1st Edition

The Expression Son of Man and the Development of Christology A History of Interpretation

By Mogens Muller Copyright 2008
    536 Pages
    by Routledge

    528 Pages
    by Routledge

    'Son of Man' is practically the only self-designation employed by Jesus himself in the gospels, but is used in such a way that no hint is left of any particular theological significance. Still, during the first many centuries of the church, the expression as it was reused was given content, first literally as signifying Christ's human nature. Later 'Son of Man' was thought to be a christological title in its own right. Today, many scholars are inclined to think that, in an original Aramaic of an historical Jesus, it was little more than a rhetorical circumlocution, referring to the one speaking. Mogens Müller's 'The Expression 'Son of Man' and the Development of Christology: A History of Interpretation' is the first study of the 'Son of Man' trope, which traces the history of interpretation from the Apostolic Fathers to the present, concluding that the various interpretations of this phrase reflect little more than the various doctrinal assumptions held by its interpreters over centuries.

    Introduction; Chapter 1 Early Church; Chapter 2 The Son of Man in Gnosticism; Chapter 3 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers; Chapter 4 The Son of Man in Medieval Exegesis; Chapter 5 Reformation, Orthodoxy, Counter-Reformation, and Pietism; Chapter 6 Enlightenment, Rationalism, and Idealism; Chapter 7 Son of Man and the Life of Jesus Project; Chapter 8 The Emergence of a Specific Apocalyptic Son of Man Concept; Chapter 9 The First Aramaic Stage in the Son of Man Research; Chapter 10 The Eschatological Interpretation; Chapter 11 Mostly Backwater; Chapter 12 The History of Religions School; Chapter 13 Interlude; Chapter 14 Continuations; Chapter 15 The Second Aramaic Stage; Chapter 16 Exit the Apocalyptic Son of Man?; Chapter 17 Son of Man as a Product of the Gospel Tradition; Chapter 18 Conclusion;

    Biography

    Mogens Muller has been Professor in New Testament at the University of Copenhagen since 1982.