been grafted into the local
idioms and indigenous spirituality, the tradition-
al indigenous view of the “messiah” is often em-
phasized. For example, any king is “the Lord’s
anointed,” and the title of the “anointed one” does
not exclusively belong to a single preeminent king.
The uniqueness of the meaning of “messiah” for
Christians in the Majority World is that the
anointed one of God is often associated with the
harsh realities of life. The judgment of Jesus the
messiah is pure and righteous altogether, and he
will bring restoration to the hopeless and deliver
believers from evil here and now.
For Christians whose lives have been twisted by
oppression due to economic stalemate or political
instability, there is hope. The messiah will usher in
an inextinguishable era of peace and the promise of
God for a better future for the devoted followers
will never fail.
The hope of Christians in the Majority World
rests not in a dynasty (such as the Davidic dynasty),
but rather on Christian’s actions and involvements
to correct what is wrong in the world here and now.
Even the reference in the HB/OT to Davidic dynasty
does not depend upon each successive king, but on
the future promise of unity and peace. In this re-
gard, God is the consistent and complete agent of
deliverance. Deliverance comes to its full under-
standing through the reign of God on earth as pro-
claimed through the life and ministry of Jesus
Christ, the Messiah. Therefore, a Christian view of
redemption and salvation must include the trans-
formation of the world. The messianic Age and the
Messiah are related only in the sense that the Mes-
siah inspires confidence in the coming of an era of
peace and everlasting freedom.
Human beings are not only alienated from God,
which is all-too-often the only theme in the Chris-
tian understanding of the role of the Messiah, but
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human beings are also estranged from each other.
Thus, the political view of Jesus and his criticism of
political leaders were an indictment of their failure
to turn their hearts to God in anticipation of the
messianic era. The theme of transformation of this
world dominated the preaching and teachings of Je-
sus of Nazareth. The hope for a better future antici-
pated by all Christians worldwide is also reflected
in the teachings of Jesus who called God “Father.”
One should not ignore too quickly the point
about messiah and the messianic Age made by
Christians worldwide that the followers of Jesus
Christ have no abiding city on earth. When the mes-
sianic Age arrives, all earthly rulers will cease to ex-
ist. Thus the presence of God is the only evidence
of a messianic Age. Earthly political leaders play
subordinate roles in the transformation of the
world. A heart that is turned towards God is essen-
tial for the reformation of that world; and when the
messianic Age arrives, the hopes centered in the ex-
pected messiah will be fully realized by all who fol-
low Christ faithfully.
What truly defines peace in a Christian life is
not the absence of war and anxiety. The peace one
realizes in the messianic Age is not defined by the
absence of conflict, but is a comprehensive serenity
that can be found only by knowing God. Thus the
fruits of a true messianic Age include freedom from
anxiety (both personal and corporate), as well as the
absence of fear of the future.
True peace is liberation which can be manifested
in good health and wholeness within one’s inner
being. The messianic Age will be characterized by
external and internal peace of mind. When this
peace is fully obtained and realized, one will be lost
in the experience and there will be no consciousness
of the self that is suffering from the injustice of the
world. True peace is achieved when it is granted by
the Messiah, and Christians worldwide acknowl-
edge Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah because of
the bold confession of Peter, one of the disciples,
at Caesarea Philippi (Matt 16:13–20; Luke 9:18–20).
Jesus acknowledged that the ultimate source of Pe-
ter’s confession was God, his “Father in heaven.”
Jesus added a new meaning to his identity as
the Messiah through his suffering and death on the
cross. Jesus taught his followers that he was not a
political messiah, but a mediator between God and
humanity. The death of Jesus on the cross and his
resurrection were the climatic events of a long prep-
aration for the revelation of the true and loving
God. As a result, the messiahship of Jesus of Naza-
reth transcends all the previous experiences of re-
demption known to humanity. It is precisely here
that Christians worldwide entered a new covenantal
relationship with God.
Christians all over the world have an indisputa-
ble example of a historical person, in both pre-
Christian and Christian religious categories, who
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881 Messiah
embodies the concept of the Messiah as the
“Anointed One,” or the Messiah from God. Even
more clearly recognized and accepted is the identifi-
cation of Jesus the Messiah with the poor, the suf-
fering, and the marginalized of the society. The ulti-
mate victory of Jesus over death through his
resurrection was not through battle or military con-
quest, but in the peaceful character of his reign in
the hearts of all the peoples of God.
There is also a warning in the teachings of Jesus
against having a strict interpretation of the messi-
anic hope that leads one to neglect his or her re-
sponsibilities on earth. This precaution is to not see
the messianic Age (or heaven) as exclusive of what
Christians are capable of accomplishing on earth.
The dichotomy between heavenly and earthly re-
sponsibilities does not exist in the life and teachings
of Jesus who came as the Messiah to ameliorate the
conditions of the marginalized. Therefore, it is a
mistaken notion to see the messianic hope as be-
longing only to the future. Throughout the world,
Christians have tried to avoid placing too much
stress on the uniqueness, majesty, or finality as-
cribed to the messianic Age that is yet to come.
Among Christians in the Majority World, there
is an echo of the biblical messianic hope for the fu-
ture, but this echo does not negate the need for hu-
man reconciliation in this world. The promise of the
coming of the messiah is not an excuse to drive
Christians away from their obligations as the am-
bassadors of Christ, the Messiah, here and now.
The promise of the messiah cannot be seen as
exclusively responsible for the promotion and prop-
agation of the Christian faith in the Majority World.
But without the promise of the messianic Age
(pointing backwards to Jesus the Messiah), the
Christian faith would not have spread with such ra-
pidity in the Global South when early European
missionaries first arrived in Africa, Asia and Latin
America. In other words, the promise of the coming
of the messiah to ameliorate the deplorable condi-
tion of the poor and to usher in victory over the
enemy, is not responsible for the dissemination and
maturation of Christian knowledge in the world;
but without that promise, Christianity would not
have realized such rapid growth and acceptance.
The idea of a future messiah is sudden and spo-
radic in the vocabulary of Christians in the Majority
World. But it is also immediate in their Christian
vocabulary because of a previous knowledge of the
messiah in the indigenous religious traditions. In
both pre-Christian and Christian religions, there is
a realization that God alone is the Redeemer,
Healer, Savior, and Reconciler. There is a distinction
without differentiation between Jesus Christ the
messiah and the messianic Age he proclaimed
through his life and mission in the world. A full
Christian understanding of the messiah in the Ma-
jority World is through the indigenous spiritual
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882
paradigm, and the arrival of Christian missionaries
from the West has not eroded this original appeal
in the experience of Christianity among the African,
Asian, and Latin American converts and devoted fol-
lowers. It is essentially here that Christians world-
wide should appreciate the contributions of Chris-
tians in the Majority World and feel the full breadth
of the Christian experience of Jesus the Messiah
who came to usher in an unlimited era of everlast-
ing peace.
Bibliography: ■ Bird, M. F., Jesus Is the Christ (Downers
Grove, Ill. 2012). ■ Collins, A. Y./J. J. Collins, King and Mes-
siah as Son of God (Grand Rapids, Mich. 2008). ■ Fitzmyer,
J. A., The One Who Is to Come (Grand Rapids, Mich. 2007).
■ Joseph, S. J., The Nonviolent Messiah (Minneapolis, Minn.
2014). ■ Kim, Y. S., Messiah in Weakness (Eugene, Oreg.
2016). ■ Morgan, M. L./S. Weitzman, Rethinking the Messi-
anic Idea in Judaism (Bloomington, Ind. 2015). ■ Schneider,
K. A., Awakening to Messiah (Shippensburg, Pa.2012).
Caleb O. Oladipo
V. Islam
The strong theme of expectation in the Qurān has
contributed to perennial messianic expectation in
Islam. In both Sunni and Shii Islam a messiah is
expected whose arrival will be marked by a variety
of standard eschatological–cum–apocalyptic signs.
The Arabic word for messiah is ması̄hø . According to
the Muslim philologists, ması̄hø is derived from a
standard qurānic verb which means to rub and, by
extension, anoint. The word occurs eleven times in
the Qurān referring to Jesus, including the typical
formula al-ması̄hø ibn Maryam, “the messiah, son of
Mary.” Another Arabic (non-qurānic) word that has
come to stand for a messianic figure is mahdı̄, built
on the qurānic root meaning to guide. Thus, the
expected Mahdi of Sunni and especially Twelver
Shii Islam is considered the “rightly-guided one”
who will come at the end of time to restore faith
(see “Mahdi”).
That Jesus is referred to so often in the Qurān
as the Messiah (al-ması̄hø ) is also reflected in the
strong Muslim belief in his return at the end of time
when he will fight the so-called Anti-Christ – al-
dajjāl – a one-eyed symbol of evil and corruption
over whom he will be victorious. In the roiling wel-
ter of religio-political discussion and debate during
the first 150 years of Islam, ideas on the figure of
the Mahdi were multiple and various. Scholars that
would later be identified as Sunni and/or Shii ex-
pressed various views. Thus Umar II (d. 715 CE)
was widely seen as the rightly-guided one sent to
restore true religion after a series of disruptive civil
wars. In the late Umayyad period, one Mahdi was
expected who would be guided to the original texts
of the Torah and the Gospels “concealed in Anti-
och” (Madelung). In addition, numerous other Is-
lamic figures were called Mahdi at one time or an-
other, beginning with the, the patriarch Abraham;
the Prophet Muh ammad, al-H  usayn, and Ibn al-Zu-
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883 Messiah
bayr seem to have been regarded as such. Messia-
nism played a very important role in the rise and
establishment of the Abbasid and the Fatimid dy-
nasties, just as it has played a major role in many
other Muslim religio-political movements, includ-
ing the Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals.
The belief in the messianic Mahdi is most partic-
ularly elaborated in Ithna-asharı̄ Shiism, where it
is emphasized that his return as Qāim bil-sayf (“one
who arises with the sword”) will usher in numerous
events leading to Judgment Day and the end of the
world. He will be accompanied by Jesus and will
restore justice to the world “even as it is now filled
with injustice.” The Mahdi of Shi‘ism is the return
of the Twelfth or hidden Imam who went into hid-
ing in 874 CE. That he will be accompanied by Jesus
is a reflex of the widely-held belief that Jesus also
miraculously did not die but was raised alive to the
presence of God. They will return together to rule
until the end of the world. Other less nihilistic
variations on the messianic theme in Islam may be
found in the Bahai Faith and the Ahmadiyya move-
ment, in which the traditional mahdi is seen to
bridge two periods in history rather than to be a
harbinger of the end of time as such.
Bibliography: ■ Cook, D., Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic
(SLAEL 21; Princeton, N.J. 2002). ■ Fleischer, C. H., “The
Lawgiver as Messiah: The Making of the Imperial Image in
the Reign of Süleymân,” in Soliman le magnifique et son temps,
actes du colloque de Paris (ed. G. Veinstein; Paris 1992) 159–77.
■ Friedmann, Y., Prophecy Continuous (Berkeley, Calif. 1989).
■ Halm, H., The Empire of the Mahdi (Leiden/New York 1996).
■ Madelung, W., “al-Mahdı̄,” EI 2 (ed. P. Bearman et. al.; Lei-
den 2006). [Available at http://dx.doi.org.myaccess.
library.utoronto.ca] ■ Sachedina, A. A., Islamic Messianism
(Albany, N.Y. 1981). ■ Yücesoy, H., Messianic Beliefs and Im-
perial Politics in Medieval Islam (Columbia, S.C. 2009).
Todd Lawson
VI. Other Religions
The term “messiah” occurs with some frequency be-
yond the confines of the Abrahamic religions.
Within this broad context, the term’s usage varies
considerably, as it is applied to both secular and re-
ligious figures. Although the term’s precise origins
in the non-Abrahamic world are not clear, its pres-
ence can be tied to centuries of activity by Christian
missionaries and travelers. Indeed, by the late 19th
century, as Protestant Christian missionaries had
spread throughout the world, an astonishing array
of locally designated “messiahs” arose in India,
China, the Americas, and Oceania.
1. India. In an extensive study of messiah figures
in India, Fuchs observes that, similar to the biblical
notion of the messiah (Dan 9:25–26), many indige-
nous or local traditions throughout the world have
established mythologies that look to the restoration
of a primal paradise by a divine or semi-divine be-
ing (Fuchs: ix). In the case of India, as Fuchs notes,
these folk traditions were influenced both by con-
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884
tact with Christianity as well as by the messianic
ideals found in Hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic
thought. Moreover, that Indian tribal populations
in the colonial period were frequently subjected to
severe political, social, and economic oppression
further flamed messianic hopes. This pattern is ex-
emplified in the brief messianic career of a Munda
tribesman known as Birsa (1875–1900; the Munda
are a tribal group found today in the modern Indian
state of Jharkhand). Birsa, who had been partially
educated in a missionary school, claimed divinity
for himself (taking the title Dharti Aba, or Father of
the World), and famously prophesied the imminent
end of the world in the form of a deluge accompa-
nied by fire and brimstone. After convincing his fol-
lowers of the futility of work (leaving them in severe
economic distress), Birsa fomented an insurrection
aimed at the area’s British and Indian landowners.
When his followers questioned how their bows and
arrows could possibly defeat British weaponry, Birsa
claimed that he could magically turn cannonballs
and bullets into water, as well as afford his follow-
ers the power of invisibility (Fuchs: 32). Although
the insurrection ended in a disastrous defeat for
Birsa and his men, his exploits are still celebrated
in Munda folklore. As Fuchs recounts, figures simi-
lar to Birsa abound among other oppressed tribal
groups in India; in nearly all cases the messianic
figures had contact with Christian missionaries, and
invariably declared themselves to be divine beings
(ibid.: 22–72).
2. China. With much the same background – for-
eign intervention, the presence of missionaries, gen-
eral economic, and social distress – China too saw
its share of messianic figures. Best known was Hong
Xiuquan (1814–1864), who experienced a mental
collapse as a young man and then became prone to
visions. Exposure to Protestant missionaries refined
these visions, and Hong perceived himself as the
younger brother of Jesus Christ, sent to restore the
Kingdom of God on earth, notions that Hong main-
tained along with traditional Chinese representa-
tions of the gods and heaven (Wills: 266). Hong’s
followers soon numbered in the tens of thousands,
and Hong declared himself the founder of a new
dynasty, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (see “Taip-
ing Heavenly Kingdom”), and, with a million sol-
diers at his disposal, Hong sought to overthrow the
ruling Qing dynasty (in what became known as the
Taiping Rebellion). By 1864, Hong’s army was ex-
hausted, and with no food left, Hong ordered his
troops to emulate the children of Israel and eat
“manna” (Ps 78:24). Unaware of what manna actu-
ally was, they devised a recipe made from weeds,
which seems to have precipitated Hong’s death
(Spence: 325). Although Hong was nominally a
Christian (he was self-baptized), and had extensive
exposure to the Bible, his interpretation was
strongly colored by traditional Chinese thought
(Reilly: 74–77).
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3. The Americas. The late 19th century also saw
messiah-type figures arise in the Americas, associ-
ated in particular with the Ghost Dance
(Fletcher: 57). The famed Paiute Wovoka (Jack Wil-
son, 1856–1932) incorporated specific elements of
Christianity into his view of himself as a messiah,
but he also claimed miraculous powers relevant to
his historical context, such as imperviousness to
bullets and control over the weather (Hittman: 64,
74, 82). Wovoka’s message and legacy was summed
up in the widely disseminated “messiah letter”
(1889), in which he declared his unconditional love
for his people and predicted that in the coming days
“there will be no more sickness, and everyone will
be alive again” (Moses: 341).
4. Oceania. In the mid-20th century, this combi-
nation of Christian and indigenous messiah ideolo-
gies appears on the South Pacific island of Tanna in
the mysterious John Frum movement. Central to
the John Frum movement was the rejection of
Christianity and its hold on the native Tanna popu-
lation through mission schools and churches. Al-
though never actually seen (and said to be invisible
to the non-native population), Frum is described in
terms suggestive of the Christ of the missionaries,
with flowing white robes, an image reinforced by
the associated end-time predictions of falling moun-
tains and rising valleys, and renewed youth and
health for the local population. However, the my-
thology also carries a distinct economic and social
element; in the age of John Frum work will be elim-
inated; Frum will provide all material goods includ-
ing those, such as planes, associated with the non-
native population; and the Christian missionaries
will leave Tanna (Guiart: 166–67). The John Frum
movement saw several revivals following its first
flowering in the 1940s, and has found an enduring
legacy in scholarly literature (Lindstrom: 68–70).
5. Eastern Religions. From at least the early
Christian era, end-of-time figures are found in Dao-
ist, Buddhist, and Hindu mythologies. Among these
figures are Kalkin, the last incarnation of the great
Hindu god Vis n u; Maitreya, the future Buddha; and
Li Hong, a Daoist ruler who will reappear in a per-
fected future age. Although all these figures incor-
porate elements in their mythologies that suggest
biblical themes (Kalkin, e.g., rides upon a white
horse to usher in the end of the age [Rev 6:1–8]),
and are often referred to by Western scholars as
“messiahs,” there is no certain connection between
them and the world of the Bible. Nonetheless, this
possibility cannot be dismissed, as Christian travel-
ers moved through the world in the early centuries
CE, leaving behind texts that reflect the admixture
of biblical and non-biblical traditions. The evidence
of this admixture is found quite early, seen already
in a 7th-century Nestorian/Chinese text, The Sutra of
Jesus Messiah (xuting mishisuo jing) that recounts the
life of Jesus within a Confucian, Daoist, and Bud-
dhist frame (Ji: 37–38).
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6. Secular Messianic Figures. In modern times,
the term “messiah” has been applied broadly, often
with a political or a social connotation rather than
a religious one. Thus, Mohandas Gandhi and B. R.
Ambedkar, two of the fathers of Indian independ-
ence (though with vastly different ideologies), have
both been referred to as the “messiahs” of India
(Singh; Masood; see also “Gandhi, Mohandas”). The
term has also been applied to the modern religious
figures of Swami Vivekananda (see “Vivekananda,
Swami”) and his teacher Sri Ramakrishna (see “Ra-
makrishna Paramahamsa”), but its usage suggests
their political, rather than their religious leadership
(Bhuyan; Sil).
Bibliography: ■ Bhuyan, P. R., Swami Vivekananda: Messiah
of Resurgent India (New Delhi 2003). ■ Fletcher, A., “The In-
dian Messiah,” The Journal of American Folklore 4.12 (1891)
57–60. ■ Fuchs, S., Rebellious Prophets (New York 1965).
■ Ji, J., Encounters between Chinese Culture and Christianity (Ber-
lin 2015). ■ Guiart, J., “John Frum Movement in Tanna,”
Oceania 22.3 (1952) 165–77. ■ Hittmann, M., Wovoka and
the Ghost Dance (Lincoln, Nebr. 1990). ■ Lindstrom, L., Cargo
Cult (Honolulu, Hawaii 1993). ■ Moses, L., “‘The Father
Tells Me So!’ Wovoka: The Ghost Dance Prophet,” American
Indian Quarterly 9.3 (1985) 335–51. ■ Reilly, T., The Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom (Seattle, Wash. 2004). ■ Sil, N., “Vivekā-
nanda’s Rāmakr s n a: An Untold Story of Mythmaking and
Propaganda,” Numen 40.1 (1993) 38–62. ■ Singh, J., Dr.
B. R. Ambedkar: Messiah of the Downtrodden (Delhi 2010).
■ Sood, M., Gandhi: Messiah of Peace (New Delhi 2002).
■ Spence, J., God’s Chinese Son (New York 2006). ■ Wills, J.,
Mountain of Fame (Princeton, N.J. 1994).
Herman Tull
VII. Literature
In Western literature, the term “messiah” signifies
either the Jewish expectation of a future divinely-
appointed leader of Israel or a Christian title for
Christ, who for Christian believers is already estab-
lished as the once and future eschatological savior
figure. In the English-speaking world, the title car-
ries a particular resonance thanks to the influence
of Handel’s oratorio of 1741, The Messiah.
As a topic, the promise of the coming of the
Messiah is debated by doctors of the law in various
European mystery plays, including the Florence Dis-
puta al Tempio (Muir: 111). In the 18th century, a
very influential poetic treatment was Alexander
Pope’s Messiah (1712), drawing on passages from
Isaiah to glorify the Christian Messiah in the style
of Virgil’s Eclogues. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock’s
poem Messias (1748–73) is ostensibly a literary ren-
dering of the life of Jesus, yet in reality is more con-
cerned with associating the trope of the messiah
with the prospects of immortality for the individual
(who may be able to defeat death in one respect by
achieving fame as an artist). Klopstock’s poem
marks the beginning of the aestheticizing of the no-
tion of “the messiah.” The writer Israel Zangwill
handled the topic of false messiahs in his novel The
Master (1895) and short story “The Turkish Mes-
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siah” (1898). Meri-Jane Rochelshon shows how
these two works engage with humanistic horizons
derived from dual Jewish and Christian expecta-
tions to address the fundamental uncertainties of
human existence.
Nineteenth-century novelists often have heroes
who behave as though anointed for epic moral
tasks. Norman Vance traces the “weak messianism”
(a theme developed by Walter Benjamin) found in
such characters as George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda,
Mary Ward’s Robert Elsmere, and Rider Haggard’s
Alan Quartermain (Vance: 29, 110–13, 150–54,
176). This became complicated in the 20th century
by European fictional narratives in which the messi-
anic figure is only seen through the perspective of
the figure who betrays him, such as Mahlke, betrayed
by Pilenz in Günter Grass’ novella Cat and Mouse (Katz
und Maus, 1961); or Krister, betrayed by Nisse in Lars
Görling’s 491 (1962). Theodore Ziolkowski shows
how Gore Vidal’s Messiah (1954; revised 1965),
though bearing traces of the European betrayal
theme, is more about the social institutionalization
of a messianic movement (Ziolkowski: 250–56).
Institutional religion is likewise the target of
several science fiction novels of the 1960s in which
flawed messianic figures struggle to bring about
social change. These include Robert Heinlein’s
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Frank Herbert’s
Dune (1965), and Robert Zelazny’s Lord of Light
(1967). Mike, Paul, and Sam, the respective messi-
ahs of these novels, are all charismatic religious
leaders but in the end are undermined by their own
base ambitions. Instead of being channels of salva-
tion, they become the instruments by which the
obsfuscations of power-élites are exposed and
through which their followers discover the value of
true human friendship within their own groups.
The main protagonist of Cynthia Ozick’s The
Messiah of Stockholm (1987), Lars Adamening, makes
himself the ventriloquist of the silenced Polish
writer, Bruno Schulz, as a means of vindicating the
messianic hopes extinguished by the Holocaust.
Schulz’s lost manuscript is indeed entitled The Mes-
siah. In the end, Lars burns the manuscript as a me-
morial to the victims of the extermination camps,
and as a sign that life is best lived with the anticipa-
tion of messianic fullfilment suppressed. In Andrei
Codrescu’s novel Messiah (1999), several characters
vie for the role of messiah as Armageddon broods
over the USA. The Dutch novelist Arnon Grunberg’s
Jewish Messiah (De joodse messias, 2008) confronts the
greatest taboos of the modern era with its main
character Xavier Radick evolving from being the
grandson of a former SS officer to being a man who
converts to Judaism and eventually rises to the posi-
tion of Prime Minister of Israel. Critics range be-
tween those who judge the novel redemptive and
those who find it in bad taste or gratuitously pro-
vocative.
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Not quite so offbeat, and spanning a Muslim
understanding of the fate of Jesus, is the poem “The
Messiah after the Crucifixion” (1975) by Badr Shā-
kir Al-Sayyāb, in which the crucifixion is trans-
ferred to Jaikur in Iraq in the 1950s. In this poem,
the messiah himself is able to describe the whole
experience while lying in the tomb, rendering him
a spokesman for a Muslim-Christian dialogical ac-
count of messiahship.
Bibliography: ■ Blume, B., “Orpheus and Messiah: The My-
thology of Immortality in Klopstock’s Poetry,” The German
Quarterly 34.3 (1961) 218–24. ■ List, J., “‘Call me a Protes-
tant’: Liberal Christianity, Individualism, and the Messiah
in ‘Stranger in a Strange Land,’ ‘Dune,’ and ‘Lord of Light,’”
Science Fiction Studies 36.1 (2009) 21–47. ■ Muir, L. R., The
Biblical Drama of Medieval Europe (Cambridge 2003). ■ Ro-
chelson, M., “Masters and Messiahs: Religion, Sex, and
Home in Two Works by Israel Zangwill,” Victorian Review
37.2 (2011) 121–35. ■ al-Sayyāb, B. S., “The Messiah after
the Crucifixion,” in Divine Inspiration (trans. M. M. Badawi;
ed. R. W. Atwan et al.; New York 1998) 505–7. ■ Sivan, M.,
“Cynthia Ozick’s The Messiah of Stockholm,” in Literary Canons
and Religious Identity (ed. E. Borgmann et al.; Aldershot 2004)
163–78. ■ Vance, N., Bible & Novel (Oxford 2015).
■ Ziolkowski, T., Fictional Transfigurations of Jesus (Princeton,
N.J. 1971).
Anthony Swindell
VIII. Visual Arts
1. Description of the Normative Figure of the
Messiah and Messianism in the Visual Arts: At-
tributes and Symbols. Although the term ma-
shiahø can include prophetic or priestly figures
“anointed” or consecrated for God’s work, in visual
art the “Messiah” in the HB/OT context is generally
pictured as a royal figure. Illustrations of anointing
in the literal sense show the new king of Israel (es-
pecially David) having oil poured on his head, gen-
erally from a horn of oil. Sometimes a (golden)
crown is also shown on the king’s head.
For the NT, Jesus is the “Christ” (= Messiah =
“anointed”). This article will confine itself to por-
trayals of Jesus that center on his messianic charac-
ter: artistic representations of scenes in which he is
explicitly portrayed as God’s anointed, i.e., as King
or “Son of David,” or as “Son of God” (a title for
the king of Israel, in Christianity given ontological
significance). For a more expansive treatment of
other aspects of visual Christology, see “Jesus VIII.
Visual Arts.”
Jesus is represented being “anointed” in a meta-
phorical sense: consecrated by the Spirit of God, re-
presented especially by a dove hovering above him
at his baptism by John, often also with a visual indi-
cation that speech is proceeding from the heavens.
Jesus is also shown being proclaimed by others as
Messiah, and in performing messianic acts: miracu-
lous healings, preaching the arrival of the Kingdom,
and making prophetic gestures. In representations
of Jesus’ transfiguration and resurrection, his tran-
scendent state is indicated by light and splendor of
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Fig. 17 “David Anointed King by Samuel” (3rd cent. CE)
appearance, as well as by the reactions of onlookers.
The coming Messiah of the book of Revelation is
shown as the Lamb and as a majestic celestial Con-
queror.
By the time visual art became common in Chris-
tianity, the title “Messiah” (Christ) had effectively
become part of Jesus’ name, while his function as
the promised king of Israel was subsumed into the
Johannine notion of the divine Logos made flesh, a
universal savior and redeemer. In early Christian
art, the symbols of his exalted status were largely
taken from the Greco-Roman iconography of the
gods and of the emperor: a purple or gold toga and/
or claves. He is sometimes enthroned above the cos-
mos. He bears a scroll as God’s revealing Word. His
halo often contains the Greek letters “Ο ΩΝ,” the
LXX version of God’s name. In Coptic art, three
crosses replace the letters. In medieval and later art,
the Roman imperial symbolism is replaced with the
attributes of medieval kings, especially the throne
and crown.
Other messianic figures in Judaism are rarely
portrayed. When they are, the figure may be en-
throned or crowned.
2. Scriptural Episodes and Popular Icono-
graphic Motifs of the Messiah and Messianism
in the Visual Arts. a. David and Other Kings.
The anointing of David as King (1 Sam 2:10; 12:3;
2 Sam 5:3; 1 Chr 11:3) is a frequent illustration in
medieval manuscripts of the Psalms, of which he
was thought to be the author. Oil from a horn is
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Messiah 890
poured upon his head (e.g., Samuel Anoints David,
Dura Europos synagogue, 3rd. cent. CE, wood
panel, National Museum of Damascus, Syria [see fig.
17]; Jan Victors, The Anointing of David, painting, ca.
1645, Museum of the Academy of Arts, St. Peters-
burg; Paolo Veronese, painting, The Anointing of Da-
vid, 1555, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; The
Anointing of David by Samuel, MS illumination Brevi-
ary of Martin d’Aragon (14th cent., Paris, BNF, MS
Rothschild 2529). Solomon’s anointing is portrayed
in a similar manner (e.g., Cornelis de Vos, Anointing
of Solomon, painting, ca. 1630, Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna).
The Persian king Cyrus the Great (Persian: Kour-
osh e Bozorg) is called God’s anointed (king) (Isa 45:1).
He is frequently identified as the figure in the an-
cient bas-relief at the palace at Pasargad, Iran (6th
[?] cent. BCE) showing a helmeted figure with a
curly beard, wearing a long Elamite robe, with four
wings in the Assyrian style, and bearing an Egyp-
tian Hemhet crown with three stylized upright os-
trich feathers. This figure has served as a model for
numerous modern Persian portrayals. In Western
art, Cyrus is shown in typical royal attire, with
crown and sometimes scepter and orb (colored
woodcut of Cyrus, 1480 edition of the Polychroni-
con).
b. The Historical Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus is re-
presented as the Messiah in a variety of Gospel
scenes, including the following:
i. The Title on the Cross (Mark 15:26; Matt 27:37;
Luke 23:38; John 19:19–20). In the earliest extant
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891 Messiah
Christian representations of the Crucifixion there is
no uniformity regarding the “title” on the cross. It
is sometimes lacking (e.g., the crucifixion scene
carved on the doors of Santa Sabina, 6th cent.),
sometimes abbreviated (e.g., “Rex Iud” on the
carved ivory in the British Museum, 6th cent.),
sometimes written in one of the Gospel versions
(e.g., “This is the King of the Jews,” the inscription
as given by Luke, written in Syriac above the cross,
extending beyond it: Rabbula Gospels illumination,
6th cent.). Considerations of space favored abbrevia-
tion: in Eastern representations, the letters IC XC
(Ιησους Χριστος = Jesus Christ; e.g., 11th-cent. mo-
saic, Osios Loukas monastery) are common in place
of the title. Eventually most Western and much
Eastern art followed the Johannine account of the
title, the only one that mentions Nazareth. It was
frequently abbreviated: in Latin by INRI (Iesus Naza-
renus Rex Iudeorum; e.g., Alonso Cano’s painting, The
Crucifixion, 1638; Grünewald painting, Isenheim al-
tarpiece, 1512–16) or in Greek by INBI (Iησους ο
Ναζαραιος ο Βασιλευς των Ιουδαιων), or sometimes
in Slavic lands by Old Church Slavonic INTsI or
Russian INTsI (with [Tsar] in place of Βασιλευς for
“king”). From the Renaissance onward, with in-
creased biblical scholarship and historical interest,
it became more common for artists to include the
entire title as given in John’s Gospel: “Jesus of Naz-
areth, the king of the Jews,” in Hebrew, Latin, and
Greek (e.g., Michelangelo, sculpted wooden crucifix
of 1495, S Maria del Santo Spirito, Florence; Velaz-
quez’ painting “Cristo crucificado,” 1632, Prado
Museum, Madrid).
ii. Jesus Proclaimed as Messiah. Many of the NT
declarations of Jesus as Messiah give little scope for
direct visual representation: e.g., the preaching of
the apostles as recorded in Acts and in the letters of
Paul, and in Gospel passages where speech rather
than action is recorded. In manuscripts, the picture
illustrates the text; in other cases, knowledge of the
context of a picture allows the viewer to recall a
messianic declaration and expectation; in rare in-
stances, the text is included in the picture. Such rep-
resentations are also illustrative of popular messian-
ism, which generally focused on a Davidic ruler.
iii. Nativity. In Luke, the shepherds receive an
annunciation of “a Savior, the Messiah” (Luke 2:11).
Shepherds in a field are portrayed looking up to the
skies where angels appear. Frequently the message
represented is restricted to the “Gloria in excelsis”
(e.g., Annunciation to the Shepherds, fresco, ca. 1180,
Colegiata Basilicade San Isidoro, Léon; Master of
Sant’Abbondio, fresco, 1320, Basilica of Sant’Ab-
bondio, Lombardy; Bedford Master, Annunciation to
the Shepherds, MS illumination, Hours of the Virgin,
British Library, Yates Thompson MS 46, fol. 61v.;
anonymous, MS illumination, 1475–80, Dunedin
Public Art Gallery, object no 14–1951).
iv. Simeon Proclaims “the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26).
Simeon holds the child Jesus in his arms, in fulfill-
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892
ment of the prophecy that he would not die before
seeing the Messiah (Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Presenta-
tion in the Temple, 1342, Galleria degli Uffizi, Flor-
ence; Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Simeon’s Song
of Praise, painting, 1669, Nationalmuseum, Stock-
holm).
v. Jesus’ Self-declaration as Fulfillment of Messianic
Prophecy (Luke 4:18–21). In illustrations of Jesus’ dec-
laration in the synagogue that he is the man of the
Spirit, fulfilling the messianic prophecies of Isaiah,
the meaning of the scene must be conveyed by a
title or by the portrayal of the words of Isaiah in a
book, or both (e.g., the “Indiction” [beginning of
the church year] icons of the Eastern church fresco
with the superscript I dásha emú knígu Isáiu proróka
[“And there was given to him the book of the pro-
phet Isaiah”]) showing Jesus with an open book con-
taining the words of Isa 61:1 (e.g., 14th-cent, Decani
monastery, Serbia; MS illumination, Vatican Library
Cod. Gr. 1613, p. 1).
vi. The Baptism of Jesus by John (Matt 3:13–17; Mark
1:1–9; Luke 3:21–23). In mosaics and paintings from
the early church through the modern period, Jesus
is shown at his baptism by John receiving God’s
Spirit and hearing divine testimony to his being
“Son of God.” These need no text, although the
words from heaven are sometimes included in the
picture (e.g., “Jesus being baptized by John”: fresco,
catacombs of Calixtus, Rome, 3rd cent.; with Spirit
above, fresco, catacombs of Marecellinus and Peter,
Rome, 3rd or 4th cent.; mosaic, Neonean baptistry,
Ravenna, 5th cent.; mosaic, Arian baptistry, Ra-
venna, 5th cent.; fresco, Piero della Francesca,
1448–50). Some such illustrations include the im-
age of the Father calling Jesus “Son” (e.g., painting,
Juan de Flandes, “Miraflorestabel” altarpiece, 1496–
99, private collection; idem, Baptism of Christ, Na-
tional Gallery, Washington D.C.; Andrea del Verroc-
chio and Leonardo da Vinci, painting, Baptism of
Christ, ca. 1475).
vii. The Confession of Peter (Matt 16:16, 20; Mark
8:29; Luke 9:20). This scene is generally only implied
in visual art by the portrayal of what follows, Jesus’
giving to Peter the “keys of the kingdom” (Peru-
gino: Jesus Gives the Keys to Peter, fresco, 1481–82,
Sistine Chapel, Vatican).
viii. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:25–26,
29). In ancient and medieval depictions, Jesus is
shown making the symbolic gesture indicating
speech. In more naturalistic representations from
the Renaissance onward, gestures and posture indi-
cate the conversation that raises the question of Je-
sus’ messianic identity. In some cases, Jesus points
to himself; in others, he gestures rhetorically. The
woman is generally shown drawing water in a
bucket or jar (e.g., fresco, 4th cent., catacombs of
via Latina, Rome; mosaic, Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo,
Ravenna, 5th cent. Jesus Asks a Woman of Sychar for
Water, MS illumination, Codex of Paris, 1476, Royal
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893 Messiah
Library, Turin, Italy; Paolo Veronese, Jesus and the
Samaritan Woman at the Well, painting, ca. 1595,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Rembrandt,
Christ and the woman of Samaria, painting, 1659, Ge-
mäldegalerie, Berlin).
ix. Confession of Martha at the Resurrection of Laza-
rus (John 11:27). Martha’s confession, “I believe you
are the Messiah, Son of God” is implied for the
viewer in the portrayal of the overall scene of the
resurrection of Lazarus. Martha is shown at the feet
of Jesus; her posture and gestures indicate supplica-
tion and adoration (e.g., Duccio di Buoninsegna,
Maestà, panel painting, 1310–11; Giotto, fresco,
Scrovegni Chapel, Padova; Giovanni di Paolo, fresco,
1426, Malavolti Chapel, San Domenico, Siena; Juan
de Flandes, painting, 16th cent., Museo del Prado,
Madrid).
x. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem (Matt 21:1–11; Mark
11:1–11; Luke 19:28–44; John 12:12–19). The scene
shows Jesus entering the city acclaimed as King and
as Son of David, mounted on a donkey in imitation
of Solomon’s coronation (1 Kgs 1:33; 2 Kgs 9:13)
and in fulfillment of prophecy (Zech 9:9; Isa 62:11).
In some (particularly Eastern) portrayals, Jesus sits
side-saddle and faces the viewer, as if enthroned.
The people wave palm branches, a symbol of victory
(Lev 23:40; cf. Rev 7:9) and strew his path with
branches and clothing (e.g., mosaic, 1180s, Cathe-
dral of Monreale, Sicily; Duccio di Buoninsegna,
Maestà [includes the Gospel text and prophecy],
1310–11; Pietro Lorenzetti, fresco, 1320, lower basi-
lica of San Francesco, Assisi; Hyppolite Flandrin,
painting, 1842, Church of Saint Germain-des-Prés,
Paris).
xi. Jesus before the High Priest (Matt 26:63; Mark
14:61; Luke 22:67). The High Priest is shown asking
Jesus about his identity (e.g., Matthias Stom, paint-
ing, Christ before the High Priest, ca. 1633, Milwaukee
Museum of Art, Milwaukee, Wis.). Jesus’ claim to be
the Messiah is indicated by the reaction of the high
priest rending his garments and of the guards strik-
ing Jesus. (e.g., Giotto di Bondone, fresco, ca. 1305,
Capella Scrovegni, Padova; Duccio di Buoninsegna,
wood panel, 1308–11, Museo dell’Opera del Du-
omo, Siena).
xii. Jesus before Pilate: Pilate Inquires about Jesus’
Messianic Claim (Matt 27:11–14; Mark 15:2–5; Luke
23:2–5; John 18:33–38). The scene is sometimes con-
flated with Pilate’s judgment, as indicated by his
washing his hands. Representations often underline
the theological irony of the scene: in early art, impe-
rial/divine attributes indicate that Jesus is the real
king, but not in the earthly way intended by Pilate’s
question. More naturalistic representations empha-
size Jesus’ posture and dignity. In the modern pe-
riod, he may be shown as humble and downtrod-
den, in contrast to a proud and powerful Pilate
(carved relief, Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, 359,
grottoes of St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome; Duccio di
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Buoninsegna, panel painting, Maestà, Cathedral of
Siena, Italy; Mihály Munkácsy, oil painting, 1881,
Hungarian National Gallery; James Tissot, water-
color, Life of Christ, 1885, Brooklyn Museum, New
York; Nikolai Ge, oil painting, 1890, What is Truth,
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia).
xiii. The Passion:
a. Jesus Mocked by Soldiers. Soldiers (sometimes in
Roman military garb) mock Jesus’ messianic claim
by hailing him as King of the Jews, dressing him in
a purple robe, placing a crown of thorns on his
head, paying him mock homage (Matt 27:27–31a;
Mark 15:16–20, John 19:2–3), and asking him to
prophesy (Luke 22:63) (altarpiece, German, ca. 1480,
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Md.; Edouard Ma-
net, painting, 1865, Art Institute, Chicago).
b. Jesus Mocked by Bystanders. Bystanders and the
crucified thief mock Jesus’ messianic claim (Matt
27:38–43; Mark 15:27–32; Luke 23:35–38). Repre-
sentations of the Crucifixion tend to focus on Jesus
himself, sometimes including his mother and disci-
ples, and sometimes indicating his dialogue with
the “good thief.” But in some larger scale paintings,
onlookers dressed in Jewish costume are shown ges-
turing toward him mockingly; rarely in depictions
of the Crucifixion, one of the thieves crucified with
Jesus addresses him with a hostile look (e.g., Wil-
liam Blake, pen, ink, and watercolor, Christ crucified
between two thieves, Harvard Art Museum, Cam-
bridge, Mass.; James Tissot, What Our Lord Saw from
the Cross, watercolor, 1800–1803, from Life of Christ,
1885, Brooklyn Museum, New York).
c. Declaration of the Centurion that Jesus was “Son
of God” (Matt 27:54; Mark 15:39). The centurion, in
military garb, often on horseback, points toward Je-
sus while speaking. In some depictions (e.g., Cra-
nach), his words are included in the picture (Lukas
Cranach the Elder, The Crucifixion with the Converted
Centurion, oil painting, 1538, Yale University Art
Gallery; James Tissot, The Confession of the Centurion,
watercolor, 1800–1803, from Life of Christ, 1885,
Brooklyn Museum).
d. Jesus Enthroned in Heaven. As Christian art de-
veloped, the notion of Christ as King was more asso-
ciated with his divinity than with the specifically
Jewish notion of messiah. The ascended Jesus is
shown as Pantokrator, the king enthroned on the orb
of the cosmos (Mosaic, 547, basilica of San Vitale,
Ravenna; mosaic, ca. 1300, ceiling of the Baptistry,
Duomo, Florence), or simply on a throne (Apse mo-
saic, 4th cent., Santa Pudentiana, Rome). He is often
shown (seated or standing) “at the right hand of the
Father” (Ps 110:1; Mark 16:19; Matt 22:44; Acts
2:33; 7:55–56; Rom 6:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb
1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet 3:22; Rev 3:21), fre-
quently with the Spirit above or between the two.
Both are shown seated on a bench or on clouds (e.g.,
Antonio Pereda, The Trinity, painting, 1660, Mu-
seum of Fine Arts, Budapest). Usually the Father is
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895
shown as an old man and the Spirit as a dove, but
sometimes three identical figures are shown (e.g.,
Master of James IV, The Holy Trinity Enthroned, man-
uscript illumination, ca. 1510–20, Flemish” Getty
Museum, Los Angeles, Calif.). In some representa-
tions Jesus holds a book that identifies him as the
Word; in others he still bears the cross. A different
genre shows the Father holding the crucified Jesus
in heaven. At times the two are crowned and share
the same orb (Hendrik van Balen, The Trinity, paint-
ing, 1620, Sint-Jacobskirk, Antwerp; Michael Dama-
skenos, Icon of the Holy Liturgy, 16th cent., Cantenio-
poulis Museum, Athens). More rarely, Jesus is
shown about to be enthroned (Pieter de Grebber,
God Inviting Christ to Sit on the Throne at his Right hand,
oil painting, 1645, Rijksmuseum het Catharijnecon-
vent, Utrecht). In Gothic art, Jesus is often shown
as King crowning Mary as his Queen, with referen-
ces to Ps 44:10 and Song 4:8 (Pietro Cavallini and
Jacopo Torriti, apse mosaic, ca. 1296, Santa Maria
in Trastevere, Rome; mosaic, ca. 1290, Santa Maria
Maggiore, Rome; sculpted high relief, tympanum of
the Portal of the Virgin, 1210–20, Cathedral of
Notre Dame, Paris; Antonio Gaudí, r portal of the
Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, early 20th
cent., Barcelona).
e. Jesus as the Messiah to Come (Rev 1:13–16; 5:5;
11:15; 12:10; 19:11; 22:16). The apocalyptic visions of
the book of Revelation explicitly identify Jesus as
the anointed Davidic King who will reign at the end
of time. He is very frequently shown enthroned
with the letters Alpha and Omega surrounding his
head, or in a book he holds; in early art, the letters
may accompany the chi-rho symbol of Christ’s name
(e.g., carved inscription, 3rd (?) cent., catacombs of
Domitilla, Rome; fresco portrait of Christ, 4th cent.,
catacombs of Commodilla, Rome; fresco, ca. 1123,
Apse of Sant Climent de Taüll, Junta de Museus,
Catalunya). He is also portrayed as “the Lamb that
was slain” (Rev 5:12) (mosaic arch, 6th cent., Basilica
of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Rome; Jan van Eyck,
Adoration of the Lamb [Ghent Altarpiece], painting,
1432, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent), and as the King
of Kings, with a sword proceeding from his mouth
(manuscript illumination, Bamberg Apocalypse,
11th cent.; Last Judgment, fresco, ca. 1510, Auning,
Denmark; Matthias Gerung, woodcut Bible illustra-
tion, 1544, British Museum, London; Albrecht Dü-
rer, The Vision of the Seven Candlesticks, engraving,
1497–98, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe). Christ
is sometimes associated with the first of the four
riders of the Apocalypse, the conqueror mounted on
a white horse, with a crown and armed with a bow
(sometimes shown as a rainbow) (Dimitar Andonov
Papradiški, fresco, mid-19th cent., Osogovski Mon-
astery, Kriva Palanka, Macedonia).
f. Jesus as Messiah in Islam. Jesus is mentioned
many times in the Qurān and is explicitly called
Messiah (S 3:45; 4:157, 171–72; 5:17, 72, 75; 9:30–
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Messiah 896
31). Images are rare, and are mostly manuscript illu-
minations from Persia. Jesus is shown in Arab dress,
with turban; his head is surrounded by a halo or by
flames (Isaiah’s vision of Jesus riding a donkey and
Muhammad riding a camel, al-Biruni, al-Athar al-
Baqiyya ‘an al-Qurun al-Khaliyya, Tabriz, Iran,
1307–8; Edinburgh University Library; see /EBR
14 plate 1a).
3. Other Messianic Figures. a. Vespasian. Fla-
vius Josephus wrote that the messianic prophecies
in Judaism referred to the accession of Vespasian to
the Roman imperial throne (portrait bust of Vespa-
sian, ca. 70 CE, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome;
coins with image of the emperor Vespasian, issued
from 69 to 79 CE).
b. Jewish Messianic Claimants. Other than Jesus,
only a few of the Jewish messianic claimants
through the centuries have been significantly repre-
sented in art. There are coins from the messianic
claimant Simon Bar Kokhba (ca. 132 CE), showing
the temple in Jerusalem with a rising star and on
the obverse a lulav (palm frond), with the Hebrew
text “to the freedom of Jerusalem.” The kabbalist
Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (1240–1291) is repre-
sented more in connection with his writings than
as a messianic claimant (image of Abulafia in MS of
his Light of the Intellect, 1285, Vatican Library, MS
Ebr. 597 leaf 113r). The self-proclaimed messiah
Shabbetai Tsevi (1626–1676) was briefly the focus
of a messianic movement in the 17th century. He is
shown in prints, including one that shows him in
royal attire on a throne (Sabbatai Zevi enthroned,
image from the Amsterdam/Jewish publication Tiq-
qun, Amsterdam, 1666); portrait of Shabbetai Tsevi,
engraving, 1669, in Joods Historisch Museum, Am-
sterdam).
c. The Mahdi. For some Sunni Muslims, in particu-
lar in the Ahmadia sect, “There is no Mahdi except
‘Isa [Jesus]” the Messiah (hadith of Ibn Majah, Kitab-
ul-fitan). For Shiites, the Mahdi is al-Qāim (he who
will arise). Twelver Shiites identify him with the
“hidden Imam” who is at present in occultation.
There is no explicit mention of the Mahdi in the
Qurān, but believers see references to him in vari-
ous places (S 9:33; 21:105; 42:18; 43:61, etc.). There
have been several claimants, including Siyyid Ali
Muhammad (“the Bab”) (photograph, mid-19th
century), Shah Ismail (1501–1524) leader of Savafid
movement (unknown Venetian artist, oil portrait,
17th century, Uffizi gallery, Florence; The Battle Be-
tween Shah Ismail and Khan Shaybani, fresco in the
Forty Columns Palace, Isfahan; manuscript illumi-
nation, “Shah Ismail Amid the Heat of Battle,” from
Bidjan’s Tarikh-l Djahangusha-Yi Sahibquiran, 1680s),
and Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, leader of
the Samaniyya order in Sudan (unknown artist,
printed portrait, 19th cent., Universal History Ar-
chive; Khartoum). Because of traditional Muslim ani-
conism, representations of the coming Mahdi are
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897 Messiah
generally found only in contemporary (Shiite) art.
He may be shown with or riding a white horse,
bearing a sword. He may have a green head cover-
ing. His face is rarely shown. Frequently he is repre-
sented in silhouette, or from the back, or his fea-
tures are replaced with radiant light (book
illustration for The Blessed Birth of Imam Mahdi by
M. R. Ansari).
d. Hindu and Buddhist “Messianic” Figures. The
“messianic” figures of Hinduism and Buddhism are
historically independent of the biblical tradition,
but are sometimes compared with the eschatologi-
cal figures of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Is-
lam. Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, is por-
trayed with typical symbols of enlightenment (a
crown of leaf or flame shapes, a blooming lotus, the
eye of enlightenment), but with many variations ac-
cording to sect and locality (statue from Gandhara,
2nd cent., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York;
statue, Thikse monastery, Ladakh, India). In Hindu
iconography Kalki (Vishnu Purana, Kalki Purana) is re-
presented as the militant final avatar of Vishnu,
holding a sword and mounted on a horse (some-
times himself with the head of a horse) (stone carv-
ing, Queen’s well, Patan, Gujarat, India).
Bibliography: ■ Ansari, M. R., The Blessed Birth of Imam
Mahdi (Qum n.d.). ■ Arnold, T., Painting in Islam (New York
1965). ■ Aurenhammer, H., “Christus,” in Lexikon der
Christlichen Ikonographie, vol. 1 (Vienna 1967). ■ Chester, A.,
Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions
and New Testament Christology (Tübingen 2007). ■ Elias, J. J.,
Aisha’s Cushion: Religious Art, Perception, and Practice in Islam
(Cambridge, Mass. 2012). ■ Goldish, M. et al. (eds.), Mille-
narianism and Messianism in Early Modern European Culture, 4
vols. (International Archives of the History of Ideas; Berlin
2001). ■ Jonge, M. de, “Messiah,” in ABD 4 (ed. D. N.
Freedman; New York 1992) 777–88. ■ Kirschbaum, E. et al.
(ed.), Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie (Freiburg 1968).
■ Kollwitz, J. et al., “Christus, Christusbild,” in Lexikon der
Christlichen Ikonographie, vol. 1 (ed. E. Kirschbaum et al.; Frei-
burg 1968). ■ Leclercq, H., “Jésus-Christ,” in Dictionaire
d’archéologie et de liturgie, vol. 7 (eds. F. Cabrol/H. Leclercq;
Paris 1927). ■ Réau, L., Iconographie de l’art chrétien, vol. 2
(Paris 1957). ■ Romaine, J./L. Stratford (eds.), Revisioning.
Critical Methods of Seeing Christianity in the History of Art (Eu-
gene, Oreg. 2013). ■ Sachedina, A. A., Islamic Messianism:
The Idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shi’ism (Albany, N.Y. 1981).
■ Schiller, G., Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, vol. 1 (Güters-
loh 1966). ■ Viladesau, R., “Jesus Christ, Iconography of,”
New Catholic Encyclopedia. Supplement 2011 (Washington, D.C.
2011).
Richard R. Viladesau
IX. Music
■ Jewish Music ■ Christian Music
A. Jewish Music
The great medieval sage Maimonides (1138–1204)
included belief in the eventual arrival of a messiah
among his “Thirteen Articles of Faith.” A piyyut (re-
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898
ligious poem) based on those articles, “Yigdal,” at-
tributed to Daniel ben Judah of Rome (14th cent.),
is generally read silently as part of the daily morn-
ing service; but in most communities it is also
chanted aloud at the conclusion of Friday night ser-
vices to any one of several folk melodies. Songs di-
rectly quoting the text of the twelfth article (“I be-
lieve with complete faith in the coming of the
Messiah …”) but serving no particular ritual func-
tion have been written in a variety of styles, reflect-
ing the different traditions regarding the circum-
stances under which the Messiah will appear. Lively
songs anticipate the joyous occasion when Jews will
merit this “ultimate reward,” while more reserved
melodies long for redemption from the challenges
of the contemporary world. One of the most famous
of this latter variety was spontaneously composed
during World War II by Azriel David Fastag, and is
often sung as part of Holocaust memorial programs.
Regardless of the circumstances that bring
about his appearance, Jewish tradition holds that
the prophet Elijah will herald the coming of the
Messiah. Folk songs encouraging Elijah to “come
quickly, with the Messiah, the son of David” play
a quasi-liturgical role in Jewish tradition through
inclusion in the Havdalah (separation) ceremony at
the conclusion of the Sabbath, and as part of the
Passover seder. Composers including Samuel Adler
(b. 1928) and Yehezkel Braun (1922–2014) have ar-
ranged choral settings of some of the most popular
Ashkenazic melodies, Braun in part VIII of 15 Pass-
over Songs and Adler in his Havdalah. At the conclu-
sion of the Sabbath, many Sephardic communities
chant a more elaborate poem, “El Eliyahu” (God of
Elijah), attributed to the 12th-century scholar R.
Abraham Ibn Ezra. In addition to urging Elijah to
bring the “redemption,” this particular text makes
passing but salient reference to several biblical pas-
sages, including Gen 24:12; 29:11; 41:12; and Jer
9:14.
Yiddish folk and popular songs also use the ar-
rival of the Messiah as their point of departure. “A
Sudenyu” (“A Feast,” also known as “Vos Vet Zayn,”
“What will happen?”) is a so-called “cumulative
song” – in which passages from each verse are
added to subsequent stanzas – that asks, “What will
happen when the Messiah comes?” The rabbi an-
swers that a feast will be held. In response to a series
of questions, the rabbi further explains that, in ad-
dition to offering wonderful food and wine, famous
biblical figures will be present: Solomon, to deliver
words of wisdom; Moses, to teach Torah; David, to
play the harp; and Miriam to dance. “Zol Shoyn Ku-
men di Geule,” written in the aftermath of the Ho-
locaust by Russian poet Shmerke Kaczerginski
(1908–1954) and set to a tune by R. Abraham Isaac
Kook (1865–1935), recognizes the tragedy that the
Jewish people experienced, but attempts to inject a
measure of optimism with its upbeat chorus urging:
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899 Messiah
“Let Redemption come already, the Messiah should
come really soon.”
Bibliography: ■ Anon., “‘A Sudenyu’ (A Feast),” in Pearls of
Yiddish Song (ed. E. G. Mlotek/J. Mlotek; New York 1988)
170. ■ Dunner, P., “How Ani Maamin Survived the
Shoah,” Times of Israel (April 24, 2017; https://blogs.timeso
fisrael.com). ■ Ibn Ezra, A., “El Eliyahu,” in Piyut North
America (http://piyutnorthamerica.org).
Marsha Bryan Edelman
B. Christian Music
The use of the term “Messiah” is also reflected in
European music history. The term surfaces for in-
stance in a popular French song for Advent “Venez
divin Messie” (“Come divine Messiah”) written by
the poet and playwright Abbé Simon-Joseph Pelle-
grin (1663–1745) to an ancient popular tune (“air”),
and publ. in his collection of Christmas songs Noels
nouveaux sur les chants des Noels (1708, New Christ-
mas hymns based on the Christmas tunes)
In the same period, Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
produced the poem Messiah. A sacred Eclogue. In Imita-
tion of Virgil’s Pollio (1712). It paraphrases central
passages of the messianic prophecies of the Book of
Isaiah, for instance Isa 9:6 and 40:3. It also provides
associations with Virgil’s (70 BCE–19 CE) Fourth Ec-
logue, where the Sibylline oracle predicting the com-
ing of a child, expected to be a savior and to restore
the Golden Age of peace, is thematized. In accord-
ance with an old Christian reception of the text,
Pope’s poem perceives Virgil’s eclogue as a Non-
Christian prophecy of the coming of Christ. In Eng-
land, the composers John Alcock (1740–1791) and
Thomas Billington (1754–?1832?) made settings of
Pope’s poem.
In music history, however, it was G. F. Handel
(1685–1759) who produced the monumental and
most significant theological and musical interpreta-
tion of the messiah theme in his oratorio Messiah
(first performed 1742), which has obtained an ex-
traordinary popularity in posterity (see “Messiah
[Oratorio]” and “Handel, George Frideric”). The ti-
tle indicates a theological program and attitude that
may be interpreted as a statement in the religious
debates of the epoch (Smith), where the Hebrew ti-
tle emphasizes the importance of the OT events and
messages as an inseparable part of Christian salva-
tion history. The textual basis of the work, for
which Charles Jennens’ (1700–1773) was respon-
sible (see “Jennens, Charles”), is a compilation of
biblical texts from both testaments, in which the
choice and weight of OT texts is notable. The over-
all understanding of the savior figure of Christ is to
a large extent displayed on the background of OT
prophecies, like for instance Isa 40:1–5 which opens
the oratorio, or the verses from Isa 9, 35, 40, 60
(part 1), 52, 53 (part 2), or texts from the Psalms,
for instance Ps 2, 16, 22, 24, 68 (part 2). The idea of
the fulfillment of prophecy appears to be a central
concern of the text and aims at establishing a strong
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900
connection between OT and the salvation message
of NT. Such a connection had been questioned by
contemporary theologians based on Enlightenment
ideas of religion, such as deism, among them An-
thony Collins (1676–1729), because it was consid-
ered a “mystery” that ought to be eliminated from
religion, a stance, however, that was opposed by nu-
merous more orthodox theologians like Richard
Kidder, in his A Demonstration of the Messiah. In which
the Truth of Christianity is proved (1726).
Another approach to the Messiah theme came
about in Germany around the middle of the 18th
century, where the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klop-
stock (1724–1803) composed a grand-scale epic hex-
ameter poem Messias, of which the first songs were
published 1748, the last in 1773. Its subject is the
redemption of humankind through Christ, as con-
sidered by a number of characters prominently in-
cluding OT figures. A notable feature among other
elements is the cosmic framework of the passion,
and the emotionalizing poetical reflections that be-
came paradigmatic for the “Empfindsamkeit” style
(see “Empfindsamkeit”). The composer G. P. Tele-
mann (1681–1767) set excerpts from the poem in
his cantata Messias, performed 1759 at the Drillhaus
concerts in Hamburg. The work is based on v. 1–41
from the first canto, and v. 472–515 from the tenth
canto. The first section is a reflection on the coming
of the Messiah to the Earth as well as on the nature
of the divine salvation initiative. The second part
stages the OT figures, Deborah and Miriam, as sor-
rowful witnesses to the savior’s death on the cross.
The setting reflects the emotional tonalities of the
text in faceted and expressive recitatives and ariosi,
creating in passages an elegiac, idyllic atmosphere
typical of the “Empfindsamkeit” style. Andreas
Jakob Romberg’s (1767–1821) oratorio Der Messias
(original version 1793, performed in Hamburg, fi-
nal version 1802) is based on a selection of texts
(made by J. F. Reichhardt, 1752–1814) from Klop-
stock’s poem (cantos 1, 2, and 5), where in particu-
lar Eloa, the angelic leader (a fictional figure), Adam
and Eve, and Heavenly choirs unfold meditations
on the salvific act of the Messiah. In the musical
setting, encompassing recitatives, ariosos, arias, and
choral sections that feature stylistic elements of
“Empfindsamkeit” and Classical style, a register of
emotions are expressed, including hymnic praise.
The messiah title also appears in other musical
works of the 18th century: e.g., in Johann Friedrich
Reichardt’s cantata Der Sieg des Messias (1784, The
Messiah’s Victory) with a libretto by Heinrich Julius
Tode (1733–1797), and Gottfried August Homilius’
(1714–1785) oratorio Der Messias (1776, The Messiah),
to an anonymous libretto. A modern contribution is
the Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström’s
(1942–2019) oratorio Messiah (first performed 2009),
based on the libretto for Handel’s Messiah. The divi-
sion of sections, however, differs from the original
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901
composition in a number of places. There are no
recitatives, and a stylistic pluralism characterizes
the music.
Bibliography: ■ Bolin, N., “Liner Notes,” in S.-D. Sand-
ström (comp.)/C. Jennens (libr.), Messiah (CD-booklet for a
live audio recording; cond. H. Rilling; Carus 83.453, 2 CDs;
Stuttgart 2010) 4–6. ■ Erhardt, T., Händels Messiah: Text.
Musik. Theologie (Bad Reichenhall 2007). ■ Godehardt, G.,
“Telemann’s ‘Messias,’” Die Musikforschung 14 (1961) 139–
55. ■ Heidrich, J., Kirchenmusikanschauung in der zweite Hälfte
des 18. Jahrhunderts: Studien zur Ideengeschichte ‘wahrer’ Kirchen-
musik (Abhandlungen zur Musikgeschichte 7; Göttingen
2001). ■ Howard, P., Christoph Willibald Gluck: A Research
Guide (New York/London 2003). ■ Massenkeil, G., Orato-
rium und Passion (2 parts) (Handbuch der musikalischen Gat-
tungen 10,1–2; Laaber 1998). ■ Schering, A., Geschichte des
Oratoriums (Wiesbaden 1911; repr. Hildesheim 1966).
■ Smith, R., Handel’s Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought
(Cambridge 2005) ■ Smither, H. A., A History of the Oratorio,
vols. 1–4 (Chapel Hill, N.C./London 1977–2000). ■ Werner,
K. G., “Das ‘am meisten vergessene’ Meisterwerk,” in An-
dreas Romberg, Der Messias (CD-booklet; cond. H. Max, Fehei-
nische Kantorei, Das Kleine Konzert; Deutschlandradio Kul-
tur/cpo 777-328-2 [LC8492]; 2008) 7–11. ■ Zwischen Bach
und Mozart: Vorträge des Europäischen Musikfestes Stuttgart 1988
(Schriftenreihe der Internationalen Bachakademie Stuttgart
4; Kassel et al. 1994).
Sven Rune Havsteen
X. Film
Among dozens of films titled “Messiah” (like the
horror movie Messiah of Evil, dir. Willard Huyck,
1973, US; or the crime drama Messiah, dir. Diar-
muid Lawrence, 2001, UK/US), only a few refer to
the biblical meaning indicating the actual mission
of deliverer and savior (Il Messia, dir. Roberto Ros-
sellini, 1975, IT/FR, The Messiah; Mesih, dir. Nader
Talebzadeh, 2007, Iran, The Messiah; The Young Mes-
siah, dir. Cyrus Nowrasteh, 2016, US).
According to Peter Malone, there is an impor-
tant distinction between the Jesus figure (any repre-
sentation of Jesus himself, in a realistic or stylized
way) and the Christ-figure, a character who resem-
bles Jesus in a significant way (Malone: 1). This re-
semblance can be recognized not superficially (e.g.,
through identifiable iconography of Jesus), but
through an analysis of the function of the Christ
figure (as the redeemer, savior, or liberator). Thus
the Messiah (Christ), in a biblical sense, can be per-
ceived in the cinema in two complementary ways:
in biopics, whose protagonist is Jesus, and in its ac-
tualizations, present in popular films (Christ-fig-
ures). The issue of the Messiah’s consciousness is
also important in the movies: does the protagonist
know he is the Messiah? Do others (e.g., Mary, John,
Judas, other apostles)?
In King of Kings (dir. Nicholas Ray, 1961, US), the
first attempt by Hollywood to tell the entire life
story of Jesus from birth to death, Jesus is the Mes-
siah of Peace, with his mythic polar opposite, Barab-
bas, as the messiah of war. The Messiah of Peace
brings freedom to the inner man, leading him to
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depend on peace, not war (Humphries-Brooks: 26).
In another Hollywood epic, The Greatest Story Ever
Told (dir. George Stevens, 1965), Herod understands
the Messiah to come with an earthly power that
would challenge his own. John, who announces the
coming of the Messiah, agrees with him, since he
understands the Christ to be the bringer of judg-
ment against evildoers (such as Herod) who need
repentance. They disagree as to the Messiah’s divine
inevitability (Humphries-Brooks: 72). A strong con-
viction that Jesus is the Messiah, who is persecuted
and killed, is expressed in The Passion of the Christ
(dir. Mel Gibson, 2004, US): its opening introduces
the theme of the Messiah’s suffering for our sins
established by a quotation of Isa 53.
A Bible epic Mesih (dir. Nader Talebzadeh, 2007,
Iran, The Messiah) portrays Jesus from an Islamic-
Persian perspective: in the film Jesus is a prophet
and not Son of God. The film proposes two endings:
in the first, as in the Gospels, Jesus dies on the cross;
in the second, according to Islamic sources and the
Gospel of Barnabas, God saves Jesus before his passion
begins. Instead, Judas Iscariot has been crucified.
The question of the messianic consciousness of
Jesus appears in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar
(dir. Norman Jewison, 1973, US) and in The Last
Temptation of Christ (dir. Martin Scorsese, 1988): Je-
sus’ doubts and uncertainties dominate, so that
viewers are confronted with a messiah doubting his
own identity. A doubt is overcome in Risen (dir.
Kevin Reynold, 2016, US) whose protagonist Cla-
vius, a Roman tribune, is sent by Pontius Pilate to
find the missing body of Yeshua; during his investi-
gation Clavius encounters Yeshua and starts to be-
lieve.
Color of the Cross (dir. Jean-Claude La Marre,
2006, US) situates the story of the gospel in the cul-
tural context of the community of African-American
Christians. It is the fact that the Messiah could have
been a black man that is important, since it identi-
fies Jesus more directly with the black people who
are still suffering from discrimination (Bak-
ker: 242). Son of Man (dir. Mark Dornford-May,
2006, ZA) presents Jesus as a messiah in the political
context of a modern African country. Both films are
serious in their respect for Jesus, in contrast to Life
of Brian (dir. Terry Jones, 1979, UK), a parody which
follows the adventures of the unfortunate Brian of
Nazareth, born on the same day as Jesus, who, as an
adult, is again mistaken for a messiah and dies on
the cross.
Although the title character of the Western
Shane (dir. George Stevens, 1953) cannot be in-
tended as a Christ in every respect, the figure of
Shane is an embodiment of heroic America who ful-
fills the roles of both messiah of peace and of right-
eous judgment (Humphries-Brooks: 108). Superman
(dir. Richard Donner, 1978, US/UK) has remarkable
parallels to the story of Jesus: Superman is not of
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903 Messiah (Oratorio)
this world, he performs miracles, and he begins his
mission to battle evil and save Earth at the age of
thirty (Blizek: 35). In the catastrophic Deep Impact
(dir. Mimi Leder, 1998, US) the US President
launches Operation “Noah’s Ark” to save only se-
lected people from the impact of a comet, but the
real salvation comes from a sacrifice accomplished
by Space Mission “Messiah,” led by its commander,
“Fish.” In The Matrix (dir. Larry Wachowsky/Andy
Wachowsky, 1999, US) Morpheus must find a
promised messiah who will free humanity from
computer bondage. Neo (Thomas Anderson) is a
messiah, who is killed and then resurrected as a “di-
vine” creature.
While The Matrix introduces a Gnostic messiah,
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe (dir. Andrew Adamson, 2005, US/UK),
based upon the novel by C. S. Lewis, a classic of
children’s literature, is an allegory of Jesus’ crucifix-
ion. The lion Aslan sacrifices himself for Edmund,
and is resurrected, liberating the whole of Narnia
from the evil White Witch. John Coffey, protagonist
of The Green Mile (dir. Frank Darabont, 1999, US), an
innocent man condemned to death, has miraculous
healing powers and knows the truth about people
he meets; messianic allusions are hidden also in Cof-
fey’s initials (J. C.). Also John Connor in The Termina-
tor (dir. James Cameron, 1984, US/UK) and its se-
quel (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, dir. id., 1991) can
be considered a messianic figure, since his birth, as
a leader of the resistance, till the liberation of hu-
manity (Harris: 101).
I Am Legend (dir. Francis Lawrence, 2007, US)
presents the messiah archetype in its most obvious
form: Dr. Robert Neville resists a virus which has
killed the majority of humanity and transformed
the rest into bloodthirsty beasts. Neville sacrifices
himself and gives his own blood, with antigens, for
the salvation of the world (Legan: 162). Perhaps the
main character of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hal-
lows: Part 2 (dir. David Yates, 2011, US/UK), who
confronts Voldemort, dies, and then returns trium-
phant, is also a messianic figure.
Finally, the protagonist of the television series
Messiah (dir. James McTeigue, Kate Woods, 2020,
US), an Iranian miracle worker calling himself Al-
Masih, is an ambiguous and interfaith figure of the
Messiah appearing in modern Syria, in Israel and in
the USA amidst religious and political tensions.
Bibliography: ■ Bakker, F. L., The Challenge of the Silver Screen
(Leiden/Boston, Mass. 2009). ■ Blizek, W. L., “Using Reli-
gion to Interpret Movies,” in The Continuum Companion to
Religion and Film (ed. id.; London/New York 2009) 29–38.
■ Harris R., “No Fate: James Cameron, Jesus, and John Con-
nor,” in A Critical Companion to James Cameron (ed. A. Bark-
man/A. Sanna; Lanham, Md. 2018) 97–108. ■ Humphries-
Brooks, S., Cinematic Savior (Westport, Conn. 2006). ■ Le-
gan, M., “Will Smith’s Messianic Trilogy: The Pursuit of
Happyness, I Am Legend, Seven Pounds,” in Cinematic Trans-
formations of the Gospel (ed. M. Lis; Opole 2013) 161–70.
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 18
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■ Malone, P., Screen Jesus (Lanham, Md./Toronto, Ont. 2011).
■ Reinhartz, A., Scripture on the Silver Screen (Lousville, Ky.
2003). ■ Tatum, W. B., Jesus at the Movies (Salem, Oreg.
3
2013).
Marek Lis
See also / Anointing; / Antichrist; / David;
/ Deliverance; / Elijah (Prophet); / God;
/ Habad (Lubavitch) Hasidism; / Jesus;
/ Jewish-Christian Relations; / King, Kingship;
/ Lord; / Messianic Age; / Messianism;
/ Peace, Peacemaking; / Quest of the Histori-
cal Jesus; / Redeem, Redeemer, Redemption;
/ Savior; / Schneerson, Menachem Mendel;
/ Shabbetai Tsevi; / Son of Man; / Zionism
Messiah (Oratorio)
The Messiah is an oratorio composed by George
Frideric Handel in 1741 to a compilation of biblical
texts assembled by Charles Jennens. The textual
mosaic was chosen to give an overall presentation
of Christian salvation history, beginning with the
prophecies of Christ’s arrival and the birth of Christ
(part 1). It continues with his passion and triumph
over death, and the apostles’ preaching of the gos-
pel (part 2). It concludes (part 3) with the resurrec-
tion of the dead at the sound of the last trumpet
and the final victory of Christ, the redeemer who
“has redeemed us to God by His blood,” and is wor-
thy “to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing”
(Händel: 287–88). The texts were taken from the
KJV with some few small adaptations (mainly from
“the ‘Coverdale’ translation of the psalms associated
with the Book of Common Prayer,” see Burrows: 55,
11), as in the quoted phrases from the last chorus,
no. 47, which concludes in a monumental “Amen”
(Händel: 287–306; the concluding Amen: 298–306).
The oratorio is not only Handel’s most famous
work; it has also had a reception history beyond
most other classical musical compositions. Since its
first performance in Dublin on 13 April 1742, it has
been regularly and uninterruptedly performed in
England. The same is true all over the Western
world since few decades after its composition.
Through the centuries, various styles of perfor-
mance have made the work appear in several rather
different ways (Burrows: 47–54). The Messiah
reached the continent in the 1780s; in Vienna, and
prompted by the important patron of music, Baron
van Swieten, W. A. Mozart arranged (re-worked) the
Messiah for performance (in German language) in
March 1789 (Sadie: 208; Burrows: 50).
Altogether, the Messiah belongs to the most
cherished works in classical music up to this day.
For the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death in
2009, the International Bach Academy Stuttgart and
the Oregon Bach Festival commissioned a new mu-
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