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The term “Messiah” is used in the NT to describe Jesus.  For many the term is a reference to Jesus’ last name.  Of course the meaning of “messiah” is so much more than the modern understanding of the word “Christ.” The Christ/Messiah was a figure ancitipated by Jews living during the Second Temple period.  However, references to Christ/Messiah in the OT are rare.  In fact, in most Bibles the terms are not found at all in the OT.  The root of the Hebrew word for Messiah does occur in the OT, however.  Several references are very interesting and have led to great speculation.  For example, most Bible dictionaries report that the word “messiah” comes from the word meaning “anointed one” (or better, “one who is smeared with oil”).  These dictionaries often go on to say that in the OT biblical period there were three groups who were “anointed” to an office: prophet, priest, and king.

However, the term “messiah” in the New Testament come to mean something much more than a prophet, priest, or king.  It is used to described an anticipated, eschatological figure should bring Israel/Judea its restoration.  Jesus frequently resisted the political overtones that some assumed for him (and assumed would be the role of the Messiah).  In the NT, the Messiah is Jesus.  Jesus did act at times like a prophet, and in fact died like many prophets (martyred still preaching).  Therein lies the surprise: If Jesus is the Messiah, why did he die?  After all, there is no concept of a dying messiah.  There is no one who believes that the Messiah dies and rises again.  For Jesus during his ministry frequently sought to make educate his disciple concerning his death, but they rejected this line of thinking (cf. Peter in Mark 8 telling Jesus he will not die).

In spite of Jesus’ criminal’s death upon a cross, his disciples describe him as the Messiah.  N. T. Wright says in the Victory of God that the only way to really make sense of this is that Jesus must have risen from the dead (Easter is the only explanation for the disciples calling Jesus the Messiah).

When one looks at the Second Temple Literature (whether in the OT, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the Jewish literature, etc.), there are many different perceptions of what the Messiah will look like (contra. W. Horbury, The Cult of Christ) including: kingly, priestly, of Aaron, of Israel, of David, of Josephus, an Elijah high priest, but especially a kingly messiah (J. A. Fitzmyer, The One Who is to Come, 2007, 183).  Fitzmyer notes the Talmud does contain a belief in a messiah who precedes creates and is in some sense a “preexistent being” (Ibid.)  He adds the comment, “How different that Jewish Messiah is from the Christian Messiah” (Ibid.)

Fitzmyer’s definition of Messiah: “the Messiah as a concrete eschatological figure, the king of the final age, the founder of the glorious kingdom, is far less prominent in the Old Testament then in the New.” (Actually a quote from S. Mowinckel, He That Cometh, 3-4).  Fitzmyer is greatly concerned about the definition of Messiah.  He notes the failure several notable scholars to accurate define Messiah as a figure who comes into being the second century BC.  Specificially, T. L. Thompson (”Messiah” SJOT, 2001)  defines the term too broadly (according to Fitzmyer) as a Near Eastern myth found in Egyptian and Babylonian materials.  Fitzmyer says that Thompson is guilty of the “rubberband concept” (Fitzmyer, fn. 13, page 5).

In the looking at the concept of Messiah I have discovered wide and divergent opinions.  William Horbury for example argues that the concept of “messiah” develops “coherently” throughout the OT and into the Second Temple period.  Furthermore, he argues that this Jewish messanism becomes the “soil” in which the Cult of Christ grows.  In a review of Horburys’ Jewish Messianism and the Cult of Christ, Horbury is criticized for his  interpretation of the development of Jewish messianism.  His conclusion that there is a “cohesive” messianic concept is regarded as “swimming upstream” (i.e. contradictory to the evidence).

Horbury’s conclusion is contradictory to Fitzmyer who concludes in his new book The One Who Is to Come, that there were divergent messianic hopes in Second Temple Judaism (he contrasts messanism in DSS, 1 Enoch, and so forth).  However, the RBL review of Horbury’s work does suggest that Horbury has a good argument for the relationship between the Cult of Christ and the “soil” of Jewish messianism.  Here is his conclusion:  “Fortunately, Horbury’s valuable discussion of the relationship between Jewish messianism and the Christ-cult does not demand acceptance of his views on the origin, prevalence, and coherence of messianism. On these matters, Horbury is clearly swimming upstream from the majority of recent studies, and for now at least, the downward current is the more persuasive.” (RBL 10/15/1999 by Kenneth Pomykala).

No pictures today. We were in class all day. The morning began with breakfast at 8:00 am and then we went to class. We had paper presentations all day in one of the lecture halls at Regent’s Park College. We heard from fellow students and had various visitors sitting in on the readings. My paper was delivered at 2:00 pm today. It went well. I know a number of people were praying for not only my safety today but also my paper presentation. Thanks for your prayers. It all went well.

This evening we had a good dinner and heard from the President of the Baptist convention in Georgia–not the state but the country. Georgia apparently has had a long history of problems associated with Russia. The Baptist Christians there have had a very difficult time and experienced much persecution. However this pastor/denomination leader shared with us about the relief efforts that Baptists have extended to Czechnians refugees who have been displaced. There are amazing stories of the power of the gospel being demonstrated there.

This evening we took a walk through Oxford and actually got locked into the city park. We had to find a guard to come and let us out. It was a cool beautiful day. Tomorrow we are going on a journey through Baptist missionary history. We are going to places in England where all the great Baptist missionaries once lived. It will be very exciting and inspiring as well.

Today we traveled to John Bunyan’s old church and attending services there in morning. It was very cold because over night we got 3 inches of snow.

Bunyan’s Church was in very good condition and had a wonderful museum attached.

Even though most people are not allowed to take pictures, we were permitted to snap a few. One of my favorites is with Dr. Corley standing in Bunyan’s old pulpit.

From there we traveled to Cambridge. Just outside of Cambridge is the American Cemetery. It is the only place on British soil where Americans specifically are buried, and these are all soldiers killed in the Armed Forces. I noticed on the list was a Reitsema from New York. I will have to check the family tree to see if this a relative (which is probably is despite the different spelling become spelling variation of Ritsema are quite common). I took picture of the name and also the log inside the visitor’s center. At the cemetery it was extremely cold, and the wind was blowing very hard (the flag was waving in the wind parallel to the ground).

From there we went into Cambridge at last and walked around for a few hours. We looked at many of the colleges (there are some 30+ colleges in Cambridge) including King’s College and Chorpus Christi (both of which I took pictures of). I slipped into the Cambridge bookstore and also another bookstore. Finally I found a used bookstore. Inside there I discovered a number of really high quality books at very low costs. I picked up about four of them.

From there we made it back into Oxford and had a warm, nice dinner at Regent’s Park College. My stay so far at Oxford has been remarkable. I will never forget my time here at Oxford. The fellowship with other professors and students (as well as fellow travelers), but especially rubbing shoulders with the British people themselves–they are so delightful. I find myself taking up a British style of speech.

We took a coach (i.e. a bus) into London today. The trip was over an hour drive. I did a bit of reading on the way, a book I picked up from one of the tutors (i.e. professors) at Regent’ s Park here at Oxford, a man named Larry Kreitzer (the book entitled, The Gospel According to John). So far it has been quite good.

London is a very busy city with 10 million population and 3 million tourists (approx.) We went to Westminster Abbey (which cost about $14 or 7 pounds). Later, we went to St. Paul’s Cathedral, but in between we went to Wesley’s old church. It is still a Methodist church today running about 200 in worship. Wesley is buried there. Across the street, there is a cemetery containing well known individuals–such as John Bunyan and Isaac Watts (the famous hymn writer). It was interesting to find out that Wesley did not have music played in his worship services. His pulpit was about 20 feet off the ground with people below to read and then also to lead singing (without musical accompaniment).

We also had the good pleasure to take a look at the Guild Hall where all the various guilds of London met. It is a pretty awesome place and contains a statute of Sir Winston Churchill. Unfortunately, much of London was destroyed in WWII through German bombs. Various buildings which had been constructed by Sir Christopher Wren continue to stand to this day, albeit with tremendous damage and in some cases only a small remainder left behind.

All in all, it was quite a good day which was finished off by going to a locale eatery (called a pub or public house) to eat fish and chips. The place we went tonight was C. S. Lewis’ old stomping grounds the Eagle and the Child (locally referred to as the Bird and the Baby). We ate in the famous Rabbit Room where the Inklings once met. All that is remaining of this is a small room with a few pictures on the wall and a warm fireplace. The whole pub is rather small and unimpressive but quite interesting.

So far England has been delightful. There are so many sites to take in and so much culture to experience. So far, my favorite place is Oxford City itself. It is a wonderful city with beautiful buildings, lots of tea shops, and rich cultural heritage.

Last night, we finished the evening with several hours of class. Dr. Corley lectured on the class we are taking this semester related to Professionalism. We talked a lot about developing a lifelong reading program, developing a time schedule for study as a student and minister, and also looked at the assignments for our course.

So far the fellowship here at Oxford has been delightful. The students, professors, and visitors have all been enjoyable to be around. Probably one of the things that I will miss the most about England will be the cold days and the hot tea. The hot tea here is so wonderful because it comes with hot scones (which are covered in jam, butter, and clotted cream). Mmm! So good.

To read more about the greatest discovery in the history of discoveries click here: http://singinginthereign.blogspot.com/2008/04/another-ancient-gospel-discovered.html

Then click on the full story.

Day 3 at Oxford

I have posted a Day 3 at Oxford with some pictures on my other blog http://dritsema.blogspot.com.

For the gallery on Picasa go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/davidritsema/OxfordDay3

Today we head to Cotswolds.  We pack a lunch and will be gone all day.   I am about to go to breakfast and will write more late this evening.  (Note my other blog http://dritsema.blogspot.com which has more info on this Oxford trip).

Pictures are located here:  http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/davidritsema/OxfordDay2

Oxford Day 1

Well as scheduled, we left the airport Monday at 5:30 pm-actually it turned out to be about 5:45.  The trip took about 9 hours and I only got about an hour of sleep.  So I am really tired right now.

We landed at Heathrow and that is where my first experience of England began.  I immediatley noticed that the signs were different.  Instead of bathroom signs which read “Men” or “Women,” found “Mail Toilet” signs.  In the men’s bathroom there was disposable toothbrushes for sale in a bubblegum machine.  People talk differenently and dress differently.  They move around very fast.  I was surprised to find so many internationals as well.

I exchanged $26 at the airport for about 10 pounds (the exchange rate is 2 to 1).  The money looks different as well.  I ended up going to an ATM and taking out about 100 pounds.  I wanted to test this process which I heard was better than making exchanges at the banks or airport which charge you a service fee.  The tax in England is 15% (wow I thought Texas was bad at 8%).

I have taken hundreds of pictures so far and I will upload those to a picture database and come back and make a link here.  I will do that now and then periodically update this page and upload pictures.

oxford-day-1-part-2-112.jpg

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