Baidarka

I am almost finished with Gershom Scholem’s book Sabbatai Sevi the Mystical Messiah. It is a thick, heavy tome and it is a difficult read (at least for me) but it is well worth the effort.
I would like to recommend this book to anyone interested in the concept and the history of eschatology.
In the middle of the 17th Century Sabbatai Sevi brought hope to Jews all over the Diaspora that the Messiah had finally arrived and their exile was at an end. In 1666 he was imprisoned in Gallipoli and by 1667 the Turkish Sultan forced Sabbatai to Apostatize causing shame, confusion and despair to the world of Jewry but not all Jews gave up on the Apostate Messiah the Sabbatians continued to believe. They created elaborate apologetics to explain why disaster was really victory.

“When discussing the Sabbatian paradox by means of which cruel disappointment was turned into a positive affirmation of faith, the analogy with early Christianity almost obtrudes itself. The two messianic movements exhibit many similarities which are as instructive as the equally obvious differences. Both movements were the product of the operation of the twin factors faith and rationalization. Both had to provide an ideology accounting for the initial disappointment. Their masters death was a blow which the disciples of Jesus could only overcome by cultivating the image of his resurrection and the hope in his triumphant return as lord and judge.”
Page 795

In the Sabbatians we have a well documented Jewish Messianic movement which like early Christianity came to what should have been a disastrous end and like Christianity they produced apologetics to triumph over reality.
I think that history repeats itself and that in Sabbatia Sevi and his movement we are afforded a view into the messianic mechanism that wrought Christianity.
Prophetic movements can attract many hopeful adherents but the inevitable failure of prophesy can deflate the expectations of the faithful. It is only by the most creative and prodigious acts of apologetics that faith can be maintained.

capnkirk

In the case of Christianity, that apologist was Paul (nee Saul). There is a well written book (now out of print, but available used thru amazon.com) by Hyam Maccoby titled The Mythmaker - Paul and the Invention of Christianity that offers convincing argument that:

Jesus was a Pharaisee, and considered himself a Messiah in the traditional Jewish sense.

That the early church (The Church in Jerusalem) headed by Jesus' brother James, was a continuation of that Messianic mission.

That Paul was NOT a Pharaisee as he claimed, but was a Sadduccee hireling.

That Paul never met Jesus personally, encountering him only in visions after the crucifixion.

That the content of these visions brought him into fierce conflict with the Church in Jerusalem...as a heretic.

That the nature of Pauline Christianity more closely resembles the gnostic, Hellenic, hero cults of his native Tarsus than an extension of Judiasm.

That it was to evade the wrath of orthodox Judiasm that Paul fled to Greece.

In short, it was Paul who reinterpreted Jesus' failed messianic movement and created a new religion in the process.

Baidarka

capnkirk
I agree that Hyam Maccoby has a very important and under appreciated point of view when comes to comprehending the development of Christianity as a Jewish heresy. I especially like the argument that he makes concerning Paul’s claim to being a learned Pharisee. He points out examples of Paul making points from Biblical quotes that are Greek mistranslations (mistakes that a learned Pharisee would not make)
I would like to recommend another out of print Maccoby book called Judaism on Trial (Jewish- Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages) (1982)
This is an incredible document which reads very much like this Forum. Many of the same arguments that we read here were already on going in Medieval Europe.
The most memorable moment occurred in the Tortosa Disputation (1413)
When Rabbi Astruck responded to a challenge about an irrational Jewish belief about the Messiah. “Our Lord Pope! While you believe so many far fetched things about your Messiah, allow us to believe one about our Messiah.” Pg182
In the case of Sabbatai Sevi an enthusiastic Kabbalist named Nathan played the part of Paul , writing and preaching of the Sabbatia’s Messiahhood lending an inspired air of legitimacy to the Sabbatai’s manic depressive mood swings.