The Son of Man in the Teaching of Jesus

This study concludes that the concept of the Son of Man originated in the Jesus' preaching.

A. J. B. Higgins (Author)

9780521018739, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 August 2005

188 pages
21.7 x 14 x 1.2 cm, 0.254 kg

This monograph develops the view that the Synoptic Gospels suggest that Jesus expected vindication of his earthly mission after his death by receiving a status of exaltation in the presence of God. This would involve the exercise of the functions of judging and ruling associated with the Jewish concept of the Son of man. A variety of alternative explanations has been offered concerning the origin and meaning of this title as it appears in the Gospels. The earlier part of this book examines the most important of these against their Jewish background. The second part examines in detail the most important Son of man sayings attributed to Jesus in the first three Gospels. The author concludes that some of these sayings which refer to the Son of man in his future exaltation and glory alone contain authentic words of Jesus in which the term has a messianic sense; and that the Son of man christology in the gospels originated not in the creative thought of early Christians but in the preaching of Jesus himself.

Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I: 1. The Son of man and ancient Judaism
2. The Son of man in the synoptic gospels in recent study
Part II: 3. The synoptic text: I
4. The synoptic text: II
5. The kernel sayings
Notes
Select bibliography
Index of authors
Index of references.

Subject Areas: Biblical studies & exegesis [HRCG]