This work significantly advances the critical discussion of New Testament Christology, an area of investigation which today has become a notable battleground. Professor Hengel examines the titles "Son" and "God". He points towards an inner consistency and dynamic in the development of the doctrine of Christ in primitive Christianity as the movement proceeded from the Gospels' account of the death of Jesus to the high Christology present in the Pauline writings. Historical scholarship and theological - one might even say dogmatic - questions must not stand in unresolved contradiction to each other. On the contrary, the historian misunderstands the nature of New Testament Christology unless he grasps its theological concern and its inner consistency, while a dogmatic approach which does not take seriously the historical course of Christology during the first decades of primitive Christianity is in danger of becoming no more than abstract speculation. At a time when historical positivism and hermeneutical interest largely go their own ways in respect to New Testament scholarship, it is vitally important to reunite historical research and the theological search for truth. -Publisher