Description
What does Son of Man mean in the Gospels? In the Gospels, Jesus often refers to himself as the Son of Man. The phrase has been intensely debated by scholars for centuries, but there is no consensus about its meaning and significance in New Testament contexts. Now Richard Bauckham joins the conversation, offering new insights into the phrase as used by the writers of the Synoptic Gospels and by Jesus. Bauckham explores key questions: Is Son of Man a messianic title? What would the phrase have meant in the Aramaic language Jesus spoke? What did the various Gospel writers understand by it? In addressing these and other questions, Bauckham builds on the work of his previous study, Son of Man, vol. 1, Early Jewish Literature, which provides important historical context for this volume. At the same time, Bauckham breaks new ground by examining the use of the idiom Son of Man in Hebrew and Aramaic during Jesus’s lifetime. Bauckham’s study is essential reading for biblical scholars and serious students of Scripture. Readers of this volume will come away with new insights into Jesus’s use of the phrase Son of Man—and what it can tell us about Jesus’s own understanding of his mission and destiny.