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[German Version] I. History of Religions – II. Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. Christianity – V. Dogmatics – VI. Islam I. History of Religions The terms messiah and messianism derive from the Hebrew word māšîaḥ, “anointed one.” Under the impact of foreign rule in Israel and Judah beginning in the 6th century bce, the word took on a new meaning: the Messiah was expected to bring deliverance from foreigners and oppressors, and in part to inaugurate the eschatological age of salvation (see II–IV below). The word's meaning was expanded in the …

[German Version] I. Greco-Roman Sibylline Material The Sibylline oracles of antiquity were oracles ascribed to Sibyl, always in Greek hexameters (Pseudepigraphy); the earliest date from the 5th century bce. Two corpora need to be distinguished: (1) the Sibylline Oracles (Gk οἱ Σιβύλλης χρησμοί/ hoi Sibýllēs chrēsmoí, “the oracles of Sibyl,” or τὰ Σιβύλλεια/ tá Sibýlleia, “the sibylline material”) and οἱ χρησμοὶ Σιβυλλιακοί/ hoi chrēsmoí Sibylliakoí, Lat. oraculaSibyllina), a primarily Judeo-Christian collection (see II and III below); and (2) the Sibylline Boo…

[German Version] Other than a few quotations from the church fathers (e.g. Or. Princ. III 2.1), the only known version of the “Ascension of Mose” ( As.Mos. or T.Mos.) is an incomplete Latin manuscript from the 6th century (palimpsest; 1st ed. 1861 by Ceriani). This Latin translation (5th cent.) of a Greek translation probably goes back to a Hebrew or Aramaic original (Tromp favors a Greek original) written in Judea before the destruction of the temple (original version probably 2nd–1st cent. bce; final version early 1st cent. ce, because Herod the Great is identifiable; …

[German Version] The designation “Zealots” (ζηλωταί/ zēlōtaí, from Gk ζηλόω/ zēlóō, “to be zealous, to strive after”) for those Jews who rebelled against Roman rule in Palestine during the 1st century ce and especially during the First Jewish Revolt is encountered in the works of Flavius Josephus ( Bell. II 651; IV 160f.; VII 268–270), whose Bellum Judaicum (II–VII) and Antiquitates constitute the most important sources for the Zealot movement and its ideology. The Hebrew designation qannaʾim (“zealous ones”) is attested, among other places, in b. Sanh. 82a. Their name goes back …