MESSCJE · Messianic Hopes: Christian-Jewish Eschatological Encounters in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Project objective

MESSCJE: MESSianic hopes: Christian-Jewish eschatological Encounters in the Middle Ages and early modern eraMESSCJE examines a set of late medieval and early modern sources revealing convergences between Christian and Jewish end-timeexpectations, in contrast with dominant Christian apocalyptic views of their time. These sources contributed to a new ""filo-Semite"" (pro-Jewish) understanding that grew more widespread in later centuries.The research focuses on three key authors: John of Rupescissa's prophetic works (mid-14th century), Johannes Angelus of Legonissa'sOpus Davidicum (ca. 1497), and a selection of Guillaume Postel's writings (mid-16th century). These texts share three core elements:the return of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the restoration of their kingdom; the Jews' conversion to a reformed Christianity,preceded by a purification of the corrupt Church; the unification of the world during the final age of history by a Christian universalmonarch with messianic traits, in association with the future leader of the eschatological Jewish kingdom.While modern ""filo-Semite"" eschatological expectations have been extensively studied, their late medieval and early modernprecursors have received little attention. The project aims to fill this gap, by extending the analysis of Rupescissa's reception of Jewishmessianic elements, providing the first in-depth analysis of Legonissa's treatment of these elements, and reassessing the impact ofJewish messianic elements on Postel's speculation.The project's overarching objective is to analyze the medieval and early modern precursors of an eschatological tradition previouslyexplored almost exclusively from the 17th century onward. It aims to provide the first comprehensive study of the ""prehistory"" ofChristian ""filo-Semitism"" and offer insights into how eschatological and apocalyptic speculations affected Jewish-Christianrelationships in Europe up to the present day.""

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• RUHR-UNIVERSITAET BOCHUM · BochumCoordinatorGermany

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101282383