From well-known and respected New Testament scholar James D.G. Dunn comes this significant investigation of the beginnings of one of Christianity's most central and fundamental beliefs the doctrine of the incarnation. Dunn examines how the doctrine originated, whether or not it was unique to Christianity and the biblical evidence for various differing types of Christology. His probing study presents a thorough investigation of what the early church really meant by such terms as Son of God, Son of Man and 'Last Adam'. Citing a wide range of material from canonical Old and New Testament writings apocryphal writings and other literature of the Near Eastern religious Dunn notes the various ways in which the incarnation has been interpreted and how these views have been carried forward into modern times.