THE
KINGDOM OF GOD
AND THE SON OF
MAN A Study in
the History of
Religion
by Rudolf Otto
'I
regard Rudolf
Otto's The
Kingdom of God
and the Son of
Man as a very
important and
very
influential
book. It was
one of the
books to turn
the tide
against
excessive
historical
cynicism among
New Testament
scholars.'
Ernest Cadman
Colwell, Vice
President and
Dean of the
Faculties,
Emory
University
Rudolf Otto, who died in 1937, was one of the most distinguished German theologians of this century. His best-known book, Das Heilige (The Idea of the Holy in English), ran through ten editions in Germany before the English edition of 1924; and the present book created an even greater sensation. All studies of the person and the work of Jesus Christ made since the publication of The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man have had to take Otto's study into account, particularly on the point of his 'messianic self-consciousness'.
The English edition, published in 1938 and revised in 1943, has been out of print for some years and is no longer available. This study is in five books.
Book One, 'The Kingdom of God in Christ's Preaching,' is divided into sections on the antecedents of Jesus; the Kingdom as preached by Jesus; a comparison with the message and person of John the Baptist; and a detailed consideration of the teaching that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Book Two, 'The Kingdom of God and the Son of Man,' discusses Jesus as 'the eschatological redeemer and as distinguished from all mere prophets and as integral to the eschatological order itself,' and his consciousness of his mission.
Book Three, 'Christ's Last Supper as the Consecration of the Disciples for Entrance into the Kingdom of God,' compares the New Testament account of the Last Supper with the original account, discusses the associations of sacramental eating and other important details, and explains later developments and alterations of meaning.
Book Four, 'The Kingdom of God and the' Charisma ',' speaks of the miracles, the gift of healing and exorcism, and other charismatic traits.
Book Five
is made up of
five important
appendices -
for instance,
one section
gives a
literary
comparison
between the
preaching of
Jesus and the
Book of Enoch,
which has been
widely
discussed
because it
points out that
Enoch is
Chaldaean in
origin rather
than Jewish and
that the roots
are in the
Persia of
Zoroastrian
theology...
