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Yeshua in Context >> Apocalyptic Literature

How They Read "Messiah" #1

It's important to neither exaggerate nor diminish the importance of messianic hope in the times of Yeshua and the disciples. Exaggeration looks like this: Rome and the Herodians continually had to quell messianic pretenders and uprisings. Diminishing looks like this: there was virtually no messianic hope in Yeshua's time and no one was looking for a king to lead a revoution. Both claims have been made. In Michael Bird's Are You the One Who Is to Come?: The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question, there is a helpful chart of some major messianic scriptures and references to the thought of the time about these texts. What kinds of things were people saying about Isaiah 11 in Second Temple Judaism? That will be our theme in this first installment. To help those who ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Apocalyptic Literature , Background to Gospels , Hebrew Bible as Testimony , Messiah

Apocalyptic and Yeshua (Gospel of Mark)

Apocalyptic is a type of literature that sees the world in a particular way: hidden reality . . . a veil over meaning . . . secrets for those who know how to seek them . . . more than meets the eye . . . hiddenness is God's design . . . but breakthroughs happen . . . God has sent heavenly messengers . . . secrets come to those who seek them . . . the insight into the beyond is desperately needed to cope with evil . . . the reign of evil is not the last word . . . in some versions, such as Mark, the Divine has come in person. ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Apocalyptic Literature , Background to Gospels , Discipleship - Formation

Other Jewish and Christian Writings from Biblical Times

We have found over the centuries a number of "other" writings from the time of the Bible by Jews and Christians. These writings were preserved and found a number of ways including: preserved in Syriac and Ethiopic by eastern churches, the Cairo Geniza find from the 19th century, and non-biblical writings preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Bible itself mentions many lost books? What are they? How does Jewish literature from before and during New Testament times help us? Where can people get more information? ... Read entire article >>

Filed under: Apocalyptic Literature , Apocrypha & Apocryphal , Background to Gospels , Pseudepigrapha