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by: Michael O. Wise See Larger Image Used Price: $1.50 Collectible Price: $25.00 Third Party New Price: $5.93 Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 296.336 EAN: 9780060696450 ISBN: 0060696451 Label: HarperOne Manufacturer: HarperOne Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 352 Publication Date: March 01, 1999 Publisher: HarperOne Release Date: February 17, 1999 Sales Rank: 464207 Studio: HarperOne Related Items: The Messiah before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls (S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies) The Dead Sea Scrolls - Revised Edition: A New Translation The Brother of Jesus and the Lost Teachings of Christianity The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) see more Editorial Review: Product Description: In The First Messiah renowned Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Michael O. Wise brings to light the life of Judah, a forgotten prophet who predated Jesus as a messianic figure by a century and has had a profound impact on the course of Christianity and Western civilization. Although Judah, known in the Dead Sea Scrolls as the Teacher of Righteousness, preached a message distinctly different from that of Jesus, the parallels between their lives are striking. Sharing with his successor a strong foundation in earlier written revelation, Judah came to believe--through meditation on Holly Writ--that he brought a divine message from God; like Christ, Judah's claims to messianic status led to his arrest and condemnation. Judah's warnings of Jewish apostasy and his apocalyptic prophecies, combined with powerful personal charisma, also built a movement that survived his death and even grew into an institution comprising bishops, priests, and laity. Unlike Jesus, Judah left behind a personal testament, in his own words, of his relationship with God. By analyzing the Thanksgiving Hymns discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls, Wise uncovers the basis of a groundbreaking understanding of the prophetic mind. In so doing, Wise deepens our understanding of Christ, his impact on the Jewish community of his time, and even his interpretation of his own messianic role. The parallels between Judah and Jesus blaze forth in sharp relief: Both declared themselves prophets. Both were hailed by followers as He Who Is to Come and worked attendant wonders. Both founded vital and long-lasting movements before leaving this world. In all these things, Judah was first, anticipating the far more famous prophet from Galilee. How can these similarities be explained? A century before Christ, a man came to Jerusalem who became known as the Teacher of Righteousness. In The First Messiah, distinguished Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Michael O. Wise provides a detailed examination of Judah, a figure whose life and prophecies helped lay the foundation for the acceptance of Jesus as the savior. Drawing on ancient texts as well as contemporary anthropological thought, Wise reveals compelling parallels between early prophets such as Judah and Jesus, and messianic figures who have emerged through the ages to the current day in cultures around the world. Amazon.com Review: Most Christians don't know what to think about the Dead Sea Scrolls except that they predate Jesus, and simple interpretations of history and textual authority claim that whatever existed first must have the greatest authority. Michael O. Wise, a leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, now offers a smart, accessible argument about the relationship between Jesus and the Scrolls. The First Messiah: Investigating the Savior Before Jesus argues that Judah, a messianic figure described in the Scrolls, anticipated Jesus' coming in many respects--Judah was perceived by his contemporaries as fulfilling many of the same prophesies as Jesus, he taught many of the same principles Jesus taught, and after his death he inspired a movement that prefigured early Christianity. The First Messiah is not a hatchet-job on Jesus, however; Wise is not out to torpedo anybody's faith. Instead, he's offering readers a valuable lesson in humility. While respecting the possibility of Jesus' unique cosmic significance, he convincingly shows that Jesus' assumption of messianic status reenacts a social and religious drama that had clear historical precedents. This drama continues to be enacted by people around the world today. --Michael Joseph Gross Customer Reviews Average Rating: Rating: - Not Michael Wise's 'Judah', nor Israel Knohl's 'Menahem', but Jesus of Nazareth is the First and Only Messiah I have just re-read Wise's book, The First Messiah - Investigating the Saviour Before Jesus. It mingles scholarship and guesswork in such a way that it fails to achieve its aims. The first major flaw in Wise's thesis is that he invents an almost entirely fictitious biography for the Teacher of Righteousness of the Dead Sea Scrolls, whom he identifies as his `First Messiah'. Furthermore, the TOR never calls himself Messiah, and none of his followers, either during his lifetime or ... Read More Rating: - An intriguing idea I echo what other reviewers have said: intriging, not the most dense history text, but well researched. I want to clear up some points from the other reviews: 1) In the first chapter, he doesn't exactly give a history of crisis cults, but several examples throughout history. The theory could be fleshed out more. I think most readership can fill in the blanks, but it might have been more explicit. 2) I believe he readily admits that he decided to call the ... Read More Rating: - Interesting, but hardly Definitive Michael Wise's 1999 book is subtitled "Investigating the Savior before Christ." As the subtitle suggests, it seeks to identify the first Jewish "messiah", upon whom Jesus and more than a dozen other individuals based their own ministries. Previous attempts to identify this "original cause" are represented in the works of Knohl and Ellegard to name a few. Chapter 1 of Wise's book is entitled "Of Messiahs and Myth Dreams" and it covers the history of messiahs and crisis cults. This chapter ... Read More Rating: - Outstanding Scholarship This book, along with Israel Knohl's "The Messiah Before Christ" (see my review) present conflicting but very credible theories concerning the Qumran Teacher of Righteousness and how he may have been a catalyst for Jesus' self understanding as the Messiah of Israel. Wise identifies the Teacher as an individual named Judah who started a breakaway movement about 76 b.c. in opposition to the Pharasaic takeover of the Temple. We can surmise that this may be the Essene leader of the same ... Read More Rating: - An intriging hypothesis Micheal Wise worked with Robert Eisenman on the 'Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered". It is interesting that in this book Wise does not mention 'James the Brother of Jesus' or any other of Eisenman's solo books at all, and come to that Eisenman's 'James the Brother of Jesus' ignores this book. But then their readings of the scrolls are totally different. Wise reads closely the Thankgiving hymns, the MMT, the Damascus Document, the Melchizedek dosument etc and contructs an hypothesis that the Teacher ... Read More see more Browse for similar items by category: Commentaries - Reference - Christianity - Religion & Spirituality - Subjects - Books - General Commentaries - Reference - Christianity - Religion & Spirituality - Subjects - Books - New Testament Reference - Christianity - Religion & Spirituality - Subjects - Books - General Reference - Christianity - Religion & Spirituality - Subjects - Books - General AAS Judaism - Religion & Spirituality - Subjects - Books - History of Religion