Long on messianic hopes and the Great Revolt

READING ACTS: Messianic Hopes and the Jewish Revolt.

E. P. Sanders contended Judaism in the Second Temple period was not a religion of individual salvation (278). God made a covenant with the people of Israel and it is the people who will be preserved. The eschatology of Israel is a national eschatology rather than personal. What “future hopes” are found in the first century, they are hopes which concern the people of Israel as a whole rather than individuals.

It is likely most Jews longed for freedom from Rome. ...

Past posts in Phil Long's series on the Second Temple Period are noted here and links, with a side turn toward Greco-Roman religion here and links.