Eschatology in the Bible and in Jewish and Christian Tradition (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies | LHBOTS)

This is the fourth volume in the series of collaborations between the Department of Bible in Tel Aviv University, Israel, and the Faculty of Theology in the University of the Ruhr, Bochum, Germany. This symposium, held in Bochum in 1995, discussed a topic important for both communities of believers, starting with the Bible and tracking its role through the different stages of the respective tradition-histories. This time the theme was eschatology. The participants engaged in a lively discussion (from the Jewish side) on messianism and Zionism, Qumran, Mishnah and Kabbalah, and (from the Christian side) on the Bible, recent Protestant ethics and systematic theology. The volume concludes with the report of a panel discussion on the essence of eschatology in Jewish and Christian thinking: is it a spiritualized idea or a material expectation for the world?

Contributions to this volume include:

• “Messianism and Zionism,” Yehoshua Amir
• “Early Christian Faith as ‘Hope against Hope’,” Horst Balz
• “Not All is in the Hands of Heaven: Eschatology and Kabbalah,” Rachel Elior
• “Eschatology and Ethics: Their Relations in Recent Continental Protestantism,” Christofer Frey
• “Eschatology in the Book of Jeremiah,” Yair Hoffman
• “The Son of Man and the Angels: Reflections on the Formation of Christology in the Context of Eschatology,” Gottfried Nebe
• “Eschatological Motives in Qumran Literature: The Messianic Concept,” Bilhah Nitzan
• “Leadership and Messianism in the Time of the Mishnah,” Aharon Oppenheimer
• “The Eschatologization of the Prophetic Books: A Comparative Study,” Henning Graf Reventlow
• “Character and Function of Divine Sayings in the Elijah and Elisha Traditions,” Winfried Thiel
• “From Prophetic to Apocalyptic Eschatology,” Benjamin Uffenheimer
• “Expectations of the Divine Kingdom in Biblical and Postbiblical Literature,” Moshe Weinfeld
• “Aspects of the Last Judgment in the Gospel according to Matthew,” Klaus Wengst