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Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives
- GenresChristianity
Hardcover
Published November 1, 2012
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December 29, 2023
PPOPE BENEDICT XVI LOOKS DEEPLY AND HISTORICALLLY AT THESE NARRATIVES
Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI wrote in the Foreword to this 2012 book, “This short book on Jesus’ infancy narratives … is not a third volume, but a kind of small ‘antechamber’ to the two earlier volumes on the figure and the message of Jesus of Nazareth. I have set out here… to interpret what Matthew and Luke say about Jesus' infancy at the beginning of their Gospels. I am convinced that good exegesis involves two stages. Firstly one has to ask what the respective authors intended to convey… in their own day… The second question … must be: is what I read here true? Does it concern me? If so, how? With a text like the Bible… the question regarding the here and now of things past is undeniably included in the task of exegesis. The seriousness of the historical quest is in no way diminished by this: on the contrary, it is enhanced… My hope is that this short book… will be able to help many people on their path forward and alongside Jesus.”
In the first chapter, he explains, “Matthew’s genealogy traces the male line, but in the course of it, four women are mentioned by name: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah. Why do these women appear in the genealogy? By what criterion are they chosen? It has been said that all four women were sinners. So their inclusion here would serve to indicate that Jesus took upon himself their sins… and that his mission was the justification of sinners. But this cannot have been the determining factor for the selection, not least because it does not in fact apply to all four women. More important, none of these women were Jewish. So through them the world of the Gentiles enters the genealogy of Jesus---his mission to Jews AND Gentiles is made manifest. Yet most important of all is the fact that the genealogy ends with a woman: Mary, who truly marks a new beginning and relativizes the entire genealogy.” (Pg. 6-7)
He explains, “the question arises: how did Matthew and Luke come to know the story that they recount? What are their sources? … Luke indicates from time to time that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is herself one of his sources, especially when he says in 2:51 that ‘his mother kept all these things in her heart.’ … Only she could report the event of the annunciation, for which there were no human witnesses. Naturally, modern ‘critical’ exegesis will tend to dismiss such connections as naïve. But why should there not have been a tradition of this kind, preserved in the most intimate circle and theologically elaborated at the same time?... I would add that the late emergence of the Marian traditions, can be similarly explained by the discretion of the Lord’s mother and of those around her: the sacred events of her early life could not be made public while she was still alive.” (Pg. 16)
He asks, “Is that we profess in the Creed true, then? … ‘[who] by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary’? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Karl Barth pointed out that there are two moments in the story of Jesus when God intervenes directly in the material world: the virgin birth and the resurrection from the tomb… These two moments are a scandal to the modern spirit. God is ‘allowed’ to act in idea and thoughts, in the spiritual domain---but not in the material.” (Pg. 56)
He states, “the census [of Quirinius] took place at the time of King Herod the Great, who actually died in the year 4 B.C. The starting-point for … the calculation of Jesus’ date of birth---goes back to the monk Dionysius Exiguus (c. 550), who evidently miscalculated by a few years. The historical date of the birth of Jesus is therefore to be placed a few years earlier. There is much debate regarding the date of the census. According to Flavius Josephus… it took place in the year 6 A.D. under the governor Quirinius… According to Josephus it was only then, and not before, that Quirinius was active in the region of Syria and Judea. Yet these claims in their turn are uncertain… it was implemented in two stages: firstly, registration of all land and property ownership, and then---in the second phase—determination of the payments that were due. The first stage would have taken place at the time of Jesus’ birth… Some have raised the further objection that there was no need, in a census of this kind, for each person to travel to his hometown… But we also know from various sources that those affected had to present themselves where they owned property. Accordingly, we may assume that Joseph, of the house of David, had property in Bethlehem, so that he had to go there for tax registration.” (Pg. 62-63)
He recounts, “As early as Justin Martyr … and Origen (c. 254), we find the tradition that Jesus was born in a cave, which Christians in Palestine would point to… The fact that after the expulsion of the Jews from the Holy Land in the second century, Rome turned the cave into a shrine of Tammuz-Adonis, thereby evidently intending to suppress the Christian memorial cult, confirms the age of this shrine and also shows how important it was thought to be by the Romans… So a considerable measure of credibility may be assigned to the tradition that Bethlehem was Jesus’ birthplace, a tradition to which the Church of the Nativity also bears witness.” (Pg. 67-68)
He acknowledges of the visit of the Magi, “'Going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him’ (Mt.2:11). Strikingly absent from this sentence is any mention of Saint Joseph, even though Matthew’s infancy narrative was written from Joseph’s perspective. We meet only ‘Mary, his mother’ by the side of Jesus at the scene of adoration. I have yet to find a completely convincing explanation.” (Pg. 106)
He summarizes, “the question arises: how are we to understand all this? Are we dealing with history that actually took place, or is it merely a theological meditation, presented under the guise of stories? … Jean Danielou ... comes to the conclusion that we are dealing here with historical events, whose theological significance was worked out by the Jewish Christian community and by Matthew… I share this view… it should be noted that over the last fifty years there has been an about-turn in thinking on this question of historicity, based … on a changed attitude to sacred Scripture and to the Christian message in general… The two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel devoted to the infancy narratives are not a meditation presented under the guise of stories, but the converse: Matthew is recounting real history, theologically ... interpreted, and thus he helps us to understand the mystery of Jesus more deeply.” (Pg. 118-119)
This book will be of great interest to Christians (particularly Catholics) studying the infancy narratives.
Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI wrote in the Foreword to this 2012 book, “This short book on Jesus’ infancy narratives … is not a third volume, but a kind of small ‘antechamber’ to the two earlier volumes on the figure and the message of Jesus of Nazareth. I have set out here… to interpret what Matthew and Luke say about Jesus' infancy at the beginning of their Gospels. I am convinced that good exegesis involves two stages. Firstly one has to ask what the respective authors intended to convey… in their own day… The second question … must be: is what I read here true? Does it concern me? If so, how? With a text like the Bible… the question regarding the here and now of things past is undeniably included in the task of exegesis. The seriousness of the historical quest is in no way diminished by this: on the contrary, it is enhanced… My hope is that this short book… will be able to help many people on their path forward and alongside Jesus.”
In the first chapter, he explains, “Matthew’s genealogy traces the male line, but in the course of it, four women are mentioned by name: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah. Why do these women appear in the genealogy? By what criterion are they chosen? It has been said that all four women were sinners. So their inclusion here would serve to indicate that Jesus took upon himself their sins… and that his mission was the justification of sinners. But this cannot have been the determining factor for the selection, not least because it does not in fact apply to all four women. More important, none of these women were Jewish. So through them the world of the Gentiles enters the genealogy of Jesus---his mission to Jews AND Gentiles is made manifest. Yet most important of all is the fact that the genealogy ends with a woman: Mary, who truly marks a new beginning and relativizes the entire genealogy.” (Pg. 6-7)
He explains, “the question arises: how did Matthew and Luke come to know the story that they recount? What are their sources? … Luke indicates from time to time that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is herself one of his sources, especially when he says in 2:51 that ‘his mother kept all these things in her heart.’ … Only she could report the event of the annunciation, for which there were no human witnesses. Naturally, modern ‘critical’ exegesis will tend to dismiss such connections as naïve. But why should there not have been a tradition of this kind, preserved in the most intimate circle and theologically elaborated at the same time?... I would add that the late emergence of the Marian traditions, can be similarly explained by the discretion of the Lord’s mother and of those around her: the sacred events of her early life could not be made public while she was still alive.” (Pg. 16)
He asks, “Is that we profess in the Creed true, then? … ‘[who] by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary’? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Karl Barth pointed out that there are two moments in the story of Jesus when God intervenes directly in the material world: the virgin birth and the resurrection from the tomb… These two moments are a scandal to the modern spirit. God is ‘allowed’ to act in idea and thoughts, in the spiritual domain---but not in the material.” (Pg. 56)
He states, “the census [of Quirinius] took place at the time of King Herod the Great, who actually died in the year 4 B.C. The starting-point for … the calculation of Jesus’ date of birth---goes back to the monk Dionysius Exiguus (c. 550), who evidently miscalculated by a few years. The historical date of the birth of Jesus is therefore to be placed a few years earlier. There is much debate regarding the date of the census. According to Flavius Josephus… it took place in the year 6 A.D. under the governor Quirinius… According to Josephus it was only then, and not before, that Quirinius was active in the region of Syria and Judea. Yet these claims in their turn are uncertain… it was implemented in two stages: firstly, registration of all land and property ownership, and then---in the second phase—determination of the payments that were due. The first stage would have taken place at the time of Jesus’ birth… Some have raised the further objection that there was no need, in a census of this kind, for each person to travel to his hometown… But we also know from various sources that those affected had to present themselves where they owned property. Accordingly, we may assume that Joseph, of the house of David, had property in Bethlehem, so that he had to go there for tax registration.” (Pg. 62-63)
He recounts, “As early as Justin Martyr … and Origen (c. 254), we find the tradition that Jesus was born in a cave, which Christians in Palestine would point to… The fact that after the expulsion of the Jews from the Holy Land in the second century, Rome turned the cave into a shrine of Tammuz-Adonis, thereby evidently intending to suppress the Christian memorial cult, confirms the age of this shrine and also shows how important it was thought to be by the Romans… So a considerable measure of credibility may be assigned to the tradition that Bethlehem was Jesus’ birthplace, a tradition to which the Church of the Nativity also bears witness.” (Pg. 67-68)
He acknowledges of the visit of the Magi, “'Going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him’ (Mt.2:11). Strikingly absent from this sentence is any mention of Saint Joseph, even though Matthew’s infancy narrative was written from Joseph’s perspective. We meet only ‘Mary, his mother’ by the side of Jesus at the scene of adoration. I have yet to find a completely convincing explanation.” (Pg. 106)
He summarizes, “the question arises: how are we to understand all this? Are we dealing with history that actually took place, or is it merely a theological meditation, presented under the guise of stories? … Jean Danielou ... comes to the conclusion that we are dealing here with historical events, whose theological significance was worked out by the Jewish Christian community and by Matthew… I share this view… it should be noted that over the last fifty years there has been an about-turn in thinking on this question of historicity, based … on a changed attitude to sacred Scripture and to the Christian message in general… The two chapters of Matthew’s Gospel devoted to the infancy narratives are not a meditation presented under the guise of stories, but the converse: Matthew is recounting real history, theologically ... interpreted, and thus he helps us to understand the mystery of Jesus more deeply.” (Pg. 118-119)
This book will be of great interest to Christians (particularly Catholics) studying the infancy narratives.
December 5, 2025
As Advent arrives, I listened to this via Don Womer's audio. Not the ideal for a scholarly exegesis, but I finally finished it. As I'm a seeker rather than a firmly grounded believer in certain truth-claims in the Gospel, I sought to figure out a puzzle never satisfactorily explained in my past study. If Jesus is asserted to inherit the messianic role by his descent from David, what about the bold contradiction of His engendering from not the descendent Joseph (as genealogy opens Luke and Matthew) but the Holy Spirit at Mary's Annunciation? Pope Benedict explains that this established the legally valid situation (as in an adopted son?) while allowing the expansion of this inheritance to all people, for four women not of Jewish status also appear in the family tree. I found this a clever response, typical of this book.
(Though as an inevitable aside, doesn't this disqualify Jesus as Jewish, if not all these women had converted to "kosher" observance before becoming mothers? I guess Voltaire penned some snark.)
The discussion of such topics as positive and negative depictions of the Magi, the 1967 discovery of independent evidence for Balaam, the depredations of Herod, the need to separate Jesus from those trying to make His kingdom that of this world or that political party, and the incomprehension of His parents as they search for their twelve-year-old son in Jerusalem exemplify thoughtful analyses too.
Hearing this was a bit awkward, as German titles of theology and biblical cross-references had to be enunciated within the aural version, but the service provided by this professor-turned-prelate shows his carefully written and thoughtfully assembled entry (alongside a longer pair on the central place of preaching and then the Passion narratives) demonstrates a combination of the historical-critical and Christological approaches integrating scriptures for a wider audience. (Maybe I missed it, but the second question I have, commonly raised by doubters, of the actual imposition of a Roman census with an imperial order for heads of households to return to their birthplaces, was either overlooked by the Pope or by lowly me.)
(Though as an inevitable aside, doesn't this disqualify Jesus as Jewish, if not all these women had converted to "kosher" observance before becoming mothers? I guess Voltaire penned some snark.)
The discussion of such topics as positive and negative depictions of the Magi, the 1967 discovery of independent evidence for Balaam, the depredations of Herod, the need to separate Jesus from those trying to make His kingdom that of this world or that political party, and the incomprehension of His parents as they search for their twelve-year-old son in Jerusalem exemplify thoughtful analyses too.
Hearing this was a bit awkward, as German titles of theology and biblical cross-references had to be enunciated within the aural version, but the service provided by this professor-turned-prelate shows his carefully written and thoughtfully assembled entry (alongside a longer pair on the central place of preaching and then the Passion narratives) demonstrates a combination of the historical-critical and Christological approaches integrating scriptures for a wider audience. (Maybe I missed it, but the second question I have, commonly raised by doubters, of the actual imposition of a Roman census with an imperial order for heads of households to return to their birthplaces, was either overlooked by the Pope or by lowly me.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews