Book Notice: The Son of God

Charles Lee Irons, Danny Andre Dixon, and Dustin R. Smith

The Son of God: Three Views of the Identity of Jesus
Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015.
Available at Amazon.com

Biblioblogger James McGrath gives a nice introduction to the volume setting out some of the questions that people ask about the origins of Christology and he encourages people to be open to the evidence and wrestling with different points of view. Charles Lee Irons defends a “Trinitarian” view majoring on Christ’s eternal pre-existence, incarnation, and exaltation. Danny Andre Dixon advocates the “Arian” view, though not technically Arian, it makes do since he thinks Jesus is not eternal and a subordinated being (note, he’s not a Jehovah’s Witness either). Dustin Smith provides a “Socinian” view, again, not technically Socinian, but resonates with such a position of Jesus as non-pre-existent.

No surprises here, I found Irons to be the most persuasive, and I didn’t think Dixon and Smith were all that different apart from the issue of Jesus’ pre-existence. Still, many big issues are raised and argued, in a robust yet collegial fashion. I particularly enjoyed reading how and why each contributor came to their view. Probably the best thing about this “views” book is that you have a lead essay, then two responses, but then the original author gets to respond. I wish more “views” books had that kind of format.

A good book to recommend to people wrestling with christology or something to read if one wants to understand a type of Christology roughly analogous to Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, and Oneness Pentecostals, especially when juxtaposed with Trinitarianism.