The Pre-Existent Son

The Pre-Existent Son by Simon J. Gathercole was published by Eerdmans Publishing Company in April 2006 and is our 12880th best seller. The ISBN for The Pre-Existent Son is 9780802829016.

In this challenging book, rising New Testament scholar Simon Gathercole contradicts a commonly held view among biblical scholars — that the Gospel of John is the only Gospel to give evidence for Jesus’ heavenly identity and preexistence. The Preexistent Son demonstrates that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were also well aware that the Son of God existed with the Father prior to his earthly ministry. Gathercole supports his argument by considering the “I have come” sayings of Jesus and strikingly similar angelic sayings discovered in Second Temple and Rabbinic literature. Further, he considers related topics such as Wisdom Christology and the titles applied to Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.

Gathercole’s carefully researched work should spark debate among Synoptic scholars and extend the understanding of anyone interested in this New Testament question.