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You are here: Home / Biblical Theology / Jesus the Son of God: A Christological Title Often Overlooked, Sometimes Misunderstood, and Currently Disputed

Jesus the Son of God: A Christological Title Often Overlooked, Sometimes Misunderstood, and Currently Disputed

December 6, 2012 by Andy Naselli

SonThis is D. A. Carson’s latest book:

Jesus the Son of God: A Christological Title Often Overlooked, Sometimes Misunderstood, and Currently Disputed. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 128 pp.

This short little book is based on some lectures Carson gave earlier this year. It has three chapters:

  1. “Son of God” as a Christological Title
  2. “Son of God” in Select Passages [Hebrews 1 and John 5:16–30]
  3. “Jesus the Son of God” in Christian and Muslim Contexts

Carson explains in the preface (pp. 11–12),

I chose the topic about three years ago. Some work I had done while teaching the epistle to the Hebrews, especially Hebrews 1 where Jesus is said to be superior to angels because he is the Son, prompted me to think about the topic more globally. Moreover, for some time I have been thinking through the hiatus between careful exegesis and doctrinal formulations. We need both, of course, but unless the latter are finally controlled by the former, and seen to be controlled by the former, both are weakened. The “Son of God” theme has become one of several test cases in my own mind. Since choosing the topic, however, the debates concerning what a faithful translation of “Son of God” might be, especially in contexts where one’s envisioned readers are Muslims, have boiled out of the journals read by Bible translators and into the open. Entire denominations have gotten caught up in the controversy, which shows no sign of abating. The last of these three chapters is devoted to addressing both of these points—how, in a Christian context, exegesis rightly leads to Christian confessionalism, and how, in a crosscultural context concerned with preparing Bible translations for Muslim readers, one may wisely negotiate the current debate. But I beg you to read the first two chapters first. They provide the necessary textual detail on which discussion of the controversies must be based.

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Filed Under: Biblical Theology Tagged With: D. A. Carson

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Comments

  1. David Morgan says

    December 6, 2012 at 5:34 am

    It looks like people in the UK should get this IVP edition rather than the Crossway one (which is not available from amazon.co.uk themselves, but only through marketplace sellers at a higher price).

  2. Lindsay Kennedy says

    May 7, 2013 at 3:30 am

    I just read this book and it’s fantastic! I’m curious if you know (Andy, or anyone else for that matter) of a similar book that covers more exegetical ground? Something like Con Campbell’s Paul and Union with Christ, but instead following Son of God (or other Christological) language? I’ve got Fee’s Pauline Christology and am looking for another work along those lines.

    • Andy Naselli says

      May 7, 2013 at 7:14 am

      I’m not aware of one, Lindsay. Sorry!

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