Birth Narratives

• Redaction criticism - how the gospels were potentially assembled by the authors
• Exegesis - aim to generally recover the original meaning of the text
• Historicity - credibility
• Matthew narrative

  • Beginning - looks at Marys encounter with Holy Spirit and then her surprise pregnancy
  • focuses on Kind Herod and his fears about a prophesised Messiah
• Traditional features (Matthew)

  • Wise men are guided by a star to location of Jesus' birth
  • Wise men offer gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh
• Changes Matthew

  • number 3 for wise men is not mentioned (more accurate translation is magi)
  • some eastern churches refer to it as 12
  • takes great account that Jesus was conceived by Mary and Holy Spirit, not Joseph
• Matthew Redaction criticism

  • matthew may have included the Magi as a way of emphasising the global importance of jesus birth
• Narrative Luke

  • longer than Matthews
  • contains a number of events not present in Matthew Narrative
• Luke differences

  • includes details about marys relative Elizabeth who miraculously conceives a child despite her old age who turns out to be John the Baptist
  • contains no mention of Herod or the wise men
  • Joseph, Mary and jesus travel to Bethlehem for a census
  • Luke has direct references to Jesus' significance being important for gentiles (non-jewish) whereas Matthew is very focused on Jewish tradition
• Functions of the Narratives - Both

  • jesus is a divine being sent by God to save human beings
  • all details support the central idea that Jesus is someone special whose life and teachings deserve to be heard
  • Jesus' identity as the messiah is established before the key events of his life
• 'She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins' - Matthew
• Different functions of the birth narratives

  • Written for different audiences
  • Matthew - emphasises Jesus' importance in relation to Jewish tradition and prophecy - his account singles out three specific prophecies in Jewish scripture
  • Luke - does not explicitly reference to any texts
  • Eg. first prophecy given in Matthew, we can see the clear parallel with Isaiah
• Matthew

  • emphasises the jewishness of Jesus
  • directed towards a jewish audience
  • key part is the massacre of infants in Bethlehem by King Herod
• Can the Birth Narratives be harmonised (similarities)

  • both describe angels visiting Mary (Luke) or Joseph (Matthew) to announce the coming of the messiah and the virgin birth
  • agree on the location of the birth being bethlehem
• Harmonisation differences

  • Matthew - travelled to Bethlehem due to actions of the king
  • Luke - travelled due to the need to register Jesus for the census
  • Matthew- implies they live in Bethlehem then Egypt then Nazareth
  • Luke - Nazareth, Bethlehem then back to Nazareth
• Redaction Criticism

  • can undermine the historicity and credibility
  • events or actions in the birth narratives could have been created to justify Jesus' later teachings as divinely inspired or given
• If the narratives lack credibility, it may well support the argument that the harmonisation of Matthew and Jesus is not justified
• Are the Bible Narratives Credible

  • Bible may simply just be infallible ( can never be proven to be wrong) - even though there are significant differences, this may just be the Gospel authors reporting different events or perspectives
• 'All scripture is inspired by God' - Timothy
• Birth narratives support the doctrine of the incarnation Jesus was God in the flesh
• 'the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit' - Matthew
• Marks gospel was written before both Matthew and Lukes
• Mark, Matthew and Luke = synoptic gospel
• Matthew and luke both use mark as a source
• Matthew refers to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem although this only happened in 70CE

  • lack of reference to this in Mark suggests it may have been written prior to this event
• Mark - redaction criticism

  • contains no birth narrative
  • suggests beliefs in ideas such as incarnation only began in the development of early Christian communities
• Jesus - Birth narratives

  • when he was a baby he is not described as possessing any divine attributes
  • not referred to as God in birth narratives
  • latin term 'incarnation' is not used in the Gospel so doctrine is not explicitly mentioned
• 'he will be called Son of God' - Luke
• Substantial presence - since Jesus was fathered by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is substantially God himself
• Docetism; the belief that Jesus was not all human and simply appeared to be in light of his physical body, unattractive view as it downplays mary

  • became heretical (rejected by Orthodox church)
• Hypostatic Union - Jesus possessed both a fully human and fully divine nature brought together in a hypostatic union
• Kenotic model - Jesus at various times throughout his life commits to a self-emptying of his divine capacities