Brant Pitre takes up Albert Schweitzer's hypothesis that the origin of the doctrine of the atonement can be traced back to Jesus' teaching that he must die in the messianic tribulation that would precede the coming of the kingdom of God. Based on an in-depth exploration of the messianic tribulation in Second Temple Judaism and the sayings of Jesus, this work demonstrates that the tribulation was an important part of the eschatology of early Judaism and of Jesus himself. It was also closely tied to the coming of the Messiah and the restoration of Israel from exile. The author argues that Jesus' mission was indeed to bring about 'the End of the Exile' - but not the Babylonian Exile. Rather, Jesus sought to inaugurate the ingathering of all twelve tribes of Israel - including the lost ten tribes of the Assyrian Exile. In order to accomplish this, he aimed to set in motion the Great Tribulation that the prophets had said would precede the ingathering of the exiles and the conversion of the Gentiles. He would take the sufferings of the tribulation upon himself in order to set in motion a New Exodus that would ransom captive Israel from exile.

Born 1975; 1997 B.A. in Philosophy and English Literature; 1999 M. T. S. in Biblical Studies; 2004 Ph.D. in Theology; is currently Professor of Word and Sacrament at Our Lady of Holy Cross College, New Orleans.