THE SON OF MAN DEBATE AND THE TRANSLATION OF HO HUIOS TOU ANTHRÅŒPOU (THE SON OF MAN) IN IGBO BIBLES

Abstract

The Son of Man is an important Christological Title. The debate around this expression in the New Testament centers mainly on its meaning in its self-attributive use by Jesus. I contend that one of the principal meanings of this title relates to the vulnerability and humanness of the one it refers to. Igbo language has an expression quite close to this idea and that expression was largely ignored in its translation in Igbo Bibles. I make a different proposal regarding its translation in this paper. I shall trace the basic outline of the Son of Man debate in the New Testament in order to underline the Christological questions involved in the debate. My choice of a Christological import of the expression will inform the choice I make of the Igbo expression ‘nwa mmadụ’ as a translation of the Greek expression ‘ho huios tou anthrÅpou’. My conclusions will also include a recommendation of greater attention to the original languages in local Biblical translations.