Abstract
Belief in the appearance of a heroic redeemer or savior at a future time, perhaps the end of time, has been a prominent component of Near Eastern religions since time immemorial. In popular usage, Westerners have often described such notions as “messianic.” The root term, “Messiah,” is a historically and religiously specific concept that has often been distorted in common parlance. However, its general acceptance within our modern phraseology, as well as its ties to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic lineage, has led us to employ it here in this imprecise yet widely understood manner.
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Notes
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© 2011 Jeffry R. Halverson, H. L. Goodall Jr., and Steven R. Corman
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Halverson, J.R., Goodall, H.L., Corman, S.R. (2011). The Mahdi. In: Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-11723-5_9
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