Q. The frequent use of the phrase ‘Son of Man’ in the Gospels, without any direct explanation of its meaning has led to the supposition that there was a ‘Son of Man’ tradition in early Judaism developed out of reflection on Dan. 7, among other things, and that the tradition included speculation about a messianic Son of Man figure, perhaps witnessed to in 1 Enoch. One of the things that has bothered me about that sort of explanation is that... Read more
Q. One thing that has struck me is how different the discussion in Dan. 7 is from the discussion in 2 Sam. 7. In the latter, there is talk about dynastic succession— after King David, then his son and so on. Here, in Dan. 7 we seem to hear about a particular person ruling the nations forever and superceding the four beastly empires—no dynastic succession at all. And yet you seem to associate Dan. 7, if I’m reading you right,... Read more
Q. You have concluded that the phrase ‘that Son of Man’ in the Parables of Enoch is neither a title nor a technical phrase, but is simply a way of saying a human being. What led you to this conclusion and why in that context would it be important to insist that the Son of Man even as some sort a messianic figure who will judge all the nations in due course is merely human? A. To say that... Read more
Q. Along the way as you researched and wrote these two volumes, you made some interesting, and perhaps surprising discoveries, and perhaps the most surprising is that you do not see the ‘one like a Son of Man’ figure, at least in Jewish literature, as a quasi-divine figure, but rather as simply a human being (not some sort cipher for a collective group of people) who is being invested by the Almighty to be the judge of the world and... Read more
Q. Here is a question I’m quite sure my students would want me to ask you. It seems clear that Josephus, and for that matter other early Jews including probably Jesus, take Daniel to be a real historical prophet of the Babylonian exile, correctly prophesying things about the future, including even the future empires finishing with the Roman one to be replaced by God’s everlasting kingdom. And yet many modern scholars take what is going on in Daniel as history... Read more
Q. One of your major methodological commitments is to let each of the texts you are dealing with be treated on its own basis and in its own context, without reading back into it later ideas, or even modern scholarly notions that have in fact involved over-reading or misreading the material. This is all the more important, if as you argue, texts like the Parables of Enoch and 4 Ezra come from the late first or early second century which... Read more
Q. I see that throughout you make reference to the NETS translation of various texts. What is your overall assessment of this translation? Would you recommend it for my seminary level and doctoral students, or for pastors and educated laity in the church? A. NETS is the New English Translation of the Septuagint. After having to manage for so long with no satisfactory translation of the Greek version of the Old Testament, we now have two. The other is... Read more
Q. Richard I know that this Son of Man project has been on your mind and your to do list for a long time. Why did you feel it important to write at length on this controversial subject, and why now? A. I call it my pandemic project, because I started it around the time that the first lockdown began here in the UK. Moreover, just as no one imagined the pandemic would go on and on for so... Read more
Here’s a link: “No Inn in Which to Have No Room” https://davidbcapes.com/2023/12/26/no-inn-in-which-to-have-no-room-with-ben-witherington-iii/ Read more
Having spent my early years in high school and beyond playing in a symphony, and having watched with fascination Leonard Bernstein’s Young Peoples Concert Program week after week when I was young, of course I badly wanted to see the biopic on Bernstein which has been years in the making for Bradley Cooper, who both produced and starred, along with Carey Mulligan, in this 2 plus hour film. The film is half in black and white, and half in color,... Read more
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