A LITTLE HELP OR A GREAT HELP? JESUS AND HIS TIME AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF 1, 2 MACCABEES AND DANIEL

This article states that 1 and 2 Maccabees, along with the book of Daniel, forms a triangle that defines the Jewish positions for at least two centuries. The books of the Maccabees both stand in the tradition of Holy War. Contrary to 2 Maccabees, the author of 1 Maccabees distances himself more and more from this theology moving in the direction of power politics. Daniel is an explicitly apocalyptic book: human resistance can offer only a little help, whereas the greater help is to be expected from God. We encounter this spiritual heritage in Jesus’ message and deeds. The value of apocalypticism for our time is the warning of this theology against all efforts to realize the Heilstaat (the Kingdom of God; the ‘ideal society’). The political task of Christians is less pretentious but all the more fruitful: to protect the rechtsstaat (the constitutional state that respects human rights)