Messianic hopes shifted from religious to secular redeemers after Shabbetai Sevi’s failure

Evidence

Linked with this was the Jewish tradition of Messianism—the belief in a Redeemer who would rescue the Jews from captivity and restore them to their promised homeland. There were many aspirants to this role, some better known than others. The last to announce his advent and mission in purely religious terms was a seventeenth-century Turkish Jew called Shabbetai Sevi, a grotesque and tragic figure who was able for a while to win delirious support among Jews in both east and west. His failure and apostasy brought them disillusionment and despair. After this time, the Jews—now exposed to new, external influences—began to look elsewhere for the realization of their messianic hopes, and to turn from religious to secular redeemers. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 953

Categorization

• XREF: The trajectory from religious to secular messianism mirrors how national movements often secularize prior sacred frames — parallels Marx’s dialectical reading and echoes the civil religion concept. — connects to: Messianism shifted from religious to secular redeemers after Sabbatai Zevi; Failed crusades shifted narrative hopes from victory to conversion miracles
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 953