Theology

Aquila H.I. Lee

From Messiah to Preexistent Son

Jesus' Self-Consciousness and Early Christian Exegesis of Messianic Psalms

[Vom Messias zum präexistenten Sohn. Das Selbstverständnis Jesu und die frühchristliche Auslegung der messianischen Psalmen.]

unrevised e-book edition 2019; Original edition 2005; 2005. XII, 375 pages.

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 192

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ISBN 978-3-16-157057-5
DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-157057-5
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How did the earliest Christians come to see Jesus as a divine and preexistent being alongside God? Aquila H.I. 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).
Aquila H.I. Lee explores the development of early Christian understanding of Jesus as the preexistent Son of God. He first reviews recent attempts to explain the development as a result of the influence of Jewish angelology and similar speculations. In the second part he argues that neither the personification of various attributes of God, including wisdom, nor speculations about principal angels and a preexistent messiah in Second Temple Judaism ever provided a ready-made category for viewing Jesus as a divine and preexistent being alongside God.
An examination of the Synoptic evidence for Jesus' self-consciousness of divine sonship and divine mission in the whole context of his life and teaching shows that his self-understanding was open to interpretation in terms of pre-existence. The author also examines the early Christian use of Pss 110:1 and 2:7 against this background. He proposes that the root of preexistent Son Christology is to be found in early Christian exegesis of these two messianic psalms (the catalyst) in the light of Jesus' self-consciousness of divine sonship and divine mission (the foundation). The tremendous impact left by the resurrection event and the resulting conception of Jesus »literally« enthroned to God's right hand led them to see Jesus as the preexistent Lord and Son of God.
In the final part of this book Aquila Lee argues that the pre-Pauline 'sending' formula »God sent his Son« (Gal 4:4–5; Rom 8:3–4; Jn 3:16–17; and 1 Jn 4:9) derives from this understanding of Jesus as the preexistent Son of God rather than from divine wisdom christology.
Authors/Editors

Aquila H.I. Lee Born 1963; BA at National University of Buenos Aires; M.Div. at Biblical Graduate School of Theology (Singapore); 2003 Ph.D. at University of Aberdeen; Lecturer of New Testament and Greek at Biblical Graduate School of Theology (Singapore).

Reviews

The following reviews are known:

In: New Testament Abstracts — Vol.50 (2006), H.1, S.192
In: Journal for the Study of the New Testament (JSNT) — Vol.28.5 (2006), S.30f (Steve Moyise)
In: Evangelical Quarterly — 79 (2007), S. 259–261 (L.W. Hurtado)
In: Carthaginensia — 23 (2007), S. 520–521 (R. Sanz Valdivieso)
In: Bulletin for Biblical Research — 19.1 (2009), S. 134–135 (Craig A. Evans)
In: Faith & Mission — 24 (2007), S. 83–86 (Andreas Köstenberger)
In: Studia Patavina — Jg.52 (2005), H.3, S.952ff (Guiseppe Segalla)
In: Cristianesimo nella storia — 27 (2006), S. 947–951 (Angela Rascher)
In: Review of Biblical Literature — Www.bookreviews.org (02/2008) (Sam Janse)
In: Theologische Literaturzeitung — 131 (2006), S. 1283–1286 (Martin Karrer)
In: Trinity Journal — 27 (2007), S. 169–171 (Sigurd Grindheim)
In: Journal of Early Christian History — 1 (2011), S. 239–244 (Christoph Stenschke)
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