Messiah

From New World Encyclopedia
Revision as of 19:22, 15 June 2006 by Dan Fefferman (talk | contribs)
Previous (Messenger RNA)
Next (Metabolic disease)

In Judaism, the Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ Standard Hebrew Mašíaḥ, Tiberian Hebrew Māšîªḥ, Aramaic משיחא) —literally "anointed one— originally meant any person anointed by a prophet or priest of God, especially a Davidic king. In English today, it is used in two major contexts: the anticipated savior of the Jews, and any person who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a savior or liberator.

In the first century B.C.E., Jews interpreted the prophecies of their scriptures to refer more specifically to someone appointed by God to lead the Jewish people in the face of their tribulations with the Romans. Christians believe that these prophecies actually referred to a spiritual savior, and consider Jesus to be that Messiah. The word Christ (Greek Χριστός, Christos, "the anointed one") is a literal translation of "mashiach" used in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and derived from the Greek verb χριω: to "anoint in token of consecration" (Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon).

In Islam, Jesus (Isa) is also considered the Masih, or Messiah, and his eventual return to the Earth is expected along with that of another messianic figure, the Mahdi.

Some sch0lars believe that the Jewish concept of the Messiah originated in the Zoroastrian idea of Saoshyant, which was fused with the Jewish idea of the restoration of the Davidic dynasty during the Babylonian exile. For similar figures in other religions, refer to the "See also" section in this article.

The Septuagint, an ancient Jewish translation of the Old Testament into Greek, translates all thirty-nine instances of the word messiah as Christos. The New Testament records the Greek form Μεσσίας, Messias, only twice, in John 1:41 and 4:25.

In the Hebrew Bible

The concept of the messiah is neither common nor unified in the Hebrew Bible. In the Hebrew Bible, Israelite priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with oil in consecration to their respective offices.

The Hebrew Bible contains a number (the number is debated) of prophecies concerning a future descendant of King David who will be anointed as the Jewish people's new leader (moshiach).

The prophecies regarding this person refer to him as a descendant of King David who will rebuild the nation of Israel, bring world peace by restoring the Davidic Kingdom, destroy the wicked, and ultimately judge the whole world.

The mainstream Jewish understanding of mashiach (the messiah) has little, if anything, in common with the Christian understanding of Jesus as Christ (messiah). This subject is covered in more detail in the entry on Jewish eschatology.

The Jewish Messiah, (משיח) or Mashiah, Mashiach or Moshiach, has traditionally referred to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line who will be "anointed" (in Hebrew, mashiach — משיח ("messiah") means "anointed" with holy anointing oil) and inducted to rule the Jewish people. In Standard Hebrew the Messiah is often referred to as מלך המשיח Méleḫ ha-Mašíaḥ (Tiberian Hebrew Méleḵ hamMāšîªḥ), literally "the Anointed King".

Today, the various Jewish denominations have sharp disagreements about this subject (see below).

(Note: The concept of the messiah in Judaism is briefly discussed in the Jewish eschatology entry. This article discusses the Jewish view of the messiah in more detail. For the beliefs of other religions regarding the Jewish Messiah see Messiah)

Views of Maimonides

The predominant Jewish understanding of moshiach ("the messiah") is based on the writings of Maimonides, (the Rambam). His views on the messiah are discussed in his Mishneh Torah, his 14 volume compendium of Jewish law, in the section Hilkhot Melakhim Umilchamoteihem, chapter 11. Maimonides writes:

"The anointed King is destined to stand up and restore the Davidic Kingdom to its antiquity, to the first sovereignty. He will build the Temple in Jerusalem and gather the strayed ones of Israel together. All laws will return in his days as they were before: Sacrificial offerings are offered and the Sabbatical years and Jubilees are kept, according to all its precepts that are mentioned in the Torah. Whoever does not believe in him, or whoever does not wait for his coming, not only does he defy the other prophets, but also the Torah and Moses our teacher. For the Torah testifies about him, thus: "And the Lord Your God will return your returned ones and will show you mercy and will return and gather you... If your strayed one shall be at the edge of Heaven... And He shall bring you" etc.(Deuteronomy 30:3-5)."
"These words that are explicitly stated in the Torah, encompass and include all the words spoken by all the prophets. In the section of Torah referring to Bala'am, too, it is stated, and there he prophesied about the two anointed ones: The first anointed one is David, who saved Israel from all their oppressors; and the last anointed one will stand up from among his descendants and saves Israel in the end. This is what he says (Numbers 24:17-18): "I see him but not now" - this is David; "I behold him but not near" - this is the Anointed King. "A star has shot forth from Jacob" - this is David; "And a brand will rise up from Israel" - this is the Anointed King. "And he will smash the edges of Moab" - This is David, as it states: "...And he struck Moab and measured them by rope" (II Samuel 8:2); "And he will uproot all Children of Seth" - this is the Anointed King, of whom it is stated: "And his reign shall be from sea to sea" (Zechariah 9:10). "And Edom shall be possessed" - this is David, thus: "And Edom became David's as slaves etc." (II Samuel 8:6); "And Se'ir shall be possessed by its enemy" - this is the Anointed King, thus: "And saviors shall go up Mount Zion to judge Mount Esau, and the Kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Obadiah 1:21)."
"And by the Towns of Refuge it states: "And if the Lord your God will widen up your territory... you shall add on for you another three towns" etc. (Deuteronomy 19:8-9). Now this thing never happened; and the Holy One does not command in vain. But as for the words of the prophets, this matter needs no proof, as all their books are full with this issue."
"Do not imagine that the anointed King must perform miracles and signs and create new things in the world or resurrect the dead and so on. The matter is not so: For Rabbi Akiva was a great scholar of the sages of the Mishnah, and he was the assistant-warrior of the king Bar Kokhba, and claimed that he was the anointed king. He and all the Sages of his generation deemed him the anointed king, until he was killed by sins; only since he was killed, they knew that he was not. The Sages asked him neither a miracle nor a sign..."
"And if a king shall stand up from among the House of David, studying Torah and indulging in commandments like his father David, according to the written and oral Torah, and he will coerce all Israel to follow it and to strengthen its weak points, and will fight Hashem's [God's] wars, this one is to be treated as if he were the anointed one. If he succeeded {and won all nations surrounding him. Old prints and mss.} and built a Holy Temple in its proper place and gathered the strayed ones of Israel together, this is indeed the anointed one for certain, and he will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together, as it is stated: "For then I shall turn for the nations a clear tongue, to call all in the Name of the Lord and to worship Him with one shoulder (Zephaniah 3:9)."
"But if he did not succeed until now, or if he was killed, it becomes known that he is not this one of whom the Torah had promised us, and he is indeed like all proper and wholesome kings of the House of David who died. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, only set him up to try the public by him, thus: "Some of the wise men will stumble in clarifying these words, and in elucidating and interpreting when the time of the end will be, for it is not yet the designated time." (Daniel 11:35)."

Views on Jesus and Muhammad

Maimonides next writes why Jews believe that Jesus was wrong to create Christianity and why they believe that Muhammad was wrong to create Islam; he laments the pains that Jews felt as a result of these new faiths that attempted to supplant Judaism. However, Maimonides then goes on to say that both faiths help God redeem the world.

"As for Jesus of Nazareth, who claimed to be the anointed one and was killed by the court, Daniel had already prophecied about him, thus: "And the children of your people's rebels shall raise themselves to set up prophecy and will stumble" (Ibid. 14). Can there be a bigger stumbling block than this? All the Prophets said that the Anointed One saves Israel and rescues them, gathers their strayed ones and strengthens their mitzvot whereas this one caused the loss of Israel by sword, and to scatter their remnant and humiliate them, and to change the Torah and to cause most of the world to erroneously worship a god besides the Lord. But the human mind has no power to reach the thoughts of the Creator, for His thoughts and ways are unlike ours. All these matters of Yeshua of Nazareth and of the Ishmaelite who stood up after him (Muhammad) are only intended to pave the way for the Anointed King, and to mend the entire world to worship God together, thus: "For then I shall turn a clear tongue to the nations to call all in the Name of the Lord and to worship him with one shoulder."
"How is this? The entire world had become filled with the issues of the Anointed One and of the Torah and the Laws, and these issues had spread out unto faraway islands and among many nations uncircumcised in the heart, and they discuss these issues and the Torah's laws. These say: These Laws were true but are already defunct in these days, and do not rule for the following generations; whereas the other ones say: There are secret layers in them and they are not to be treated literally, and the Messiah had come and revealed their secret meanings. But when the Anointed King will truly rise and succeed and will be raised and uplifted, they all immediately turn about and know that their fathers inherited falsehood, and their prophets and ancestors led them astray."

Textual requirements

Most of the textual requirements concerning the messiah and what he will do are located within the Book of Isaiah, although requirements are mentioned in other prophets as well.

  • The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26)
  • Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4)
  • The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17)
  • He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via King Solomon (1 Chron. 22:8-10)
  • The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2)
  • Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4)
  • Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9)
  • He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10)
  • All Jews will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12)
  • He will swallow up death forever (Isaiah 25:8)
  • There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8)
  • All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19)
  • The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11)
  • He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7)
  • Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)
  • For My House shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations (Isaiah 56:3-7)
  • The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23)
  • The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55)
  • Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9)
  • The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40) resuming many of the suspended mitzvos
  • He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together, as it is written (Zephaniah 3:9)
  • Jews will know the Torah without Study (Jeremiah 31:33)
  • He will give you all the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4)
  • He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9)

Present-day positions

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism maintains that Jews are obligated to accept 13 Principles of Faith which is based on the Prophets, including an unwavering belief in the coming of the messiah. Template:Stub-section

Conservative Judaism

Emet Ve-Emunah, the Conservative movement's statement of principles, states:

"Since no one can say for certain what will happen in the Messianic era each of us is free to fashion personal speculation. Some of us accept these speculations are literally true, while others understand them as elaborate metaphors... For the world community we dream of an age when warfare will be abolished, when justice and compassion will be axioms of all, as it is said in Isaiah 11: "...the land shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." For our people, we dream of the ingathering of all Jews to Zion where we can again be masters of our own destiny and express our distinctive genius in every area of our national life. We affirm Isaiah's prophecy (2:3) that "...Torah shall come forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem".
"We do not know when the Messiah will come, nor whether he will be a charismatic human figure or is a symbol of the redemption of humankind from the evils of the world. Through the doctrine of a Messianic figure, Judaism teaches us that every individual human being must live as if he or she, individually, has the responsibility to bring about the messianic age. Beyond that, we echo the words of Maimonides based on the prophet Habakkuk (2:3) that though he may tarry, yet do we wait for him each day."

The messiah in Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism

Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism generally do not accept the idea that there will be a messiah. Some believe that there may be some sort of "messianic age" (the World to Come) in the sense of a "utopia," which all Jews are obligated to work towards.

In 1976, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the official body of American Reform rabbis, authored "Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective". While not an official statement of principles, it is meant to describe the spiritual state of modern Reform Judaism. In regard to the messianic era, it states:

"Previous generations of Reform Jews had unbound confidence in humanity's potential for good. We have lived through terrible tragedy and been compelled to reappropriate our tradition's realism about the human capacity for evil. Yet our people has always refused to despair. The survivors of the Holocaust, being granted life, seized it, nurtured it, and, rising above catastrophe, showed humankind that the human spirit is indomitable. The State of Israel, established and maintained by the Jewish will to live, demonstrates what a united people can accomplish in history. The existence of the Jew is an argument against despair; Jewish survival is warrant for human hope. We remain God's witness that history is not meaningless. We affirm that with God's help people are not powerless to affect their destiny. We dedicate ourselves, as did the generations of Jews who went before us, to work and wait for that day when "They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Talmud

Template:Cleanup-date "The Talmud nowhere indicates a belief in a superhuman Deliverer as the Messiah." (Cohen, 1949. Chap. XI, The Hereafter, § I. The Messiah, p. 347) But rather mentions Moshiach and the Era of Moshiach as a period of freedom and peace. A time of ultimate goodness for the Jews, and for all mankind. However, there are statements in the Talmud which describe a truly supernatural Era as well. These two concepts- involving a natural era of goodness, and a supernatural one which is beyond nature- can be understood through the explanation which brings down a two-step process.

The first period will include and bring the world to complete perfection, which includes the Jews being brought to Israel, and the Third Temple being built (although this is supernatural, since it is primarily built by G-d.) The person of Moshiach is the leader who will lead the world to and in that era. The second period will include an existence beyond one which man can currently imagine. As explained in numerous places, the second period will be one where all of mankind will 'know G-d' in a physical and 'visual' sense.

See also

  • Messiah
  • Davidic line
  • List of messiahs
  • Jewish eschatology
  • Jewish view of Jesus
  • Jewish Messiah claimants

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Cohen, Abraham [1949] (1995). Everyman's Talmud: The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages (paperback), Neusner, Jacob, paperback (in English), New York: Schocken Books, 405. ISBN 0-8052-1032-6. 
  • Philosophies of Judaism by Julius Guttmann, trans. by David Silverman, JPS. 1964
  • Mishneh Torah, Maimonides, Chapter on Hilkhot Melakhim Umilchamoteihem (Laws of Kings and Wars)
  • Mashiach Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet, published by S.I.E., Brooklyn, NY, 1992
  • Moses Maimonides's Treatise on Resurrection, Trans. Fred Rosner
  • Emet Ve-Emunah: Statement of Principles of Conservative Judaism, Ed. Robert Gordis, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1988
  • Reform Judaism: A Centenary Perspective, Central Conference of American Rabbis

External links

Traditional and contemporary Judaism

The concept of the messiah varies in traditional and contemporary Judaism. The view of the messiah in talmudic literature is that there are two messiahs, Mashiach ben Yossef (Messiah son of Joseph) and Mashiach ben David (Messiah son of David). [1] The Hebrew ben can mean either son or descendant. In this sense it can also mean "in the manner of", i.e., there will be a "suffering servant" messiah in the manner of Joseph son of Israel/Jacob and a different messiah in the manner of King David.

A common rabbinic interpretation is that there is a potential messiah in every generation. The Talmud tells of a highly respected rabbi who found the Messiah at the gates of Rome and asked him "When will you finally come?" He was quite surprised when he was told, "Today." Overjoyed and full of anticipation, the man waited all day. The next day he returned, disappointed and puzzled, and asked, "You said messiah would come 'today' but he didn't come! What happened?" The Messiah replied, 'Scripture says, "Today, if you will but hearken to His voice . . ." (Psalm 95:7)

Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism believe in a future physical messiah who will bring peace to the world.

Reform Judaism teaches there will be a time of peace, etc., but that it will be the result of tikkun olam ("repair of the world") through human efforts toward social justice, not the actions of one man.

"Choice is the underlying reason the Reform Movement gave up the need for and belief in a messiah who would one day bring judgment, and perhaps salvation, to the world. The fact that God imbues us with free choice mitigates the need for a messianic figure." (Schwartzman, 2004)

Christian view

Christianity emerged in the first century C.E. as a movement among Jews (and their Gentile associates and converts) who believed Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah; the very name of 'Christian' refers to the Greek word for 'Messiah' (Khristos). Although Christians commonly refer to Jesus as the "Christ" instead of "Messiah", in Christian theology the two words are synonymous.

Christianity claims that Jesus is the Messiah that Jews were expecting. John 1:41-42 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. However, the Christian concept of the Christ/Messiah is fundamentally different and much broader than the Jewish and Muslim (Shafaat, 2003) concepts because Jesus claimed to be God (cf. John 10:37-38; 14:7-11; 17:5; 17:11 and the following):

John 10:30 (NIV) I and the Father are one.
John 10:33 (NIV) "...you, a mere man, claim to be God..."
John 14:9b (NIV) "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."

In Christian theology, the Christ/Messiah serves four main functions (Ankerberg & Weldon, pp. 218-223):

  • He suffers and dies to make atonement before God for the sins of all humanity, because God's justice requires that sins be punished. See, e.g., Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and Psalm 22, which Christianity interprets as referring to Jesus.
  • He serves as a living example of how God expects people to act.
  • He will establish peace and rule the world for a long time. See Nicene Creeds of 325 and 381 C.E.; Revelation 20:4-6: (NIV) "… They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 6 … they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years." (see Millennialism).
  • He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and he came to earth as a human. John 1:1-2,14a: 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 2. He was with God in the beginning. 14a The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

In the New Testament, Jesus often referred to himself as 'Son of Man' (Mark 14:61b-62; Luke 22:66-70), which Christianity interprets as a reference to Daniel 7:13-14 (NIV):

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed..

Because Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that he claimed to be the Son of Man referred to by Daniel, Christianity interprets Daniel 7:13-14 as a statement of the Messiah's authority and that the Messiah will have an everlasting kingdom. Jesus' use of this title is seen as a direct claim to be the Messiah.

Jesus offered no denial when others identified him as the Messiah and successor of King David (Mark 8:27-30, 10:47-48, 11:7-10); his opponents accused him of such a claim (Luke 23:2), and he is recorded at least twice as asserting it himself directly (Mark 14:60-62, John 4:25-26).

Christianity interprets a wide range of biblical passages in the Old Testament (Hebrew scripture) as predicting the coming of the Messiah (see Christianity and Biblical prophecy for examples), and believes that they are following Jesus' own explicit teaching:

  • He said to them..."Did not the Christ/Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (Luke 24: 25-7, NIV)
  • Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:45-47, NIV).
  • The book of Matthew repeatedly says, "This was to fulfill the prophecy …". See (the concept of) Messianic prophecy.

Christianity believes many of the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled in the mission, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and seeks to spread throughout the world its interpretation that the Messiah is the only Saviour, and that Jesus will return in the Second Coming to fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy.

(The role of Jesus in Christian theology goes far beyond identification as the Messiah described in the Hebrew Bible.)

Section references: Ankerberg & Weldon, 1997; McDowell, 1999

In Islam

Main articles: Isa, Mahdi, and Muhammad al-Mahdi

In the Qur'an, the scripture of Islam, Isa (Jesus) is described as a Messenger of God as well as "the Messiah." The belief is that he was raised to heaven and will return at the end of days to live out the rest of his natural life.

Some Muslims claim the Messiah was prophesized in the "testimony of Levi" in Genesis as a descendent of Levi, and that the prophecy about "the shoot of Jesse" was displaced in antiquity from the Joshua section to other Prophets scrolls, and that both Joshua prophecy and the Testimony of Judah (the star, shoot) were already achieved in David.

The Mahdi (al-Mahdi, Imam Mehdi, etc.), is a different person from Jesus/Isa and is another messianic figure in Islam. The Mahdi will usher in a new age of peace, and restore a perfect Islamic society. Shia and Sunni opinions on al-Mahdi differ somewhat, but both sects agree that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.[citation needed]

As for Islamic sources, they do not mention a King-Messiah who restores the kingdom of David or a Priest-Messiah who restores the temple rites. Not only the Qur`an does not mention the King-Messiah or the Priest-Messiah, but it also does not give much importance to the institutions of kingship and priesthood. (Shafaat, 2003)


Section references: Vaca, 2001; Shafaat, 2003

Other Messiahs

See Jewish Messiah claimants for an overview of such claimants and links to more detailed articles.

In Stregheria, Jesus Christ is believed to have been a sort of "evil messiah" or false messiah, while Aradia de Toscano is seen as the true saviour who came to free the poor and the oppressed from the bondages of Christianity.

Adherents to the Unification Movement consider Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The Shakers believed that Jesus was the male Messiah and Mother Ann Lee, the female Messiah.

For the Rastafari movement, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was the messiah.

The Ahmadi/Ahmadiyya religion, considered heretical by mainstream Islam, believes that the Messiah and Mahdi have come in the form of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India (1835-1908).

Messianic figure

A messianic figure is a person who is viewed as having a number of the characteristics of the Messiah in the eyes of a particular group. These usually include that the person is charismatic, influential, develops a power base, is appealing to a large group that views itself as oppressed in some way, and appears to offer a way to overthrow that oppression. Examples of messianic figures include St. Joan of Arc, said to have visions to deliver France from English domination near the end of the Hundred Years' War and Adolf Hitler who claimed he would deliver post-World War I Germany from economic oppression caused by reparations and protect Germany from Communists. George Washington and Boris Yeltsin could be viewed as messianic figures of a sort[citation needed].

This is a list of people who have been said to be a messiah either by themselves, or by their followers. The list is divided into categories, which are sorted according to date of birth (where known).

Jewish messiah claimants

This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers, to be the Jewish Messiah.

Christian messiah claimants

This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers to be Jesus Christ, or a Messiah under the umbrella of Christianity.

  • Aldebert (eighth century)
  • Tanchelm of Antwerp (c. 1110)
  • Ann Lee (1736-1784) central figure to the Shakers.
  • John Nichols Thom (1799-1838), Cornish tax rebel
  • Hong Xiuquan, China (1812-1864), claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus.
  • Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892), claimed to be the promised one of all religions, and founded the Bahá'í Faith.
  • Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (1892-1975), Messiah of the Rastafari movement.
  • Georges-Emest Roux (1903-1981), the Christ de Montfavet, founder of the Eglise Chrétienne Universelle
  • Sun Myung Moon (b. 1920), founder of the Unification Church
  • Abbott "Vaughn" Meader (1936-2004), grammy-winning comedian and impersonator.
  • Vince Taylor (1939-1991), rock and roller who ended his career by claiming to be Jesus.
  • Michael Travesser, born Wayne Bent (b. 1941). Claims to be the beginning of the Second Coming of Jesus.
  • Inri Cristo (b. 1948) a claimant to be the second Jesus in Curitiba, Brazil
  • David Koresh (1959-1993)
  • Maria Devi Christos (born 1960), founder of the Great White Brotherhood
  • Sergei Torop (b. 1961) who started to call himself "Vissarion," founder of the Church of the Last Testament

Muslim messiah claimants

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Islamic tradition has a prophecy of the Mahdi, who will come alongside the return of Jesus. The following people claimed to be the Mahdi.

  • Syed Mohammad Jaunpuri (1443 - 1505) of Northeastern India.
  • The Báb in 1844 declared to be the promised Mahdi in Shiraz, Iran.
  • Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892): Here as well as he'd been born Shiite and relates to both Islam as well as Christianity.
  • Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835 - 1908) of Qadian, 'the Promised Messiah' return of Jesus, founder of the Ahmadiyya religious movement in Islam.
  • Muhammad Ahmad in the late 19th century founded a short-lived empire in Sudan.
  • Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan of Somaliland engaged in military conflicts from 1900 to 1920.
  • Juhayman al-Otaibi seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca in November of 1979.
  • Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran (1900-1989) was believed by a number of followers to be the Mahdi. Upon his return to Iran from exile in 1979, the headline on Tehran's largest-circulation newspaper read, "The Mahdi Returns!"

Other messiah claimants

This list features people who are said, either by themselves or their followers to be some form of a messiah outside of the sphere of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

  • Aradia de Toscano (b. 1313) active in Italy, said to be the human incarnation of the Roman demigoddess Aradia.
  • Jacob Joseph Frank (1726-1791), founder of the Frankist movement.
  • André Matsoua (1899-1942), Congolese founder of Amicale, proponents of which subsequently adopted him as Messiah.
  • Maitreya (unknown), A messianic figure promoted by Benjamin Creme through his organization, Share International.
  • Rashad Khalifa (1935 - 1990), claimed to be a prophet after the Prophet Muhammad and even included his name in his translation of the Quran.
  • John Nichols Thom(1799-1838) was a Cornish self-declared Messiah in the 19th century.

Bibliography

  • Hogue, John Messiahs: The Visions and Prophecies for the Second Coming (1999) Elements Books ISBN 1862045496

References

References

Books

  • Evangelical Christian:
  • Ankerberg, John and Weldon, John [1997]. "Chap. 11. Biblical Prophecy-Part One", Ready With an Answer for the Tough Questions About God (paperback) (in English), Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers. ISBN 1-56507-618-4. 
  • McDowell, Josh [October 22, 1999]. New Evidence that Demands a Verdict—Fully Updated to Answer the Questions Challenging Christians Today, The (hardcover), 1st Ed. (in English), Nelson Reference. ISBN 0785243631. 

On-line

Judaism

  • See also: Jewish Messiah claimants: General Bibliography.

Christianity

Islam

  • Shaukat Ali: Millenarian and Messianic Tendencies In Islamic Thought: Lahore: Publishers United: 1993
  • Timothy Furnish: Holiest Wars: Islamic Mahdis, Jihads and Osama Bin Laden: Westport: Praeger: 2005: ISBN: 02759833838
  • Abdulaziz Abdulhassan Sachedina: Islamic Messianism: The Idea of the Mahdi in Twelver Shi'ism: Albany: State University of New York Press: 1981: ISBN: 0873954580

Non-specific religious


General

See also

  • Anointing of Jesus
  • Chosen one, a person who was chosen, usually by fate or God (or a godlike being), to save a group of people.
  • God complex
  • Jewish Messiah
  • Kalki
  • Mahdi
  • Maitreya
  • Messianic prophecy
  • Millennialism
  • Muhammad al-Mahdi
  • Messiahs in fiction and fantasy
  • Sun Myung Moon
  • Saoshyant
  • Second Coming
  • Shambhala
  • List of people considered to be avatars

External links

Non-specific religious

Jewish

Christian

Moslem

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Messiah&oldid=56141

Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Copyright Logo
Powered by MediaWiki