Messianic claimants in early Judaism

Time and place

The campus seminar is scheduled for Friday, 7 February 10.15-12.00 in C332 (check TimeEdit (Links to an external site.) for late changes). [EDIT: The campus seminars for this term have been cancelled.]

The online seminar is scheduled for Friday, 7 February 3.30-5.00 p.m. (local time). You will access it through the conferences page.

If you are unable to attend the seminar (please notify me in advance), you should submit the supplementary assignment here by the final date of the module. After the course period, it will be possible to make late submissions and re-submissions (in case the original submission failed to meet the standards for Pass) by 6 May.

Readings and questions for seminar 2

Read the following literature in advance:

Richard A. Horsley and John S. Hanson, Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements at the Time of Jesus. Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 1999.

Reflect on the following questions in advance:

How does Horsley view the relationship between messianic expectations and various popular movements in first-century Judaism? Do you find his perspective of class conflict fruitful?
Do you think that Horsley's identification of royal pretenders like Athronges and Simon bar Giora as leaders of messianic movements is adequate? On what grounds?
Do you see any reason to believe that 'action prophets' like Theudas and 'the Egyptian prophet' were messianic claimants? What reason could there possibly be for thinking so? On what grounds does Horsley not consider them messianic claimants?
From the sources quoted by Horsley on pp. 175-77, what can we know about the historical John the Baptist? Do you find Horsley's characterization of John the Baptist as an 'oracular prophet' adequate?