Michael F. Bird is lecturer in theology at Ridley Melbourne Mission and Ministry College in Australia. His previous books include Evangelical Theology: A Biblical and Systematic Introduction, Jesus Is the Christ: The Messianic Testimony of the Gospels, and Are You the One Who Is to Come? The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question.
David B. Capes
-- Houston Graduate School of Theology
"In this brief and compelling book Michael Bird challenges those
scholars who think that the earliest recoverable Christology was
adoptionist. Instead he proposes that the earliest Christologies
formed a pattern of convictions and practices that featured Jesus
at the center of Christian devotion. Only later, in the second
century among the Theodotians, did adoptionism emerge full-scale in
debates over select texts and how they should be interpreted. A
careful answer to the perennial question Who is Jesus?" Craig S.
Keener
-- Asbury Theological Seminary
"An engagingly written, well-researched, and persuasive challenge
to a modern (and ancient) adoptionist reading of early
Christianity. As one expects from Michael Bird, this book displays
his wide-ranging command of relevant disciplines and his respectful
engagement with a variety of views." Larry Hurtado
-- University of Edinburgh
"Bird mounts a doughty and well-argued challenge to the notion that
New Testament texts reflect an adoptionist view of Jesus's relation
to God. His detailed discussion of the Gospel of Mark in particular
is a substantial contribution to recent debate about its
Christology." Chris Tilling
-- St. Mellitus College
"With the swell of publications emerging from such able and diverse
scholars as Daniel Kirk, Richard Hays, Brant Pitre, Crispin
Fletcher-Louis and others, the time is ripe for a little more
systematic reflection on early adoptionist claims. Not only does
Michael Bird helpfully summarize the present state of discussion,
but he also makes a number of incisive exegetical observations
along the way, particularly in relation to Paul and Mark. . . . Any
future assertions that the earliest Christology was adoptionist,
only becoming 'fully divine' later, will have to reckon with Bird's
perceptive exegesis."
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