The Son of God.

Philadelphia, PA Fortress Press, 1976. Paperback First Edition USA (1976), so stated. Appears to have been published simultaneously by SCM Press in London. First Edition USA (1980), so stated. Very Good+ to Near Fine in Wraps: The Book shows just a touch of rubbing to the outsides edges of the wrapper covers; the reddish background field of the backstrip is very lightly sunned but the black & white titles thereon remain easily legible; there is a small sticker shadow at the lower corner of the front panel; the text pages have tanned ever so slightly, due to aging; the binding is square and remains perfectly secure; the text is clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome, very close-to-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing the very mildest wear and minor, unobtrusive cosmetic flaws. Bright and clean. Corners sharp. Appears unread. Close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8.5 x 5.35 x 0.3 inches). xii, 100 pages. Translated by John Bowden . Language: English. Weight: 5.5 ounces. Appears to have been published simultaneously by SCM Press in London. First published in German in 1975. Denominational Press Paperback. Martin Hengel (1926 – 2009) was a German historian of religion, focusing on the "Second Temple Period" or "Hellenistic Period" of early Judaism and Christianity. His Institute for Ancient Judaism and Hellenistic Religion attracted scholars from all over the world, including Israel, and the Philip Melanchthon Foundation, which he founded, brought young scholars close to the world of Greek and Roman antiquity.He received honorary doctorates from the universities of Uppsala, St Andrews, Cambridge, Durham, Strasbourg and Dublin. He was a corresponding member of the British Academy and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In "The Son of God" he asks how an obscure Galilean is described by Paul about 25 years later "as a preexistent divine figure". He attempts to answer the questions surrounding this fact from the perspective of "History of Religions" theories. It might well be claimed that there was more development in christology during the period from the crucifixion of Jesus to the writing of St Paul's letter to the Philippians than in the following seven centuries of the development of patristic dogma. This survey traces what happened, in connection with the title 'Son of God'. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of the period, Professor Hengel examines the concept of Son of God in the milieu of the-New Testament, in Judaism and the Hellenistic world and their antecedents and then shows how it began to be used in earliest Christianity, in so doing shedding a new light on many classic problems of New Testament interpretation.Hengel points out that "The Hellenistic mysteries did not know of sons of gods who died and rose again" anymore than did the cults which featured dying vegetation dieties like Osiris. After examining and disposing of all these theories, he takes on the gnostic myths. Here he points out the common error of those who anacronistically attempt to place gnostic texts that were written in the third century back into the perspectives of the first century. "Gnosticism itself is first visible as a spiritual movement at the end of the first century at the earliest". Other interesting points: Hengel argues for an inner consistency of the belief in Christ, Jesus' unique relationship with "Abba", Jesus' position in comparison to that of all the angels, and the differences between early Christianity and other religions.