Apocalypticism
Apocalypticism is the religious belief that there will be an apocalypse, a term which referred to a revelation, but now refers to the belief that the end of the world is imminent within one's own lifetime. This belief is accompanied by the idea that civilization will soon come to a tumultuous end due to some sort of catastrophic global event. Apocalypticism is conjoined with the belief that esoteric knowledge that will be revealed in a major confrontation between good and evil forces, destined to change the course of history. Apocalypses can be viewed as good, ambiguous or neutral, depending on the particular religion or belief system promoting them, they can appear as a personal or group tendency, an outlook or a perceptual frame of reference, or as expressions in a speaker's rhetorical style. Some scholars believe that Jesus' apocalyptic teachings were the central message Jesus intended to impart, more central than his messianism. Various Christian eschatological systems have developed, providing different frameworks for understanding the timing and nature of apocalyptic predictions.
Some like dispensational premillennialism tend more toward an apocalyptic vision, while others like postmillennialism and amillennialism, while teaching that the end of the world could come at any moment, tend to focus on the present life and contend that one should not attempt to predict when the end should come, though there have been exceptions such as postmillennialist Jonathan Edwards, who estimated that the end times would occur around the year 2000. The gospels portray Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet, described by himself and by others as the Son of Man – translated as the Son of Humanity – and hailing the restoration of Israel. Jesus himself, as the Son of God, a description used by himself and others for him, was to rule this kingdom as lord of the Twelve Apostles, the judges of the twelve tribes. Albert Schweitzer emphasized that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet, preparing his fellow Jews for the imminent end of the world. Many historians concur that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet, most notably Paula Fredriksen, Bart Ehrman, John P. Meier.
E. P. Sanders portrays Jesus as expecting to assume the "viceroy" position in God's kingdom, above the Apostles, who would judge the twelve tribes, but below God, he concludes, that Jesus seems to have rejected the title Messiah, he contends that the evidence is uncertain to whether Jesus meant himself when he referred to the Son of Man coming on the clouds as a divine judge, further states that biblical references to the Son of Man as a suffering figure are not genuine. The preaching of John was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand", Jesus taught this same message. Additionally, Jesus spoke of the signs of "the close of the age" in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, near the end of which he said, "his generation will not pass away until all these things take place". Interpreters have understood this phrase in a variety of ways, some saying that most of what he described was in fact fulfilled in the destruction of the Temple in the Roman Siege of Jerusalem, some that "generation" should be understood instead to mean "race" among other explanations.
Other scholars such as Ehrman and Sanders accept that Jesus was mistaken, that he believed the end of the world to be imminent. "We make sense of these pieces of evidence if we think that Jesus himself told his followers that the Son of Man would come while they still lived. The fact that this expectation was difficult for Christians in the first century helps prove that Jesus held it himself. We note that Christianity survived this early discovery that Jesus had made a mistake well." There are a few recorded instances of apocalypticism leading up to the year 1000. However they rely on one source, Rodulfus Glaber. In Western Europe, during the year 1000, Christian philosophers held many debates on when Jesus was born and when the apocalypse would occur; this caused confusion between the common people on whether or not the apocalypse would occur at a certain time. Because both literate and illiterate people accepted this idea of the apocalypse, they could only accept what they heard from religious leaders on when the disastrous event would occur.
Religious leader, Abbo II of Metz believed that Jesus was born 21 years after year 1, accepted by close circles of his followers. Abbot Heriger of Lobbes, argued that the birth of Jesus occurred not during the year 1 but rather during the 42nd year of the common era. Many scholars came to accept that the apocalypse would occur sometime between 979-1042. Although there were debates about the apocalypse itself, few people understood the consequences of what would happen if the apocalypse occurred. Few documents from around the year 1000 exist to interpret what people thought would happen, because of this, many scholars are unaware of what people felt. People do understand that the idea of apocalypticism has influenced several Western Christian European leaders into social reform. With influences by the German ruler Otto III, the Sibyls, Abbot Adso of Montier-en-Dier, many of the people under these influential figures felt that their rule was a sign of spiritual preparation for the apocalypse itself.
It is suggested that because of the influence and reputation of these people, many wanted to follow suit and believe that the apocalypse would occur because their leaders felt it to be true. The Fifth Monarchy Men were active from 1649 to 1661 during the Inter
2 Esdras
2 Esdras is the name of an apocalyptic book in many English versions of the Bible. Its authorship is ascribed to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the 5th century BCE, although modern scholarship places its composition between 70 and 218 CE, it is reckoned among the apocrypha by Roman Catholics and most Eastern Orthodox Christians. Although Second Esdras was preserved in Latin as an appendix to the Vulgate and passed down as a unified book, it is considered to be a tripartite work; as with 1 Esdras, there is some confusion about the numbering of this book. The Vulgate of Jerome includes only a single book of Ezra, but in the Clementine Vulgate 1, 2, 3 and 4 Esdras are separate books. Protestant writers, after the Geneva Bible, called 1 and 2 Esdras of the Vulgate Ezra and Nehemiah, called 3 and 4 Esdras of the Vulgate 1 and 2 Esdras, which became common in English Bibles. Ambrose refers to this book as'Third Esdras', as too did Jerome. Medieval Latin manuscripts denoted it 4 Esdras, which to this day is the name used for it in modern critical editions, which are in Latin, the language of its most complete exemplars.
It appears in the Appendix to the Old Testament in the Slavonic Bible, where it is called 3 Esdras, the Georgian Orthodox Bible numbers it 3 Ezra. This text is sometimes known as Apocalypse of Ezra; the first two chapters of 2 Esdras are found only in the Latin version of the book, are called 5 Ezra by scholars. They are considered by most scholars to be Christian in origin; these are considered to be late additions to the work. Chapters 3–14, or the great bulk of 2 Esdras, is a Jewish apocalypse sometimes known as 4 Ezra, or the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra; the latter name should not be confused with a work called the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra. The Ethiopian Church considers 4 Ezra to be canonical, written during the Babylonian captivity, calls it Izra Sutuel, it was often cited by the Fathers of the Church. In the Eastern Armenian tradition it is called 3 Ezra, it was written in the late 1st century CE following the destruction of the Second Temple. Among Greek Fathers of the Church, 4 Ezra is cited as Προφήτης Ἔσδρας Prophetes Esdras or Ἀποκάλυψις Ἔσδρα Apokalupsis Esdra.
Most scholars agree that 4 Ezra was composed in Hebrew, translated into Greek, to Latin, Armenian and Georgian, but the Hebrew and Greek editions have been lost. Differing Latin, Arabic, Ethiopic and Armenian translations have survived. 4 Ezra consists of seven visions of Ezra the scribe. The first vision takes place, he asks God. The archangel Uriel is sent to answer the question, responding that God's ways cannot be understood by the human mind. Soon, the end would come, God's justice would be made manifest. In the second vision, Ezra asks why Israel was delivered up to the Babylonians, is again told that man cannot understand this and that the end is near. In the third vision Ezra asks. Uriel responds. Here follows a description of the fate of the righteous. Ezra asks whether the righteous may intercede for the unrighteous on Judgment Day, but is told that "Judgment Day is final"; the next three visions are more symbolic in nature. The fourth is of a woman mourning for her only son, transformed into a city when she hears of the desolation of Zion.
Uriel says. The fifth vision concerns an eagle with twenty wings; the eagle is rebuked by a lion and burned. The explanation of this vision is that the eagle refers to the fourth kingdom of the vision of Daniel, with the wings and heads as rulers; the final scene is the triumph of the Messiah over the empire. The sixth vision is of a man, representing the Messiah, who breathes fire on a crowd, attacking him; this man turns to another peaceful multitude, which accepts him. There is a vision of the restoration of scripture. God commands him to restore the Law. Ezra begins to dictate. After forty days, he has produced ninety-four books: the twenty-four books of the Tanakh and seventy secret works: Make public the twenty-four books that you wrote first, let the worthy and the unworthy read them; the "seventy" might refer to the Septuagint, most of the apocrypha, or the lost books that are described in the Bible. Most Latin editions of the text have a large lacuna of seventy verses between 7:35 and 7:36, missing due to the fact that they trace their common origin to one early manuscript, Codex Sangermanensis I, missing an entire page.
In 1895 Robert Lubbock Bensly and James published a critical edition restoring the lost verses. The restored verses are numbered 7:35 to 7:105, with the former verses 7:36–7:70 renumbered to 7:106–7:140. For more information, see the article Codex S
Jesus
Jesus referred to as Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ, was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the central figure of Christianity, is described as the most influential person in history. Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. All modern scholars of antiquity agree that Jesus existed although the quest for the historical Jesus has produced little agreement on the historical reliability of the Gospels and on how the Jesus portrayed in the Bible reflects the historical Jesus. Jesus was a Galilean Jew, baptized by John the Baptist and began his own ministry, he preached orally and was referred to as "rabbi". Jesus debated with fellow Jews on how to best follow God, engaged in healings, taught in parables and gathered followers, he was arrested and tried by the Jewish authorities, turned over to the Roman government, crucified on the order of Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect. After his death, his followers believed he rose from the dead, the community they formed became the early Church.
The birth of Jesus is celebrated annually on December 25th as Christmas. His crucifixion is honored on his resurrection on Easter; the used calendar era "AD", from the Latin anno Domini, the equivalent alternative "CE", are based on the approximate birthdate of Jesus. Christian doctrines include the beliefs that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a virgin named Mary, performed miracles, founded the Christian Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement for sin, rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven, from where he will return. Most Christians believe; the Nicene Creed asserts that Jesus will judge the living and the dead either before or after their bodily resurrection, an event tied to the Second Coming of Jesus in Christian eschatology. The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three persons of the Trinity. A minority of Christian denominations reject Trinitarianism, wholly or as non-scriptural. Jesus figures in non-Christian religions and new religious movements.
In Islam, Jesus is considered one of the Messiah. Muslims believe Jesus was a bringer of scripture and was born of a virgin, but was not the son of God; the Quran states. Most Muslims do not believe that he was crucified, but that he was physically raised into Heaven by God. In contrast, Judaism rejects the belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, arguing that he did not fulfill Messianic prophecies, was neither divine nor resurrected. A typical Jew in Jesus' time had only one name, sometimes followed by the phrase "son of <father's name>", or the individual's hometown. Thus, in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as "Jesus of Nazareth". Jesus' neighbors in Nazareth refer to him as "the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon", "the carpenter's son", or "Joseph's son". In John, the disciple Philip refers to him as "Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth"; the name Jesus is derived from the Latin Iesus, a transliteration of the Greek Ἰησοῦς. The Greek form is a rendering of the Hebrew ישוע, a variant of the earlier name יהושע, or in English, "Joshua", meaning "Yah saves".
This was the name of Moses' successor and of a Jewish high priest. The name Yeshua appears to have been in use in Judea at the time of the birth of Jesus; the 1st-century works of historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote in Koine Greek, the same language as that of the New Testament, refer to at least twenty different people with the name Jesus. The etymology of Jesus' name in the context of the New Testament is given as "Yahweh is salvation". Since early Christianity, Christians have referred to Jesus as "Jesus Christ"; the word Christ was a office, not a given name. It derives from the Greek Χριστός, a translation of the Hebrew mashiakh meaning "anointed", is transliterated into English as "Messiah". In biblical Judaism, sacred oil was used to anoint certain exceptionally holy people and objects as part of their religious investiture. Christians of the time designated Jesus as "the Christ" because they believed him to be the Messiah, whose arrival is prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
In postbiblical usage, Christ became viewed as a name—one part of "Jesus Christ". The term "Christian" has been in use since the 1st century; the four canonical gospels are the foremost sources for the message of Jesus. However, other parts of the New Testament include references to key episodes in his life, such as the Last Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23. Acts of the Apostles refers to the early ministry of its anticipation by John the Baptist. Acts 1:1 -- 11 says more about the Ascension of Jesus. In the undisputed Pauline letters, which were written earlier than the gospels, the words or instructions of Jesus are cited several times; some early Christian groups had separate descriptions of the life and teachings of Jesus that are not included in the New Testament. These include the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel
Son of man (Christianity)
Son of man is an expression in the sayings of Jesus in Christian writings, including the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation. The meaning of the expression is controversial. Interpretation of the use of "the Son of man" in the New Testament has remained challenging and after 150 years of debate no consensus on the issue has emerged among scholars; the expression "the Son of man" occurs 81 times in the Greek text of the four Canonical gospels, is used only in the sayings of Jesus. The singular Hebrew expression "son of man" appears in the Torah over a hundred times; the use of the definite article in "the Son of man" in the Koine Greek of the Christian gospels is original, before its use there, no records of its use in any of the surviving Greek documents of antiquity exist. Geza Vermes has stated that the use of "the Son of man" in the Christian gospels is unrelated to Hebrew Torah usages. For centuries, the Christological perspective on Son of man has been seen as a possible counterpart to that of Son of God and just as Son of God affirms the divinity of Jesus, in a number of cases Son of man affirms his humanity.
However, while the profession of Jesus as the Son of God has been an essential element of Christian creeds since the Apostolic age, such professions do not apply to Son of man and the proclamation of Jesus as the Son of man has never been an article of faith in Christianity. In the Koine Greek of the New Testament, "the son of man" is "ὁ υἱὸς τοὺ ἀνθρώπου"; the singular Hebrew expression "son of man" appears over a hundred times in the Hebrew Bible. In thirty two cases, the phrase appears in intermediate plural form "sons of men", i.e. human beings. The expression "the Son of man" appears 81 times in the Koine Greek of the four Gospels: 30 times in Matthew, 14 times in Mark, 25 times in Luke and 12 times in John. However, the use of the definite article in "the Son of man" is novel, before its use in the Canonical gospels, there are no records of its use in any of the surviving Greek documents of antiquity. In the Christian scriptures, Jesus uses the reference for himself more than Son of God.
The attributes given to "the Son of man" in the Christian scriptures seem to correspond with those found in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew scriptures - Daniel 7:13-14 "As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. And he was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples and languages should serve him, his dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed." The New Testament claims, in Revelation, that Jesus will come to earth on the "clouds of heaven," and that he will be given unending dominion and authority. It describes him as the "ruler of the kings of the earth," to be served and worshiped by all nations and language groups. Another possible correspondence is found in repeated usage of a similar phrase in the Book of Ezekiel. Geza Vermes has stated that "the son of man" in the New Testament is unrelated to Hebrew Bible usages. Vermes begins with the observation that there is no example of "the" son of man in Hebrew sources and suggests that the term originates in Aramaic — ברנש - bar nash/bar nasha.
He concludes that in these sources "Son of man" is a regular expression for man in general and serves as an indefinite pronoun and in none of the extant texts does "son of man" figure as a title. The occurrences of Son of man in the Synoptic gospels are categorized into three groups: those that refer to his "coming"; the presentation of Son of man in the Gospel of John is somewhat different from the Synoptics: in John 1:51 he is presented as contact with God through "angelic instrumentality", in John 6:26 and 6:53 he provides life through his death, in John 5:27 he holds the power to judge men. In Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58 Jesus states: "The foxes have holes, the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." This phrasing seems to tie in with the Old Testament prophetic expressions used by such prophets as Ezekiel, it shows Jesus' understanding of himself as the "man" that God has singled out as a friend and representative. In Matthew 18:11 Jesus refers to Son of man came to serve and states: "For the Son of man is come to save that, lost".
In the Gospel of Mark 10:35 -- 45 this episode takes place shortly. Mark 2:27-28, Matthew 12:8 and Luke 6:5 include the Lord of the Sabbath pericope where Jesus tells the Pharisees "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath: so that the Son of man is lord of the sabbath." Christians take the phrase "son of man" in this passage to refer to Jesus himself. Matthew 12:38-42, Mark 8:11-13, Luke 11:29-32 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth; the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of moshiach, of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, in the Hebrew Bible. Messiahs were not Jewish: the Book of Isaiah refers to Cyrus the Great, king of the Achaemenid Empire, as a messiah for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple. Ha mashiach referred to as melekh mashiach, is to be a human leader, physically descended from the paternal Davidic line through King David and King Solomon, he is thought to accomplish predetermined things in only one future arrival, including the unification of the tribes of Israel, the gathering of all Jews to Eretz Israel, the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, the ushering in of a Messianic Age of global universal peace, the annunciation of the world to come. In Christianity, the Messiah is called the Christ, from Greek: translit. Khristós, translating the Hebrew word of the same meaning; the concept of the Messiah in Christianity originated from the Messiah in Judaism.
However, unlike the concept of the Messiah in Judaism, the Messiah in Christianity is the Son of God. Christ became the accepted Christian designation and title of Jesus of Nazareth, because Christians believe that the messianic prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled in his mission and resurrection; these include the prophecies of him being descended from the Davidic line, being declared King of the Jews which happened on the day of his crucifixion. They believe that Christ will fulfill the rest of the messianic prophecies that he will usher in a Messianic Age and the world to come at his Second Coming. In Islam, Jesus was a prophet and the Masîḥ, the Messiah sent to the Israelites, he will return to Earth at the end of times, along with the Mahdi, defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal, the false Messiah. In Ahmadiyya theology, these prophecies concerning the Mahdi and the second coming of Jesus have been fulfilled in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, the terms'Messiah' and'Mahdi' are synonyms for one and the same person.
In Chabad messianism, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, sixth Rebbe of Chabad Lubavitch, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, seventh Rebbe of Chabad, are Messiah claimants. Resembling early Christianity, the deceased Schneerson is believed to be the Messiah among some adherents of the Chabad movement. Messiah means "anointed one". In Hebrew, the Messiah is referred to as מלך המשיח The Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament renders all thirty-nine instances of the Hebrew word for "anointed" as Χριστός; the New Testament records the Greek transliteration Μεσσίας, Messias twice in John.al-Masīḥ is the Arabic word for messiah. In modern Arabic, it is used as one of the many titles of Jesus. Masīḥ is used by Arab Christians as well as Muslims, is written as Yasūʿ al-Masih by Arab Christians or ʿĪsā al-Masīḥ by Muslims; the word al-Masīḥ means "the anointed", "the traveller", or the "one who cures by caressing". The literal translation of the Hebrew word mashiach is "anointed", which refers to a ritual of consecrating someone or something by putting holy oil upon it.
It is used throughout the Hebrew Bible in reference to a wide variety of objects. In Jewish eschatology, the term came to refer to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who will be "anointed" with holy anointing oil, to be king of God's kingdom, rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age. In Judaism, the Messiah is not considered to be a pre-existent divine Son of God, he is considered to be a great political leader. That is why he is referred to as Messiah ben David, which means "Messiah, son of David"; the messiah, in Judaism, is considered to be a great, charismatic leader, well oriented with the laws that are followed in Judaism. He will be the one who will not "judge by what his eyes see" or "decide by what his ears hear". Belief in the eventual coming of a future messiah is a fundamental part of Judaism, is one of Maimonides' 13 Principles of Faith. Maimonides describes the identity of the Messiah in the following terms: And if a king shall arise from among the House of David, studying Torah and occupied with commandments like his father David, according to the written and oral Torah, he will impel all of Israel to follow it and to strengthen breaches in its observance, will fight God's wars, this one is to be treated as if he were the anointed one.
If he succeeded and built the Holy Temple in its proper place and gathered the dispersed ones of Israel together, this is indeed the anointed one for certain, he will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together, as it is stated: "For I shall turn for the nations a clear tongue, so that they will all proclaim the Name of the Lord, to worship Him w
Angel
An angel is a supernatural being found in various religions and mythologies. In Abrahamic religions, angels are depicted as benevolent celestial beings who act as intermediaries between God or Heaven and humanity. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings, carrying out God's tasks. Within Abrahamic religions, angels are organized into hierarchies, although such rankings may vary between sects in each religion; such angels are given specific titles, such as Gabriel or Michael. The term "angel" has been expanded to various notions of spirits or figures found in other religious traditions; the theological study of angels is known as "angelology." Angels who were expelled from Heaven are referred to as fallen angels. In fine art, angels are depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty but no gender, they are identified with symbols of bird wings and light. The word angel arrives in modern English from the Old French angele. Both of these derive from Late Latin angelus, which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek ἄγγελος aggelos transliterated by non-Greek speakers in its phonetic form ángelos.
Additionally, per Dutch linguist R. S. P. Beekes, ángelos itself may be "an Oriental loan, like ἄγγαρος." The word's earliest form is Mycenaean a-ke-ro, attested in Linear B syllabic script. The rendering of "ángelos" is the Septuagint's default translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mal’ākh, denoting "messenger" without connoting its nature. In the associations to follow in the Latin Vulgate, this meaning becomes bifurcated: when mal’ākh or ángelos is supposed to denote a human messenger, words like nuntius or legatus are applied. If the word refers to some supernatural being, the word angelus appears; such differentiation has been taken over by vernacular translations of the Bible, early Christian and Jewish exegetes and modern scholars. The Torah uses the terms מלאך אלהים, מלאך יהוה, בני אלהים and הקודשים to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Texts use other terms, such as העליונים; the term מלאך is used in other books of the Tanakh. Depending on the context, the Hebrew word may refer to a human messenger or to a supernatural messenger.
A human messenger might be a prophet or priest, such as Malachi, "my messenger". Examples of a supernatural messenger are the "Malak YHWH,", either a messenger from God, an aspect of God, or God himself as the messenger Scholar Michael D. Coogan notes that it is only in the late books that the terms "come to mean the benevolent semi-divine beings familiar from mythology and art." Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel in Daniel 9:21 and Michael in Daniel 10:13. These angels are part of Daniel's apocalyptic visions and are an important part of all apocalyptic literature. In Daniel 7, Daniel receives a dream-vision from God; as Daniel watches, the Ancient of Days takes his seat on the throne of heaven and sits in judgement in the midst of the heavenly court an like a son of man approaches the Ancient One in the clouds of heaven and is given everlasting kingship. Coogan explains the development of this concept of angels: "In the postexilic period, with the development of explicit monotheism, these divine beings—the'sons of God' who were members of the Divine Council—were in effect demoted to what are now known as'angels', understood as beings created by God, but immortal and thus superior to humans."
This conception of angels is best understood in contrast to demons and is thought to be "influenced by the ancient Persian religious tradition of Zoroastrianism, which viewed the world as a battleground between forces of good and forces of evil, between light and darkness." One of these is a figure depicted in the Book of Job. Philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God; the angel is conceived as God's instrument. Four classes of ministering angels minister and utter praise before the Holy One, blessed be He: the first camp Michael on His right, the second camp Gabriel on His left, the third camp Uriel before Him, the fourth camp Raphael behind Him, he is sitting on a throne high and exalted In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles. Although these archangels were believed to rank among the heavenly host, no systematic hierarchy developed. Metatron is considered one of the highest of the angels in Merkabah and Kabbalist mysticism and serves as a scribe.
Michael, who serves as a warrior and advocate for Israel, is looked upon fondly. Gabriel is mentioned in the Book of Daniel and in the Talmud, as well as in many Merkabah mystical texts. There is no evidence in Judaism for the worship of angels, but there is evidence for the invocation and sometimes conjuration of angels. According to Kabbalah
New Testament
The New Testament is the second part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. Christians regard both the New Testaments together as sacred scripture; the New Testament has accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world. It serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are incorporated into the various Christian liturgies; the New Testament has influenced religious and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature and music. The New Testament is a collection of Christian works written in the common Greek language of the 1st century AD, at different times by various writers, the modern consensus is that it provides important evidence regarding Judaism in the 1st century. In all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books: the four gospels, The Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one epistles, Revelation.
The united Catholic Church defined the 27-book canon. The earliest known complete list of the 27 books is by the 4th-century eastern Catholic bishop Athanasius; the first time that church councils approved this list was with the councils of Hippo and Carthage in North Africa and Pope Innocent I ratified the same canon in 405, but it is probable that a Council in Rome in 382 under pope Damasus gave the same list first. These councils provided the canon of the Old Testament, which included the apocryphal books; the original texts were written in the first century of the Christian Era, in Greek, the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean from the conquests of Alexander the Great until the Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD. All the works that became incorporated into the New Testament are believed to have been written no than around 120 AD. John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a final date of 80 AD or of 96 AD.
Collections of related texts such as letters of the Apostle Paul and the Canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John were joined to other collections and single works in different combinations to form various Christian canons of Scripture. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation and the Minor Catholic Epistles were introduced into canons in which they were absent. Other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament; the Old Testament canon is not uniform among all major Christian groups including Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Slavic Orthodox Churches, the Armenian Orthodox Church. However, the twenty-seven-book canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been universally recognized within Christianity; the phrase new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31:31. The same Greek phrase for'new covenant' is found elsewhere in the New Testament.
In early Bible translations into Latin, the phrase was rendered foedus,'federation', in Jeremiah 31:31, was rendered testamentum in Hebrews 8:8 and other instances, from which comes the English term New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, the treatment of the term Διαθήκη diathḗkē varies in Bible translations into English. John Wycliffe's 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews: Lo! Days shall come, saith the Lord, I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. For he reproving him saith, Lo! Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, on the house of Judah. Use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written c. 208 AD, he writes of: the Divine Word, doubly edged with the two testaments of the law and the gospel.
And Tertullian continues in the book, writing: it is certain that the whole aim at which he has strenuously laboured in the drawing up of his Antitheses, centres in this, that he may establish a diversity between the Old and the New Testaments, so that his own Christ may be separate from the Creator, as belonging to this rival god, as alien from the law and the prophets. By the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae: But all scripture is divided into two Testaments; that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old.
