ABSTRACT
Christian Messianism derives from and builds upon the roots of the Messianic traditions that were part of the Jewish religious lore. This chapter aims to develop the argument that Christian Messianism not only has preserved a historical and doctrinal continuity with some Jewish traditions, but that the same psychological forces and dynamics that were identifiable in Jewish Messianic traditions are at work in variant form in the Christian tradition as well. The Messianic aspects of early Christian belief were an expression of the cultic aspects of the development of the early church. The Messianic implications of Christ’s mission reach a crescendo in the final journey to Jerusalem and in the events of the passion. The Messianic transformation from the Old Testament to the New Testament is from a view of the Messianic promises in material, temporal, and nationalistic terms to an understanding that was spiritual, eternal, and universal.
