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The One who is to Come

Author:	Joseph A Fitzmyer
Published By:	William B Eerdmans (Grand Rapids and Cambridge)
Pages:	205
Price:	$18.00
ISBN:	978 0 8028 4013

Reviewed by Christopher Palmer.

Fitzmyer, a seasoned biblical scholar, examines how the concept of ‘Messiah’ developed in biblical and other Jewish writings up to the second century AD. The book is consciously modelled on Mowinckel’s classic study of the same theme, He that Cometh.  He argues that, in the Hebrew scriptures, ‘anointed one’ is used in reference to ‘historical’ phenomena; hope for a Messiah as a future eschatological saviour developed later, in the second and first centuries BC and include a variety of expectations.  The use of ‘Messiah’ to refer to Jesus of Nazareth occurs against this background, although the earliest Christians interpreted Jesus’ messiahship in a solely spiritual way, without the political overtones found in other texts.

The book is an academic treatise and makes much use of Greek and Hebrew, although this is always translated. More than half the book deals with extra-biblical literature and only one short chapter covers the New Testament.  This will make the book of limited appeal for those who seek a close study of biblical, particularly New Testament, texts.  In addition the distinction between ‘anointed one’ as a historical and an eschatological figure may be too sharply drawn, and the claim that early Christian use of ‘Messiah’ is not political may be blind to aspects of the New Testament proclamation.  However, as a tool for considering the background of early Christian hopes, the book is excellent.