Sunday, October 04, 2009

Endorsements for From Messiah to Preexistent Son

Dr Lee has made a significant contribution to research on one of the central topics of New Testament study, the origin of the early church's understanding of the divinity and pre-existence of Jesus Christ. Its great merit is to show how christology may have developed under the twofold influences of the self-consciousness of Jesus and the early church's understanding of its Scriptures, and it deserves to be placed alongside the works of R. Bauckham and L. Hurtado in helping to establish a case for the early development of a high christology. The publishers deserve our gratitude for making Dr. Lee's work more widely accessible to New Testament students.
I. Howard Marshall, Emeritus Professor of New Testament Exegesis, University of Aberdeen

In From Messiah to Preexistent Son Aquila Lee asks how early Christians came to see Jesus as a divine and preexistent being, alongside God. This important question goes right to the heart of Christology and the historic Christian faith. Lee convincingly shows that the belief in the divinity of Jesus originates in the teaching and ministry of Jesus himself. This is a provocative and engaging study that repays careful reading. It is a pleasure for me to recommend it.
Craig A. Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia, Canada

Dr. Lee presents an impressive Christological thesis concisely and with many important exegetical insights. Its carefully developed argument deserves to be listened to attentively.
Martin Karrer, Professor für Neues Testament und seine Umwelt, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel

Dr. Lee's contribution may be compared to that of Seyoon Kim's The Origin of Paul's Gospel on Pauline studies. If Lee's work fails to exert the influence it deserves, I believe it is not because his thesis lacks compelling force, but because paradigm shifts in scholarship such as the one necessitated by Lee's work (if accurate) are not always a function of superior evidence but can be expected to be resisted by those who have invested a significant amount of scholarly capital in the currently-reigning paradigm. In any case, this is highly recommended reading on an extremely important subject.
Andreas J. Köstenberger, Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology and Director of PhD Studies, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Reviews of From Messiah to Preexistent Son

Journals

Reviewers

Published in

Studia Patavina

Guiseppe Segalla

Jg.52 (2005), H.3, S.952ff

Journal for the Study of the NT

Steve Moyise

Vol.28.5 (2006), S.30f

New Testament Abstracts

Vol.50 (2006), H.1, S.192

Cristianesimo nella storia

Angela Rascher

27 (2006), S. 947-951

Theologische Literaturzeitung

Martin Karrer

131 (2006), S. 1283-1286

Evangelical Quarterly

L.W. Hurtado

79 (2007), S. 259-261

Faith & Mission

Andreas Köstenberger

24 (2007), S. 83-86

Carthaginensia

R. Sanz Valdivieso

23 (2007), S. 520-521

Trinity Journal

Sigurd Grindheim

27 (2007), S. 169-171

Review of Bibilical Literature

Sam Janse

23 Feb 2008

Bulletin for Bibl. Research

Craig A. Evans

19.1 (2009), S. 134-135

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

From Messiah to Preexistent Son


My book on New Testament Christology

From Messiah to Preexistent Son: Jesus' self-consciousness and early Christian exegesis of Messianic psalms (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.Reihe 192; Tübingen, Germany : Mohr Siebeck, 2005).

Book Description
How did the earliest Christians come to see Jesus as a divine and preexistent being alongside God? Aquila Lee proposes that the root of preexistent Son Christology is to be found in early Christian exegesis of the two messianic psalms (the catalyst) in the light of Jesus' self-consciousness of divine sonship and divine mission (the foundation).

Table of Contents
Ch. 1 Introduction 1
Ch. 2 Personified divine attributes 37
Ch. 3 Exalted angels and pre-existent Messiah 85
Ch. 4 Jesus' self-consciousness of divine sonship 117
Ch. 5 Jesus' self-consciousness of divine mission 181
Ch. 6 Early Christian exegesis of Psalm 110:1 202
Ch. 7 Early Christian exegesis of Psalm 2:7 240
Ch. 8 "God sent his son" 284
Ch. 9 Conclusion 317

Reviews:
Andreas Köstenberger, Faith and Mission, forthcoming.
Guiseppe Segalla, Studia Patavina, Jg.52 (2005), H.3, S.952ff.
New Testament Abstracts, Vol.50 (2006), H.1, S.192.
Sigurd Grindheim, Trinity Journal 27 (2006), 169-171.
Steve Moyise, Journal for the Study of the NT, Vol.28.5 (2006), S.30f.