It's obvious that Jesus fulfilled prophecies about the promised Messiah--or so the gospels make it seem. But the real story is more complex, and more compelling. In hindsight we can see that Jesus had help fulfilling prophecy. The gospel writers skillfully manipulated prophecies--carefully lifting them out of context, creatively reinterpreting them, even rewriting them--to match what Jesus would do in fulfilling them. The evangelists also used the prophecies themselves to shape the very stories that show their fulfillment.
This book describes in detail how Christian authors ""helped"" Jesus fulfill prophecy. Studies of Greek oracles, the Dead Sea Scrolls, translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek and Aramaic, and the writings of Josephus explore the interpretive techniques that paved the way for the New Testament's manipulation of prophecy.
This book analyzes how the belief that Jesus fulfilled prophecy became an argument to justify a new notion: the view that Christians had replaced Jews as God's chosen people. An aggressive anti-Judaism is analyzed in chapters on patristic theologians such as Justin Martyr and Augustine, who embedded it into the argument from prophecy.
The book concludes with an ethical argument for why Christians should retire the argument from prophecy.
""In Helping Jesus Fulfill Prophecy, Robert Miller traces the apologetic, political, and polemical uses of the idea of prophecy and fulfillment from the scriptures of ancient Israel to the web pages of the modern American megachurch. Passionately argued and morally lucid, Helping issues a fervent appeal for an ethical, reasoned, biblical interpretation. This is a thoughtful must-read for anyone concerned with the moral compass of contemporary Christianity.""
--Paula Fredriksen, author of From Jesus to Christ and Augustine and the Jews
""A monumental work! Miller has provided us with a veritable handbook of prophetic texts--in Israelite and early Christian literature, from Genesis through Augustine--and a critical analysis of each prophecy, genuine and presumed, written in lucid and concise prose. The book is an essential tool for studies in early Christian prophecy.""
--Charles W. Hedrick, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies and Distinguished Scholar, Southwest Missouri State University
""The fulfillment of prophecy has never been given its proper due by the critical scholar. Miller corrects that deficit with this compelling treatment of the claims of early (and modern) Christians about how Jesus fulfilled ancient Jewish prophecies. . . . It is a meticulous, clear-eyed study that finally says what needed to be said.""
--Stephen J. Patterson, George H. Atkinson Professor of Religious and Ethical Studies, Willamette University
Robert J. Miller is Rosenberger Professor of Religious Studies and Christian Thought at Juniata College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics (1999) and Born Divine (2003), and he is the editor of The Complete Gospels (4th ed., 2010).
