Tuesday 19th March 2024

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

The Son Of Man

October 24, 2014 Frontpage No Comments

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK

Joel J. Miller identifies himself as a writer “whose perspective is informed by the teaching tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church.” His blog site, Two Cities, is designed, he writes, to “explore how Christians can practice the historic faith in a modern context while navigating its many challenges and pitfalls.” Miller is widely published, with articles appearing in publications such as Reason, The American Spectator, and National Review.
I don’t know anything else about Miller, but one of his recent posts helped me understand something I have never been able to get a handle on: the term “Son of Man” that Jesus used to describe Himself. I am not a theologian or a Scripture scholar and have had to rely until now on teachers and editors about what Jesus meant when He characterized Himself this way. They were good men, but never helped me much with this matter. It could be that the blame is mine for not paying close enough attention to what my mentors told me and not doing the appropriate follow-up research, but in my memory the answer I was always given was that the term was “problematic” and “cloaked in mystery.”
It turns out that Miller has a better answer. He points to the relevant biblical passage. In the seventh chapter of Daniel, we find the following:
“And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! . . . Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away….”
It seems to me that Miller is on the mark; that Jesus knew this passage, and was using “Son of Man” to describe Himself as the Messiah, as divine, precisely as His identity and mission have been understood in traditional Christian teaching for nearly 2,000 years. And as the Jewish authorities of His time, the members of the Sanhedrin would have understood His use of the term, as well.
The reaction of the Jewish authorities to Jesus’ claim is what prompted Miller to write on the topic. There is a new book about the “historical Jesus” that is getting a great deal of attention: Reza Aslan’s Zealot. In fact, Aslan was the center of a recent discussion by Chris Cuomo on the cable network CNN. It is a new book, but one with a familiar theme: the contention that Jesus never claimed to be divine, but was a Jewish revolutionary, a “zealot,” seeking to free Israel from Roman rule, and that the notion that He was the Son of God was an invention of later Christians.
Those who seek to diminish Jesus flip back and forth between the above proposition — and the argument that He never existed at all. Michael Paulkovich, who identifies himself as a “biblical historian,” is the latest to get attention for this theory in his article in the journal Free Inquiry. There have been others before Paulkovich, of course. They all point to the lack of references to Jesus in secular histories written during the first century AD — nothing beyond the short reference to the crucifixion in the work of the Jewish historian Josephus; also to the similarities between the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and various pagan myths.
It is an argument we have been hearing since James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough was published in the first decade of the 20th century. It is no more persuasive now than then. Respected theologians and Scripture scholars have answered Frazer’s claims, and by extension those of the new deniers of Jesus’ existence.
But what about Aslan? What does he have to say in Zealot? (Aslan is a Muslim. That matters, of course. But it does not mean that his arguments do not require an answer.) Aslan’s claim is: “Everything [Jesus] said, he said in the context of Judaism. The Christian interpretation of his words and actions weren’t historical.” Moreover, Aslan continues, “Nobody in those times who heard Jesus say ‘I am the messiah’ would have thought that he was saying, ‘I am God.’ Nobody.” The idea that Jesus was the “Son of God,” Aslan continues, is a strictly human attachment put in place by Jesus’ followers long after His death.
Miller disagrees, and quotes Jewish scholar Daniel Boyarin to buttress his case. Boyarin argues that Jesus knew exactly how “Son of Man” was understood in Jewish belief. His “self-understanding” of Himself flowed from his knowledge of the Book of Daniel: “This narrative, the narrative that Jesus understood himself to embody, grows out of a reading of the story of the career of the ‘one like a Son of Man’ in Daniel.” What’s more, says Boyarin, “The theology of the [Christian] Gospels, far from being a radical innovation within the Israelite religious tradition, is a highly conservative return to the most ancient moments within that tradition.”
Boyarin is Jewish and, as one would expect, does not accept Jesus’ claim to be divine. But honesty compels him to agree that Jesus saw Himself precisely as Christians have always thought He did.
And so did the Sanhedrin. That is why they condemned Jesus. They would not have done that if Jesus proclaimed Himself to be nothing more than the “zealot” Aslan describes, as a revolutionary seeking to lead a political uprising against Rome. Writes Miller, “Jesus was not calling himself a human king, and the people who condemned him weren’t aloof to the fact. When the Sanhedrin accused him of blasphemy — a transgression concerning the divine — it was because he quoted Daniel 7, the passage above. Jesus was claiming divinity, and they knew exactly what he was saying.”
Miller draws a bead on Aslan: “Of course, every age wants a Jesus that fits its fancy, and Reza Aslan’s socially minded Christ who works tirelessly to help the marginalized is an apt (and even laudable) role model.” Aslan is seeking to depict Jesus as “an enlightened political activist,” while at the same time dismissing what Jesus says about His relationship to the Father. It is what C.S. Lewis described as “putting God in the dock,” ignoring the Scriptures to come up with a Jesus who is manipulable for our political and philosophical ends — what we call political correctness in our day.
Not that any of what Miller says will lead Aslan and the others who seek to undermine traditional Christian beliefs to change their minds. No doubt, they will argue that the passages where Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man were inserted by the Gospel writers at a later date as part of their conspiracy to attribute divinity to Jesus.
But think of what that conspiracy would require. Miller’s article demonstrates how clever, organized, learned, and devious the Gospel writers would have to have been to carry out this scheme, going so far as to focus on the term “Son of Man” that would prove perplexing to later generations of Christians. I doubt those who debunk the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ claims to divinity would believe in the plausibility of such a conspiracy in any other context.
It brings to mind the warning attributed to G.K. Chesterton: “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing, they believe in anything.”

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

Irreverent funeral service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for trans activist sparks outcry

A raucous funeral liturgy for a high-profile trans activist and sex-worker advocate was held Thursday in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, sparking an outcry on social media that the iconic church was misused to advance an ideological agenda at odds with Catholic teaching. The Manhattan cathedral hosted the Feb. 15 funeral service for Cecilia Gentili, an activist who helped to decriminalize sex work in New York, lobbied for “gender identity” to be added as…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)