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CHALLENGING MESSIANISM AND APOCALYPTISM: A STUDY OF THE THREE SURVIVING MESSIAHS, THEIR RELATED COMMONALITIES, PROBLEMATIC ISSUES AND THE BELIEFS SURROUNDING THEM by Lilian Krawitz submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in the subject BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROF C L VAN WYK SCHEEPERS November 2010 I declare that: CHALLENGING MESSIANISM AND APOCALYPTISM: A STUDY OF THE THREE SURVIVING MESSIAHS, THEIR RELATED COMMONALITIES, PROBLEMATIC ISSUES AND THE BELIEFS SURROUNDING THEM is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. SUMMARY: The thesis is concerned with two issues, modern messiahs and their appeal, namely the highly successful Rebbe M.M. Schneerson from Chabad; and hostile, modern day, militant messianists and their beliefs, namely the USA Christian evangelicals and their rapture belief. The study directs attention at the three successful (in the sense that their movements survived their deaths) Jewish Messiahs, the 1st century Jesus, the 17th century Sabbatai Sevi and the present day, but recently deceased (1994) Rebbe Schneerson. The focus in the study falls on the latter two Jewish Messiahs, especially Rebbe Schneerson and Chabad, from Crown Heights, New York, whose messianic beliefs and conduct the thesis has been able to follow in real time. The thesis argues that Rebbe Schneerson and Chabad‟s extreme messianic beliefs and praxis, and the marked similarities that exist between all three Jewish Messiahs and their followers indicate that Chabad will probably, over time, become another religion removed from Judaism. The thesis notes that the three Jewish Messiahs share a similar messiah template, the “„suffering servant‟ messiah” template. The thesis argues that this template is related to the wide appeal and success of these three Jewish messiahs, as it offers their followers the option of vicarious atonement which relieves people from dealing with their own transgressions and permits people to evade the demanding task of assuming personal accountability for all their actions, including their transgressions. The recommendations in this thesis are prompted by the “wall of deafening silence” which is the result of political correctness and the “hands off religion” position, that prevents debate or censure of hostile militant messianism, despite the inherent dangers and high cost attached to the praxis of hostile, militant messianism and militant messianists‟ belief in exclusive apocalyptic scenarios, in modern, multicultural and democratic societies. The thesis argues this situation is not tenable and that it needs to be addressed, especially where modern day, hostile, militant messianists, unlike their predecessors at Qumran, now have access to the military and to military hardware, including nuclear warheads, and are able to hasten the End Times should they simply choose to do so. KEY TERMS: Apocalyptism; Apostasy; Chabad; Christian evangelicals; Christian Zionism; Compassion; Deification; Dual Covenant Theology; Evangelical right-wing; Hassidism; Heresy; Incarnation; Jewish Messiahs; Jewish messianism; Jewish resurrection imagery; Kabbalah; Lubavitchers; Lurianic Kabbalah; Maimonides; Messiah templates; Militant messianism; Mishneh Torah; Modern messiahs; Qumran; Rapture; Sabbatians; Sabbatai Sevi; Schneerson; Suffering servant messiah template; Gabriel Stone; Vicarious atonement. CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 2 1.1 MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY ........................................................................................ 2 1.2 AIMS OF THE STUDY ....................................................................................................... 15 1.2.1 The Research problem ..................................................................................................... 15 1.2.2 The research problem in relation to the Chabad/Lubavitchers sect ................................. 16 1.2.3 The research problem and Israel Knohl‘s messiah hypothesis and the Gabriel Stone ..... 17 1.2.4 The research problem and hostile, modern-day, militant messianism ............................. 18 1.2.4.1 Militant Islam and its apocalyptic based jihad ............................................................ 18 1.2.5 The research problem and the Christian evangelicals‘ belief in the Rapture ................... 19 1.2.6 The research problem and the lack of rational criticism and debate ................................ 20 1.3 THE TWO CENTRAL PROPOSALS OF THE THESIS ..................................................... 22 1.3.1 First Proposal: Emergence of new messianic-based religious beliefs ............................. 22 1.3.2 Second Proposal: That the three Jewish messiahs share a common messiah template .... 22 1.4 RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................... 23 1.4.1 First recommendation: Abolition of the ―politically correct‖ approach to the discussion and criticism of religion ................................................................................................... 23 1.4.2 Second recommendation: Obligations of leaders ............................................................. 25 1.5 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................... 28 1.5.1 Survey of messianism and apocalyptism ......................................................................... 28 1.5.2 Jewish Messiahs whose movements survived their death ................................................ 28 1.5.3 Israel Knohl‘s messiah hypothesis and the Gabriel Stone ............................................... 30 1.5.4 The Evangelicals and the Rapture .................................................................................... 32 1.5.5 Key sources, including literary and other mediums used in this thesis ............................ 33 1.5.5.1 Sources for Jewish messiahs, Jewish messianism and apocalyptism and Jewish messianic groups ........................................................................................................ 33 1.5.5.2 Sources consulted for Sabbatai Sevi and Rebbe Schneerson and Chabad .............. 34 1.5.5.3 Sources related to the three Jewish Messiahs’ messiah template ............................. 36 1.5.5.4 The Christian evangelicals and their militant rapture belief ................................... 37 1.5.5.5 Other sources consulted ............................................................................................. 38 1.5.6 Outline of the Study ......................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 2: JUDAISM(S), MESSIAH(S), MESSIANISM AND APOCALYPTIC BELIEFS, FROM THE PAST TO PRESENT: A BRIEF SUMMARY .................................................. 42 2.1 A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE IDEAS THAT UNDERLIE MESSIANIC AND APOCALYPTIC MOVEMENTS ......................................................................................... 42 2.1.1 Talmon‘s Summary .......................................................................................................... 43 2.2 THE TERM ―MESSIAH‖ AND MESSIANISM IN JUDAISM .......................................... 45 2.2.1 Clarifying the messianic idea in Judaism ......................................................................... 45 2.2.2 The messianic idea and key elements of Jewish Messianism .......................................... 46 2.2.3 The Day of the Lord concept ........................................................................................... 47 2.2.4 The Term ―Messiah‖ in Judaism ...................................................................................... 48 2.2.4.1 The root of the term “Messiah” ................................................................................. 48 2.2.4.2 The term “messiah” in the Hebrew Bible .................................................................. 48 i 2.2.5 Biblical texts and the term ―messiah‖ .............................................................................. 51 2.2.6 Theological agendas: The study of messianism and the term ―Messiah‖ ........................ 53 2.3 MESSIANISM, APOCALYPTISM AND THE TERM ―MESSIAH‖ DURING THE SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD .............................................................................................. 54 2.3.1 The shift from prophecy to apocalypse ............................................................................ 54 2.3.2 The move towards messianism and eschatology.............................................................. 56 2.3.3 Second Temple Messianic figures and the rise of Davidic messiah ................................ 56 2.4 THOMPSON‘S RESEARCH: NEW INSIGHTS INTO MESSIAHS IN ANTIQUITY ...... 59 2.4.1 Thompson questions Talmon‘s delineation of the term ―messiah‖ in the Old Testament and post-Old Testament ................................................................................................... 60 2.4.1.1 The existence of the messiah/ruling king construct not unique to Judaism ............ 61 2.5 THE MESSIANIC IDEA AND ITS DEVELOPMENT AT QUMRAN:

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