Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Genealogical interpretations
- 2 The human Son of Man
- 3 The apocalyptic/messianic Son of Man
- 4 The question of reference
- 5 The question of authenticity
- 6 Miscellaneous sons of men
- 7 Exit the apocalyptic Son of Man?
- 8 The idiomatic/nontitular son of man
- 9 Son of Man in apocalyptic and rabbinic texts
- 10 Conclusions
- Appendix Surveys of research on “the Son of Man”
- List of references
- Index of passages
- Index of authors
- Index of subjects
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Genealogical interpretations
- 2 The human Son of Man
- 3 The apocalyptic/messianic Son of Man
- 4 The question of reference
- 5 The question of authenticity
- 6 Miscellaneous sons of men
- 7 Exit the apocalyptic Son of Man?
- 8 The idiomatic/nontitular son of man
- 9 Son of Man in apocalyptic and rabbinic texts
- 10 Conclusions
- Appendix Surveys of research on “the Son of Man”
- List of references
- Index of passages
- Index of authors
- Index of subjects
Summary
The Greek expression ὁ υἱòς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, usually translated “the Son of Man,” plays a key role in the christology of all four canonical Gospels. While it appears in about fifty different sayings in the New Testament, all but one of these occur in the Gospels. There the expression almost always occurs on the lips of Jesus. Since Jesus always speaks of the Son of Man in the third person, one could infer that he is referring to someone other than himself. In most of the sayings, however, it is clear that Jesus uses the phrase to refer to himself.
This expression has been a central issue in New Testament studies since the beginning of modern scholarship. Because it is used almost exclusively by Jesus, many scholars have seen it as a key to Jesus' own self-consciousness. In the nineteenth century, for example, H. J. Holtzmann affirmed,
Nothing can be more certain than that he himself chose it as the most apt … to designate what was typical of his personal nature, what was characteristic of his appearance and calling. Therein is contained the entire importance of the name.
(H. Holtzmann 1865: 213)Today scholarship can no longer take for granted that Jesus actually used this expression in the way the Gospels describe. We know now that the Gospels often attribute to Jesus ideas and sayings that actually originated at a later time, in the life of the early Christian church. Even if Jesus did not use the expression, however, it remains important for understanding the origins of christology. Its frequent occurrence in the Gospel tradition shows that it represented an important strand of thought in the early Christian community.
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- The Son of Man DebateA History and Evaluation, pp. 1 - 5Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000