Born Divine: The Births of Jesus & Other Sons of God

by Robert J. Miller

In this study of the birth & infancy of Jesus, Miller separates fact from fiction in the gospel narratives & relates them to stories about the miraculous births of Israelite heroes & of Greek & Roman sons of God. Born Divine analyzes the Christian claim that the birth & childhood of Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. The historical & theological dimensions of the virgin birth tradition are discussed with honesty & insight. This wide-ranging book also presents additional infancy gospels from the 2nd century thru the Middle Ages.
Preface --
Acknowledgments --
Abbreviations --
Introduction --
Biblical Infancy Narratives: --
Infancy narratives --
Luke 1 --
Luke 2 --
Genealogies of Jesus --
Matthew 1-2 --
Moses Haggadah --
Pagan Sons Of God: --
Hellenistic infancy narratives --
Historical And Theological Questions: --
Did Jesus fulfill prophecy? --
Are the infancy narratives historical? --
Born Of A Virgin?: --
What is a "virgin"? --
Is there a virgin birth in Matthew? --
Is the virgin birth historical? --
Was Jesus illegitimate? --
Understanding The Virgin Birth: --
Son(s) of God in the Bible --
Virgin birth in context --
Meaning of the virgin birth --
Infancy Gospels: --
Infancy gospel of James --
Infancy gospel of Thomas --
Two docetic birth stories --
History of Joseph the Carpenter --
Arabic infancy gospel --
Gospel of pseudo-Matthew --
Appendix: Births of Aeneas and Jesus --
For further reading --
About the translations --
Translations consulted --
Works consulted --
Index of quotations --
Index of topics

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

356 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2003

About the author

Law School Professor, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland Oregon

Tribal Judge

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Reviews

[Brent Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book from a footnote in some other book - by Borg I think. I had a Christmas break and tried reading Raymond Brown's The Birth of the Messiah but it was too long. This one was a better synthesis of the research. Full of interesting twists and interpretations of individual verses. Very close reading of the text, which could be useful for those teaching Sunday School lessons.

I read a portion to my son and daughter-in-law. They're devout Christians of a more literal sort than I am. Led to a good discussion of some of the issues. You'll find lots of things to discuss in here.

[Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book of higher criticism of the narrative stories in the New Testament, there relationship to other narratives, and some early Christian writings containing narratives about the childhood of the Jesus character.

I feel like this is a landmark book, but to be honest, I skimmed a decent amount. Not because of the fault of the author, but I think more because I am growing a bit tired of the genre at the moment.

[Karl Kronlage · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit of a warning - pull out your highlighter and find a quite room if you want to read this. Thought provoking and convincing, this book I found to be worth the struggle - if you're into that kind of thing.