tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/gospel-of-luke-46228/articlesGospel of Luke – The Conversation2022-04-14T21:54:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1813862022-04-14T21:54:52Z2022-04-14T21:54:52ZChristians hold many views on Jesus’ resurrection – a theologian explains the differing views among Baptists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458226/original/file-20220414-20-dk713t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C27%2C2967%2C1963&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Resurrection of Christ depicted in 14th-century fresco in Chora Church, Istanbul, Turkey.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/resurrection-fresco-in-chora-church-istanbul-turkey-royalty-free-image/124516452?adppopup=true">LP7/Collections E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, Christians from around the world gather for worship on Easter Sunday. Also known as Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, Easter is the final day of a weeklong commemoration of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/327976/the-historical-figure-of-jesus-by-e-p-sanders/">the story of Jesus’ final days</a> in the city of Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.</p>
<p>Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/this-is-the-night-9780567027603/">Holy Week</a>. In Western Christianity, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Easter is the third day of the larger three-day festival known as <a href="https://brill.com/view/title/36244?rskey=v0m9To&result=1">Holy Triduum</a>, which begins on the evening of Maundy Thursday, marking the night of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. Good Friday marks Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death. Holy Saturday marks Jesus’ burial in a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea. The festival reaches its climax on early Sunday morning with the Easter Vigil and ends on the evening of Easter Sunday.</p>
<p>As a Baptist minister and <a href="https://virginia.academia.edu/JasonOEvans">theologian</a> myself, I believe it is important to understand how Christians more generally, and Baptists in particular, hold differing views on the meaning of the resurrection. </p>
<h2>The resurrection</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/2120/exploring-and-proclaiming-the-apostles-creed.aspx">According to the Christian faith</a>, resurrection is the pivotal event when “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%3A11-13&version=NCV">God raised Jesus from the dead</a>” after he was <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800628864/The-Crucifixion-of-Jesus">crucified</a> by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.</p>
<p>While none of the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-gospels-and-jesus-9780199246168?cc=us&lang=en&">four canonical Gospels</a> of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John describe the actual event of the resurrection in detail, they nonetheless give varying reports about the <a href="http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-story-of-jesus-in-history-and-faith/338111">empty tomb and Christ’s post-resurrection appearances</a> among his followers both in Galilee and Jerusalem.</p>
<p>They also report that it was women who discovered the empty tomb and received and proclaimed the first message that Christ was risen from the dead. These narratives were passed down orally among the earliest Christian communities and <a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6782/the-oral-gospel-tradition.aspx">then codified in the Gospel writings</a> beginning some 30 years after Jesus’ death.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800626792/The-Resurrection-of-the-Son-of-God">Earliest Christians believed</a> that by raising Jesus of Nazareth from the dead, God cleared Jesus from any wrongdoing for which he was tried and unjustly condemned to death by Pilate.</p>
<p>By affirming the resurrection, Christians do not mean that Jesus’ body was merely resuscitated. Rather, as New Testament scholar <a href="https://candler.emory.edu/faculty/emeriti-profiles/johnson-luke-timothy.html">Luke Timothy Johnson</a> <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-real-jesus-luke-timothy-johnson?variant=32117576564770">writes</a>, resurrection means that “[Jesus] entered into an entirely new form of existence.” </p>
<p>As the risen Christ, Jesus is believed to share God’s power to transform all life and also to share this same power with his followers. So the resurrection is believed to be something that happened not only to Jesus, but also an experience that happens <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15&version=NRSV">to his followers</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Christ standing before Roman governor Pontius Pilate, in a tile from the Cathedral of Siena, Italy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christ before Pilate: Detail of a tile from the Cathedral of Siena, Italy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/siena-museo-dellopera-metropolitana-christ-before-pilate-news-photo/146325687?adppopup=true">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Opposing views</h2>
<p>Over the years, Christians have engaged in passionate debates over this central doctrine of Christian faith.</p>
<p>Two major approaches emerged: the “liberal” view and the “conservative” or “traditional” view. Current perspectives on the resurrection have been predominated by two questions: “Was Jesus’ body literally raised from the dead?” and “What relevance does the resurrection have for those struggling for justice?” </p>
<p>These questions emerged in the wake of <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800637958/Modern-Christian-Thought-Second-Edition">theological modernism</a>, a European and North American movement dating back to the mid-19th century that sought to reinterpret Christianity to accommodate the emergence of modern science, history and ethics.</p>
<p>Theological modernism led liberal Christian theologians to create an alternative path between the rigid orthodoxies of Christian churches and the rationalism of atheists and others. </p>
<p>This meant that liberal Christians were willing to revise or jettison cherished Christian beliefs, such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus, if such beliefs could not be explained against the bar of human reason. </p>
<h2>Baptist views on the resurrection</h2>
<p>Just like all other Christian denominations, Baptists are divided on the issue of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Arguably, what may be unique about the group is that <a href="https://www.helwys.com/sh-books/the-baptist-identity/">Baptists believe</a> that no external religious authority can force an individual member to adhere to the tenets of Christian faith in any prescribed way. One must be free to accept or reject any teaching of the church. </p>
<p>In the early 20th century, Baptists in the United States found themselves on both sides of a schism within American Christianity over doctrinal issues, known as the <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/fundamentalism-and-american-culture-9780195300475?cc=us&lang=en&">fundamentalist-modernist</a> controversy. </p>
<p>The Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, a liberal Baptist pastor who served First Presbyterian Church and later Riverside Church in Manhattan, <a href="https://www.mupress.org/Baptist-Theology-A-Four-Century-Study-P1014.aspx">rejected the bodily resurrection of Jesus</a>. Rather, Fosdick viewed the resurrection as a “persistence in [Christ’s] personality.” </p>
<p>In 1922, Fosdick delivered his famous sermon “<a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5070/">Shall the Fundamentalists Win</a>?” rebuking fundamentalists for their failure to tolerate difference on doctrinal matters such as the infallibility of the Bible, the virgin birth and bodily resurrection, among others, and for downplaying the weightier matter of addressing the societal needs of the day.</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.grandcentralpublishing.com/titles/clayborne-carson/the-autobiography-of-martin-luther-king-jr/9780759520370/">autobiography</a>, civil rights leader and Baptist minister the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. explained that in his early adolescence he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus. </p>
<p>While attending Crozer Seminary in 1949, <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/what-experiences-christians-living-early-christian-century-led-christian">King wrote a paper </a> trying to make sense of what led to the development of the Christian doctrine of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. For King, the experience of the early followers of Jesus was at the root of their belief in his resurrection.</p>
<p>“They had been captivated by the magnetic power of his personality,” King argued. “This basic experience led to the faith that he could never die.” In other words, the bodily resurrection of Jesus simply is the outward expression of early Christian experience, not an actual or, at least, a verifiable event in human history. </p>
<p>It is not clear from his later writings that King changed his views on the bodily resurrection. In one of his notable <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/questions-easter-answers-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church">Easter sermons</a>, King argued that the meaning behind the resurrection signaled a future where God will put an end to racial segregation. </p>
<p>Others within the Baptist movement disagreed. Like his fundamentalist forebears, conservative evangelical Baptist theologian <a href="https://www.crossway.org/books/god-revelation-and-authority-tpb/">Carl F.H. Henry argued in 1976</a> that all Christian doctrine can be rationally explained and can persuade any nonbeliever. Henry rigorously defended the bodily resurrection of Christ as a historical occurrence by appealing to the Gospels’ telling of the empty tomb and Christ’s appearances among his disciples after his resurrection.</p>
<p>In his six-volume magnum opus, “<a href="https://www.crossway.org/books/god-revelation-and-authority-tpb/">God, Revelation, and Authority</a>,” Henry read these two elements of the Gospels as historical records that can be verified through modern historical methods.</p>
<h2>Alternative views</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A fresco of Christ with lifted arms, his head encircled by a halo, or nimbus, wearing a tunic and a mantle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christians hold a diversity of perspectives on Christ’s resurrection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italy-basilicata-matera-cripta-di-santa-maria-alle-malve-news-photo/187388766?adppopup=true">Bruno Balestrini / Electa / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Despite their predominance, the liberal and conservative arguments on the resurrection of Jesus are not the only approaches held among Baptists. </p>
<p>In his book “<a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781592445172/resurrection-and-discipleship/">Resurrection and Discipleship</a>,” Baptist theologian <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/author/thorwald-lorenzen/">Thorwald Lorenzen</a> also outlines what he calls the “evangelical” approach, which seeks to transcend the distinctions of “liberal” and “conservative” approaches. He affirms, with the conservatives, the historical reality of the resurrection, but agrees with the liberals that such an event cannot be verified in the modern historical sense. </p>
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<p>Other than these, there is a “liberation” approach, which stresses the social and political implications of the resurrection. Baptists who hold this view primarily interpret the resurrection as God’s response and commitment to liberating those who, like Jesus, <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800698782/We-Have-Been-Believers">experience poverty and oppression</a>.</p>
<p>Given this diversity of perspectives on the resurrection, Baptists are not unique among Christians in engaging matters of faith practice. However, I argue that Baptists may be distinct in that they believe that such matters must be freely believed by one’s own conscience and not enforced by any external religious authority.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a piece <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-baptists-hold-differing-views-on-the-resurrection-of-christ-and-why-this-matters-158572">first published on April 15, 2021</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Oliver Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Christians have engaged in passionate debates over the meaning of the resurrection. Baptists may be distinct in that they believe an external religious authority cannot enforce views on such matters.Jason Oliver Evans, Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508282020-12-15T20:09:45Z2020-12-15T20:09:45ZWas Jesus really born in Bethlehem? Why the Gospels disagree over the circumstances of Christ’s birth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374897/original/file-20201214-21-1rqjhks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C44%2C2923%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A doll representing the infant Jesus in St. Catherine's, the Franciscan church in the town of Bethlehem.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/doll-representing-the-infant-jesus-is-seen-behind-votive-news-photo/56450691?adppopup=true">David Silverman/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every Christmas, a relatively <a href="https://time.com/5752224/bethlehem-christmas/">small town in the Palestinian West Bank</a> comes center stage: Bethlehem. Jesus, according to some biblical sources, was born in this town some two millennia ago. </p>
<p>Yet the New Testament Gospels do not agree about the details of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Some do not mention Bethlehem or Jesus’ birth at all. </p>
<p>The Gospels’ different views might be hard to reconcile. But as a <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/a-pneumatology-of-race-in-the-gospel-of-john.html">scholar</a> of the New Testament, what I argue is that the Gospels offer an important insight into the Greco-Roman views of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/15700747-03903016">ethnic identity</a>, including genealogies. </p>
<p>Today, genealogies may bring more awareness of one’s family medical history or help uncover lost family members. In the <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/race-9781350125001/">Greco-Roman era</a>, birth stories and genealogical claims were used to establish rights to rule and link individuals with purported ancestral grandeur. </p>
<h2>Gospel of Matthew</h2>
<p>According to the Gospel of Matthew, the first Gospel in the canon of the New Testament, Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem when Jesus was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A1&version=NASB">born</a>. The story begins with wise men who come to the city of Jerusalem after seeing a star that they interpreted as signaling the birth of a new king. </p>
<p>It goes on to describe their meeting with the local Jewish king named Herod, of whom they inquire about the location of Jesus’ birth. The Gospel says that the star of Bethlehem subsequently leads them to a house – not a <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A11&version=NASB">manger</a> – where Jesus has been born to Joseph and Mary. Overjoyed, they worship Jesus and present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were valuable gifts, especially frankincense and myrrh, which were costly fragrances that had medicinal use. </p>
<p>The Gospel explains that after their visit, Joseph has a <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A13&version=NASB">dream</a> where he is warned of Herod’s attempt to kill baby Jesus. When the wise men went to Herod with the news that a child had been born to be the king of the Jews, he made a plan to kill all young children to remove the threat to his throne. It then mentions how Joseph, Mary and infant Jesus leave for Egypt to escape King Herod’s attempt to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A16-18&version=NIV">assassinate</a> all young children. </p>
<p>Matthew also says that after <a href="https://lexundria.com/j_aj/17.188-17.205/wst">Herod dies</a> from an illness, Joseph, Mary and Jesus do not return to Bethlehem. Instead, they travel north to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2%3A19-23&version=NASB">Nazareth in Galilee</a>, which is modern-day Nazareth in Israel.</p>
<h2>Gospel of Luke</h2>
<p>The Gospel of Luke, an account of Jesus’ life which was written during the same period as the Gospel of Matthew, has a different version of Jesus’ birth. The Gospel of Luke starts with Joseph and a pregnant Mary in Galilee. They journey to Bethlehem in response to a <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A1-4&version=NASB">census</a> that the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus required for all the Jewish people. Since Joseph was a descendant of King David, Bethlehem was the hometown where he was required to register. </p>
<p>The Gospel of Luke includes no flight to Egypt, no paranoid King Herod, no murder of children and no wise men visiting baby Jesus. Jesus is born in a <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A7&version=NASB">manger</a> because all the travelers overcrowded the guest rooms. After the birth, Joseph and Mary are visited not by wise men but <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A8-20&version=NASB">shepherds</a>, who were also overjoyed at Jesus’ birth.</p>
<p>Luke says these shepherds were notified about Jesus’ location in Bethlehem by angels. There is no guiding star in Luke’s story, nor do the shepherds bring gifts to baby Jesus. Luke also mentions that Joseph, Mary and Jesus leave Bethlehem eight days after his birth and travel to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A22&version=NASB">Jerusalem</a> and then to <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A39&version=NASB">Nazareth</a>. </p>
<p>The differences between Matthew and Luke are nearly impossible to reconcile, although they do share some similarities. <a href="https://theology.nd.edu/people/john-p-meier/">John Meier</a>, a scholar on the historical Jesus, <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300140187/marginal-jew-rethinking-historical-jesus-volume-i">explains</a> that Jesus’ “birth at Bethlehem is to be taken not as a historical fact” but as a “theological affirmation put into the form of an apparently historical narrative.” In other words, the belief that Jesus was a descendant of King David led to the development of a story about Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/11/us/raymond-e-brown-70-dies-a-leading-biblical-scholar.html">Raymond Brown</a>, another scholar on the Gospels, <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300140088/birth-messiah-new-updated-edition">also states</a> that “the two narratives are not only different – they are contrary to each other in a number of details.” </p>
<h2>Mark’s and John’s Gospels</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375166/original/file-20201215-13-1plazvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Nativity scene showing the birth of Jesus in a manger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/december-2020-lower-saxony-wieda-nativity-figures-are-news-photo/1229988769?adppopup=true">Swen Pförtner/picture alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>What makes it more difficult is that neither the other Gospels, that of Mark and John, mentions Jesus’ birth or his connection to Bethlehem.</p>
<p>The Gospel of Mark is the earliest account of Jesus’ life, written around A.D. 60. The opening chapter of Mark says that Jesus is from “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1%3A9&version=NASB">Nazareth of Galilee</a>.” This is repeated throughout the Gospel on several <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1%3A24%3B+6%3A1-6%3B+10%3A47%3B+16%3A6+&version=NASB">occasions</a>, and Bethlehem is never mentioned. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+10%3A47&version=NIV">blind beggar</a> in the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus as both from Nazareth and the son of David, the second king of Israel and Judah during 1010-970 B.C. But King David was not born in Nazareth, nor associated with that city. He was from <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+samuel+17%3A12&version=NASB">Bethlehem</a>. Yet Mark doesn’t identify Jesus with the city Bethlehem. </p>
<p>The Gospel of John, written approximately 15 to 20 years after that of Mark, also does not associate Jesus with Bethlehem. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+4%3A43-45&version=NASB">Galilee</a> is Jesus’ hometown. Jesus finds his <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1%3A43%3B+21%3A2&version=NASB">first disciples</a>, does several <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+2%3A11%3B+4%3A54&version=NASB">miracles</a> and has brothers in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+7%3A1-9&version=NASB">Galilee</a>. </p>
<p>This is not to say that John was unaware of Bethlehem’s significance. John mentions a debate where some Jewish people referred to the prophecy which claimed that the messiah would be a descendant of David and come from <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+7%3A40-52&version=NASB">Bethlehem</a>. But Jesus according to John’s Gospel is never associated with Bethlehem, but with Galilee, and more specifically, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1%3A45-46%3B+7%3A41&version=NASB">Nazareth</a>. </p>
<p>The Gospels of Mark and John reveal that they either had trouble linking Bethlehem with Jesus, did not know his birthplace, or were not concerned with this city. </p>
<p>These were not the only ones. Apostle Paul, who wrote the earliest documents of the New Testament, considered Jesus a descendant of David but does not associate him with <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+1%3A3%3B+2+Tim+2%3A8&version=NASB">Bethlehem</a>. The Book of Revelation also affirms that Jesus was a descendant of David but does not mention <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+5%3A5%3B+22%3A16&version=NASB">Bethlehem</a>. </p>
<h2>An ethnic identity</h2>
<p>During the period of Jesus’ life, there were multiple perspectives on the <a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/7717/the-messianic-theology-of-the-new-testament.aspx">Messiah</a>. In one stream of Jewish thought, the Messiah was expected to be an everlasting ruler from the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+49%3A10%3B+2+Samuel+7%3A11-16%3B+Isaiah+11%3A1-5%3B+Jeremiah+23%3A5-6&version=NASB">lineage of David</a>. Other Jewish texts, such as the book <a href="http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/apocrypha_ot/2esdr.htm">4 Ezra</a>, written in the same century as the Gospels, and the Jewish sectarian <a href="https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/38/38-1/JETS_38-1_011-027_Bateman.pdf">Qumran literature</a>, which is written two centuries earlier, also echo this belief. </p>
<p>But within the Hebrew Bible, a prophetic book called <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=micah+5%3A2&version=NASB">Micah</a>, thought to be written around B.C. 722, prophesies that the messiah would come from David’s hometown, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah+5%3A2&version=NASB">Bethlehem</a>. This text is repeated in Matthew’s version. Luke mentions that Jesus is not only genealogically connected to King David, but also born in Bethlehem, “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+2%3A11&version=NASB">the city of David</a>.” </p>
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<p>Genealogical claims were made for important ancient founders and political leaders. For example, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0110%3Acard%3D41">Ion</a>, the founder of the Greek colonies in Asia, was considered to be a descendant of Apollo. <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/alexander*/3.html">Alexander the Great</a>, whose empire reached from Macedonia to India, was claimed to be a son of Hercules. <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html">Caesar Augustus</a>, who was the first Roman emperor, was proclaimed as a descendant of Apollo. And a Jewish writer named Philo who lived in the first century wrote that <a href="http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book9.html">Abraham and the Jewish priest and prophets</a> were born of God.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether these claims were accepted at the time to be true, they shaped a person’s ethnic identity, political status and claims to honor. As the Greek historian Polybius explains, the renown deeds of ancestors are “<a href="http://perseus.uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=GreekFeb2011&getid=1&query=Polyb.%206.54">part of the heritage of posterity</a>.” </p>
<p>Matthew and Luke’s inclusion of the city of Bethlehem contributed to the claim that Jesus was the Messiah from a Davidic lineage. They made sure that readers were aware of Jesus’ genealogical connection to King David with the mention of this city. Birth stories in Bethlehem solidified the claim that Jesus was a rightful descendant of King David. </p>
<p>So today, when the importance of Bethlehem is heard in Christmas carols or displayed in Nativity scenes, the name of the town connects Jesus to an ancestral lineage and the prophetic hope for a new leader like King David. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The differences in the Gospels are hard to reconcile. That’s because, says a scholar, they offer an important insight into the Greco-Roman views of ethnic identity.Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III, Adjunct Assistant Professor of the New Testament, Fuller Theological SeminaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1247422019-12-18T13:51:59Z2019-12-18T13:51:59ZHow St. Francis created the Nativity scene, with a miraculous event in 1223<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307507/original/file-20191217-58307-1wckxeo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The earliest biblical descriptions do not mention the presence of any barnyard animals, that are part of Nativity displays today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oscar99ta/341887154/in/photolist-wdg97-wdg9b-Py2e9x-2dnjWS4-4d6L17-7rUFAe-7rUAvH-7rUAnv-5L62fg-5KcfGh-5KcfVG-dzy5z7-b18Vc6-2aN4EGw-2hW3xoC-2dJfCpz-9grTwi-dAkYnx-5MpqrB-BHnJhu-ogyD-7gFut-9MCbak-9cBBpx-C33xe9-8ZzrVT-vrT6A-tzUJv-dAkYCP-dyZPPp-tcMAG-2gi65eH-vrUJA-vMYqs-7nHcN4-CQV4pi-v3g6H-LryVXX-91KnqH-jHCS2z-vG5rL-4ahezq-91Nuc7-AVre2V-BQDWGj-91Kn2r-cuKTcG-23fnFEk-5MV1JB-WQf5R7">Oscar Llerena/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around the Christmas season, it is common to see a display of the Nativity scene: a small manger with the baby Jesus and his family, shepherds, the three wise men believed to have visited Jesus after his birth and several barnyard animals.</p>
<p>One might ask, what are the origins of this tradition? </p>
<h2>Biblical description</h2>
<p>The earliest biblical descriptions, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, written between A.D. 80 and 100, offer details of Jesus’ birth, including that he was born in Bethlehem during the reign of King Herod.</p>
<p>The Gospel of Luke <a href="http://www.drbo.org/chapter/49002.htm">says</a> that when the shepherds went to Bethlehem, they “found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.” <a href="http://www.drbo.org/chapter/47002.htm">Matthew</a> tells the story of the three wise men, or Magi, who “fell down” in worship and offered gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.</p>
<p>But as my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TxC_AdIAAAAJ&hl=en">research on the relationship between the New Testament and the development of popular Christian traditions</a> shows, the earliest biblical descriptions do not <a href="http://www.drbo.org/chapter/49002.htm">mention the presence of any animals</a>. Animals first start to appear in religious texts around the seventh century. </p>
<p>A series of early Christian stories that informed popular religious devotion, including what’s known as the Infancy Gospel of Matthew, attempted to fill in the gap between Christ’s infancy and the beginning of his public ministry. This text was the <a href="http://gnosis.org/library/psudomat.htm">first to mention</a> the presence of animals at Jesus’ birth. It described how the “most blessed Mary went forth out of the cave and entering a stable, placed the child in the stall, and the ox and the ass adored Him.” </p>
<p>This description, subsequently cited in several medieval Christian texts, created the Christmas story popular today. </p>
<h2>Start of Nativity scenes</h2>
<p>But the Nativity scene now recreated in town squares and churches worldwide was originally conceived by St. Francis of Assisi.</p>
<p>Much of what scholars know about Francis comes from “<a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/bonaventure/assisi/francis.shtml">Life of St. Francis</a>,” written by the 13th-century theologian and philosopher St. Bonaventure. </p>
<p>Francis was <a href="https://www.ecatholic2000.com/bonaventure/assisi/francis.shtml">born into a merchant family</a> in the Umbrian town of Assisi, in modern-day Italy, around 1181. But Francis rejected his family wealth early in his life and cast off his garments in the public square. </p>
<p>In 1209, he <a href="https://ofm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/The_Rule.pdf">founded the mendicant order of the Franciscans</a>, a religious group that dedicated themselves to works of charity. Today, Franciscans minister by serving the material and spiritual needs of the poor and socially marginalized.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298810/original/file-20191027-113953-1gm8m2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St. Francis of Assisi preparing the Christmas crib at Greccio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/giotto/st-francis-of-assisi-preparing-the-christmas-crib-at-grecchio-1300">Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Assisi, Italy</a></span>
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<p>According to Bonaventure, Francis in 1223 sought permission from Pope Honorious III to do something “for the kindling of devotion” to the birth of Christ. As part of his preparations, Francis “made ready a manger, and bade hay, together with an ox and an ass,” in the small Italian town of Greccio.</p>
<p>One witness, among the crowd that gathered for this event, reported that Francis included a carved doll which cried tears of joy and “seemed to be awakened from sleep when the blessed Father Francis embraced Him in both arms.” </p>
<p>This miracle of the crying doll moved all who were present, Bonaventure writes. But Francis made another miracle happen, too: The hay that the child lay in healed sick animals and protected people from disease.</p>
<h2>Nativity imagery in art</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298828/original/file-20191027-113980-wltsy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Adoration of the Magi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/fra-angelico/adoration-of-the-magi">Fra Angelico</a></span>
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<p>The Nativity story continued to expand within Christian devotional culture well after Francis’ death. In 1291, Pope Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope, ordered that a permanent Nativity scene be erected at Santa Maria Maggiore, the largest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Rome. </p>
<p>Nativity imagery dominated Renaissance art.</p>
<p>This first living Nativity scene – which was famously depicted by Italian Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone in the Arena Chapel of Padua, Italy – ushered in a new tradition of staging the birth of Christ. </p>
<p>In the tondo, a circular painting of the Adoration of the Magi by 15th-century painters Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, not only are there sheep, a donkey, a cow and an ox, there is even a colorful peacock that peers over the top of the manger to catch a glimpse of Jesus.</p>
<h2>Political turn of Nativity scenes</h2>
<p>After the birth of Jesus, King Herod, feeling as though his power was threatened by Jesus, ordered the execution of all boys under two years old. Jesus, Mary and Joseph were forced to flee to Egypt.</p>
<p>In an acknowledgment that Jesus, Mary and Joseph were refugees themselves, in recent years, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baby-jesus-in-cage-churchs-immigration-themed-nativity-scene-dedham-2018-12-06/">some churches</a> have used their Nativity scenes as a form of political activism to comment on the need for immigrant justice. Specifically, these “protest nativities” have criticized President Donald Trump’s 2018 executive order on family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border. </p>
<p>For example, in 2018, a church in Dedham, Massachusetts, placed baby Jesus, representing immigrant children, in a cage. This year, at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/12/08/church-nativity-displays-jesus-mary-joseph-cages-separated-border/">Claremont United Methodist Church</a> in California, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus have all been placed in separate barbed-wire cages in their outdoor Nativity scene. </p>
<p>These displays, which call attention to the plight of immigrants and asylum seekers, bring the Christian tradition into the 21st century.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vanessa Corcoran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nativity scenes showing the birth of baby Jesus first originated in the small Italian town of Greccio.Vanessa Corcoran, Adjunct Professor of History, Academic Counselor, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1035052018-10-23T10:43:58Z2018-10-23T10:43:58ZWhy the Christian idea of hell no longer persuades people to care for the poor<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241693/original/file-20181022-105754-921ihj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What was behind early depictions of hell?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zabowski/15465394027">Erica Zabowski/Flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s that time of the year when hell is used as a common theme for entertainment and <a href="http://www.7floorsofhell.com/">hell-themed haunted houses</a> and <a href="https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/hell-fest-review-1202961010">horror movies</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/10/30/these-evangelical-haunted-houses-are-designed-to-show-sinners-that-theyre-going-to-hell/?utm_term=.868a196a5002">pop up all over</a> the country. </p>
<p>Although many of us now associate hell with Christianity, the idea of an afterlife existed much earlier. Greeks and Romans, for example, used the concept of Hades, an underworld where the dead lived, both as a way of understanding death and as a moral tool.</p>
<p>However, in the present times, the use of this rhetoric has radically changed. </p>
<h2>Rhetoric in ancient Greece and Rome</h2>
<p>The earliest Greek and Roman depictions of Hades in the epics did not focus on punishment, but described a <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D1">dark shadowy place</a> of dead people.</p>
<p>In Book 11 of the Greek epic the <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D1">“Odyssey</a>,” Odysseus travels to the realm of the dead, encountering countless familiar faces, including his own mother. </p>
<p>Near the end of Odysseus’ tour, he encounters a few souls being punished for their misdeeds, including Tantalus, who was sentenced eternally to have food and drink just out of reach. It is this punishment from which the word “tantalize” originated.</p>
<p>Hundreds of years later, the Roman poet Virgil, in his epic poem “Aeneid,” describes a similar <a href="http://www.theoi.com/Text/VirgilAeneid6.html">journey of a Trojan, Aeneas</a>, to an underworld, where many individuals receive rewards and punishments. </p>
<p>This ancient curriculum was used for <a href="https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/educating-early-christians-through-the-rhetoric-of-hell-9783161529634">teaching</a> everything from politics to economics to virtue, to students across the Roman empire, for hundreds of years. </p>
<p>In later literature, these early traditions around punishment persuaded readers to behave ethically in life so that they could avoid punishment after death. For example, Plato <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D10">describes the journey of a man named Er</a>, who watches as souls ascend to a place of reward, and descend to a place of punishment. Lucian, an ancient second century A.D. satirist takes this one step further in depicting Hades as a place where the <a href="https://www.loebclassics.com/view/lucian-menippus_descent_hades/1925/pb_LCL162.71.xml">rich turned into donkeys</a> and had to bear the burdens of the poor on their backs for 250 years. </p>
<p>For Lucian this comedic depiction of the rich in hell was a way to critique excess and economic inequality in his own world. </p>
<h2>Early Christians</h2>
<p>By the time the New Testament gospels were written in the first century A.D., Jews and early Christians were moving away from the idea that all of the dead go to the same place. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241698/original/file-20181022-105770-1slmx4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241698/original/file-20181022-105770-1slmx4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241698/original/file-20181022-105770-1slmx4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241698/original/file-20181022-105770-1slmx4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241698/original/file-20181022-105770-1slmx4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241698/original/file-20181022-105770-1slmx4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241698/original/file-20181022-105770-1slmx4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early Christians portrayed hell through different terms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paukrus/17069609286">paukrus/Flickr.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the Gospel of Matthew, the story of Jesus is told with <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+8%3A12&version=NRSV">frequent mentions</a> of “the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.” As I describe in my <a href="https://www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/book/educating-early-christians-through-the-rhetoric-of-hell-9783161529634">book</a>, many of the images of judgment and punishment that Matthew uses represent the early development of a Christian notion of hell. </p>
<p>The Gospel of Luke does not discuss final judgment as frequently, but it does contain a memorable representation of hell. The <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+16%3A19-31&version=NRSV">Gospel describes Lazarus</a>, a poor man who had lived his life hungry and covered with sores, at the gate of a rich man, who disregards his pleas. After death, however, the poor man is taken to heaven. Meanwhile, it is the turn of the rich man to be in agony as he suffers in the flames of hell and cries out for Lazarus to give him some water. </p>
<h2>For the marginalized other</h2>
<p>Matthew and Luke are not simply offering audiences a fright fest. Like Plato and later Lucian, these New Testament authors recognized that images of damnation would capture the attention of their audience and persuade them to behave according to the ethical norms of each gospel. </p>
<p>Later Christian reflections on hell picked up and expanded this emphasis. Examples can be seen in the later apocalypses of <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/apocalypsepeter-roberts.html">Peter</a> and <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/apocalypsepaul.html">Paul</a> – stories that use strange imagery to depict future times and otherworldly spaces. These apocalypses included punishments for those who did not prepare meals for others, care for the poor or care for the widows in their midst. </p>
<p>Although these stories about hell were not ultimately included in the Bible, they were extremely <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27793794?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">popular</a> in the ancient church, and were used regularly in worship.</p>
<p>A major idea in Matthew was that love for one’s neighbor was central to following Jesus. Later depictions of hell built upon <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A30-46&version=NRSV">this emphasis</a>, inspiring people to care for the “least of these” in their community.</p>
<h2>Damnation then and now</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241697/original/file-20181022-105782-1y3xl6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241697/original/file-20181022-105782-1y3xl6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241697/original/file-20181022-105782-1y3xl6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241697/original/file-20181022-105782-1y3xl6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241697/original/file-20181022-105782-1y3xl6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241697/original/file-20181022-105782-1y3xl6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241697/original/file-20181022-105782-1y3xl6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The idea of hell is used to bring about conversions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=114461&picture=repent-or-burn">William Morris</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the contemporary world, the notion of hell is used to scare people into becoming Christians, with an emphasis on personal sins rather than a failure to care for the poor or hungry.</p>
<p>In the United States, as religion scholar <a href="https://religiousstudies.stanford.edu/people/kathryn-gin-lum">Katherine Gin Lum</a> <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/damned-nation-9780199843114?cc=us&lang=en&">has argued</a>, the threat of hell was a powerful tool in the age of nation-building. In the early Republic, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/damned-nation-9780199843114?cc=us&lang=en&">as she explains</a>, “fear of the sovereign could be replaced by fear of God.” </p>
<p>As the ideology of republicanism developed, with its emphasis on individual rights and political choice, the way that the rhetoric of hell worked also shifted. Instead of motivating people to choose behaviors that promoted social cohesion, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/damned-nation-9780199843114?cc=us&lang=en&">hell was used by evangelical preachers</a> to get individuals to repent for their sins.</p>
<p>Even though people still read Matthew and Luke, it is this individualistic emphasis, I argue, that continues to inform our modern understanding of hell. It is evident in the hell-themed Halloween attractions with their focus on gore and personal shortcomings. </p>
<p>These depictions are unlikely to portray the consequences for people who have neglected to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked, care for the sick or visit those in prison. </p>
<p>The fears around hell, in the current times, play only on the ancient rhetoric of eternal punishment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meghan Henning received funding from the Jacob K. Javitts fellowship (U.S. department of education). </span></em></p>Hell-themed Halloween attractions play on people’s fears. The early depictions of hell were meant to use fear as a moral guide to help others.Meghan Henning, Assistant Professor of Christian Origins, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/882212017-12-12T15:20:06Z2017-12-12T15:20:06ZHow parenthood has changed the way I read ancient stories of Joseph and Mary’s relationship with Jesus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198615/original/file-20171211-31715-1o90jak.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hanging church courtyard tile mural showing holy family traveling.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACairo_-_Coptic_area_-_Hanging_Church_courtyard_-_tile_mural_showing_holy_family_traveling.JPG">Daniel Mayer (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Christmas approaches, many Christians will reflect on the Nativity, or birth of Jesus. The Christian Bible includes two different stories of the birth of Jesus, found in the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1-2&version=NRSV">Gospel of Matthew</a> and the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1-2&version=NRSV">Gospel of Luke</a>. But there are precious few details about the rest of his childhood in the New Testament.</p>
<p>Some Christians today may wonder, what happened next? </p>
<h2>The Infancy Gospel of Thomas</h2>
<p>I write about this question in my book, <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15736.html">“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: Family Trouble in the Infancy Gospels</a>.” The <a href="http://www.tonyburke.ca/infancy-gospel-of-thomas/infancy-gospel-of-thomas-greek-s/">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</a>, a key source for my book, describes the childhood of Jesus. It is “extracanonical,” meaning that it cannot be found in copies of the Bible belonging to the main branches of Christianity. </p>
<p>It is not a source for the historical Jesus. What it reveals instead is the early Christian imagination. It was read widely by ancient Christians, who copied the stories and translated them into a number of different languages: <a href="http://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/infancy-gospel-of-thomas/">Greek, Latin, Syriac, Arabic, to name a few</a>.</p>
<p>The Infancy Gospel of Thomas includes stories about the child Jesus between the ages of five and 12. The contents of this gospel might trouble many modern-day Christians, who picture Jesus, even in childhood, as a perfect being. </p>
<p>While the child Jesus performs blessings, healing his brother, James, for example, from a snakebite, he also gets into trouble. Jesus curses and hurts other children. He gets a bad reputation. When a playmate named Zeno falls from a roof and dies, his parents accuse Jesus of pushing Zeno from the roof. But Jesus brings the dead boy back to life. The parents of Zeno praise God and the young savior.</p>
<h2>Jesus, age 12</h2>
<p>If readers are confused by the behavior of the child Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, they are in the same position as his parents. Mary and Joseph don’t understand him. </p>
<p>The final episode of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas is an echo of the single childhood story about Jesus in the New Testament. In the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+2%3A41-52&version=NRSV">Gospel of Luke</a>, the holy family nearly splits up. Jesus, 12 years old at the time, goes with his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Afterwards, Mary and Joseph head back home. But not Jesus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198617/original/file-20171211-31715-1wmkeqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198617/original/file-20171211-31715-1wmkeqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198617/original/file-20171211-31715-1wmkeqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198617/original/file-20171211-31715-1wmkeqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198617/original/file-20171211-31715-1wmkeqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198617/original/file-20171211-31715-1wmkeqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198617/original/file-20171211-31715-1wmkeqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Holman_Hunt_-_The_Finding_of_the_Saviour_in_the_Temple.jpg">William Holman Hunt via Wikimedia Commons.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He stays in Jerusalem without permission. Traveling home, Mary and Joseph suddenly realize that Jesus is missing. Three days into the search they find the child in the temple in Jerusalem, teaching the grownups. Mary scolds Jesus for upsetting them, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jesus replies,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jesus shrugs off Mary’s worry and all but ignores Joseph, speaking instead of his divine father. His words leave Mary and Joseph at a loss as they do not understand what he said to them.</p>
<h2>Far from the tree</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198618/original/file-20171211-31706-62feqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198618/original/file-20171211-31706-62feqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198618/original/file-20171211-31706-62feqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198618/original/file-20171211-31706-62feqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198618/original/file-20171211-31706-62feqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198618/original/file-20171211-31706-62feqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198618/original/file-20171211-31706-62feqx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jordaens’s ‘Return of the Holy Family from Egypt.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jordaens_Return_of_the_Holy_Family_from_Egypt.jpg">Jacques Jordaens via Wikimedia Commons.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I suspect that Mary and Joseph’s failure to understand Jesus is the element that will resonate most strongly with modern readers. It reminds me of <a href="http://andrewsolomon.com/">Andrew Solomon’s</a> powerful book, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Far_From_the_Tree.html?id=gxl5BAAAQBAJ">“Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity</a>,” which describes parents and children who seem to be separated by profound differences. </p>
<p>In one chapter Solomon describes the experiences of parents of deaf children. In another, he portrays the challenges faced by families with children born with Down syndrome. What Solomon uncovers through these case studies is “the profound unknowability of even the most intimate human relationship.”</p>
<p>Yet, as Solomon observes, differences can strengthen rather than weaken bonds. Differences that push us to the limits of understanding can nevertheless teach us how to love.</p>
<p>Solomon’s chapter on Down syndrome hits close to home. I am the father of two children, one who was born with Down syndrome and one who was born without an extra chromosome. On rare days the stars align, and I know exactly what to say or do as a parent. Most of the time I am uncertain. Sometimes, I am deeply confused. Yet, like Andrew Solomon, I think love is built from all of these moments.</p>
<p>Perhaps a similar message can be found in the story of the 12-year-old Jesus. Is he “far from the tree”? Uncertain after the scene in Jerusalem, Mary, Joseph and Jesus return home together. Family is not a clearly defined structure in the story: It isn’t biologically based or reflective of some “norm.” It is instead a choice to stick together, come what may. </p>
<p>This Christmas, stories about the baby Jesus will get most of the attention. But spare a thought for the tween-age Jesus and his confused parents. They don’t always understand him. </p>
<p>They love him anyway.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher A. Frilingos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Family is not a clearly defined structure in the story: It isn’t biological or reflective of some ‘norm.’ It is instead a choice to stick together, come what may.Christopher A. Frilingos, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/886272017-12-11T02:59:40Z2017-12-11T02:59:40ZTaxing the rich to help the poor? Here’s what the Bible says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198347/original/file-20171208-27719-s8qpnl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Biblical principles have provided an understanding on how to help the needy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/collection-bowl-fundraiser-566275330?src=ho_Qi4Co8UQ_dGHjO_UdoQ-1-0">Lamppost Collective/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The new tax reform bill has led to an intense debate over whether it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/us/politics/senate-tax-bills-potential-hurdle-republicans.html?_r=0">would help or hurt the poor</a>. Tax reform in general raises critical issues about whether the <a href="https://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2016/07/redistribution-and-policy">government should redistribute income and promote equality</a> in the first place.</p>
<p>Jews and Christians look to the Bible for guidance about these questions. And while the Bible is clear about aiding the poor, it does not provide easy answers about taxing the rich. But even so, over the centuries biblical principles have provided an understanding on how to help the needy. </p>
<h2>The Hebrew Bible and the poor</h2>
<p>The Hebrew Bible has extensive regulations that require the wealthy to set aside for the poor a portion of the crops that they grow. </p>
<p>The Bible’s Book of <a href="http://biblehub.com/niv/leviticus/19.htm">Leviticus</a> states that the needy have a right to the “leftovers” of the harvest. Farmers are also prohibited from <a href="https://www.ou.org/torah/mitzvot/taryag/mitzvah216/">reaping the corners of their fields</a> so that the poor can access and use for their own food the crops grown there. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198351/original/file-20171208-27708-ek8q6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198351/original/file-20171208-27708-ek8q6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198351/original/file-20171208-27708-ek8q6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198351/original/file-20171208-27708-ek8q6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198351/original/file-20171208-27708-ek8q6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198351/original/file-20171208-27708-ek8q6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198351/original/file-20171208-27708-ek8q6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hebrew Bible.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenlarson/379599901/in/photolist-zxxPT-ryy2PS-3itG9i-CXDcXk-g37uh3-6uq1KW-FaFJhx-92mkWw-7uSiSn-c238ZC-AZnkcU-7UVdqj-88vokV-eaRvvi-FbwAQ5-4C2C7p-4iFh4w-88yCdJ-g3b24e-bhoTyP-E5xGyp-bdHy9p-5SyJ39-inbaYu-zk7jCA-4p3RvF-9U1fye-892zjV-5Sz8F5-cF3oKf-6ygARC-sNHNL-piADfs-5Sz6uo-eb9TCG-eb9StS-5Sz9mS-6ZzqKv-6ymoN7-6onrVc-6ZDryy-9dLJVQ-iHdr9M-4M82oF-5SzLSh-sNE22-dFycg8-9EDyiZ-b984Dx-5SuKeF">Darren Larson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2014:22-29">Deuteronomy</a>, the fifth book of the Bible, there is the requirement that every three years, 10 percent of a person’s produce should be given to “foreigners, the fatherless and widows.”</p>
<p>Helping the poor is a way of “paying rent” to God, who is understood to actually own all property and who provides the rain and sun needed to grow crops. In fact, every seventh year, during the <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/">sabbatical</a> year, all debts are forgiven and everything that grows in the land is made available freely to all people. Then, in the great <a href="http://biblehub.com/niv/leviticus/25.htm">jubilee</a>, celebrated every 50 years, property returns to its original owner. This means that, in the biblical model, no one can permanently hold onto something that finally belongs to God.</p>
<h2>Christians and taxes</h2>
<p>In the Gospel of Matthew, <a href="http://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/25.htm">Jesus says</a>, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Jesus thus joins respect for the poor with respect for God. In the Gospel of Mark, <a href="http://biblehub.com/niv/mark/12.htm">Jesus also states</a> “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” which is often interpreted as requiring Christians to pay taxes. </p>
<p>Throughout Christian history, taxation has been considered an essential government responsibility. </p>
<p>The Protestant reformers <a href="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40015004?seq%3D1%23page_scan_tab_contents&source=gmail&ust=1512742141860000&usg=AFQjCNGy1Z2pyRqdMHmyR6v2zSDXLCkc_w">Martin Luther</a> and <a href="https://matthewtuininga.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/what-did-calvin-think-the-government-should-do-for-the-poor/">John Calvin</a> drew upon <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+72">Psalm 72</a> to argue that a “righteous” government helps the poor. </p>
<p>In 16th-century England, “<a href="http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/the-poor-law.htm">poor laws</a>” were passed to aid “the deserving poor and unemployed.” The “deserving poor” were children, the old and the sick. By contrast, the “undeserving poor” were beggars and criminals and they were usually put in prison. These laws also shaped <a href="https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/poor-relief-early-amer/">early American</a> approaches to social welfare.</p>
<h2>The common good</h2>
<p>Over the last two centuries, new economic realities have raised new challenges in applying biblical principles to economic life. Approaches not foreseen in biblical times emerged in an attempt to respond to new situations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198350/original/file-20171208-27689-gxqpfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198350/original/file-20171208-27689-gxqpfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198350/original/file-20171208-27689-gxqpfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198350/original/file-20171208-27689-gxqpfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198350/original/file-20171208-27689-gxqpfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198350/original/file-20171208-27689-gxqpfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198350/original/file-20171208-27689-gxqpfu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Salvation Army bucket.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/perspective/74514429/in/photolist-7pk2ML-a2NbFy-a3ngbG-CdTjM2-7kAHki-7zXcQ-7zUxv-7zUxw-7zUxx-4euUhA-7zXcT-7i5TZk-qL3P8p-jg1rHe-5i2CTs">Elvert Barnes</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 19th century, organizations like the <a href="http://www.salvationarmy.org/">Salvation Army</a> believed that Christians should go out of the churches and into the streets to care for the destitute. During this period, the United States also saw the rise of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-social-gospel-movement-explains-the-roots-of-todays-religious-left-78895">social gospel movement</a> that emphasized biblical ideals of justice and equality. Poverty was considered a social problem that required a comprehensive social – and governmental – response.</p>
<p>The idea that government has an important role to play in human flourishing was made by Pope Leo XIII in his 1891 encyclical <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum.html">Rerum Novarum</a>. In it, the pope argued that governments should promote “<a href="http://www.usccb.org/about/domestic-social-development/resources/upload/poverty-common-good-CST.pdf">the common good.</a>” <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html">Catholicism defines</a> the “common good” as the “conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” </p>
<p>While human fulfillment is not just about material comfort, the Catholic Church has always maintained that citizens should have access to food, housing and health care. As the Catholic Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church makes clear, taxation is necessary because government should “<a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#Tasks%20of%20the%20political%20community">harmonize</a>” society in a just way. </p>
<p>And when it comes to taxes, no one should pay more or less than they are able. As <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/biography/documents/hf_j-xxiii_bio_16071997_biography.html">Pope John XXIII</a> <a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_15051961_mater.html">wrote in 1961</a>, taxation must “be proportioned to the capacity of the people contributing.”</p>
<p>In other words, believing that helping the poor is simply an individual or private responsibility ignores the scope and complexity of the world we live in.</p>
<h2>Mercy, not the market</h2>
<p>Human life has become more interconnected. In today’s globalized economy, decisions made in the heartland of China impact the American Midwest. But even with this deepening interdependence, by some measures, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/apr/08/global-inequality-may-be-much-worse-than-we-think">inequality</a> has risen worldwide. In the United States alone, the top 1 percent possess an increasingly <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/03/brookings-1-percent/473478/">larger share</a> of national income.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198353/original/file-20171208-27674-c5dns5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/198353/original/file-20171208-27674-c5dns5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198353/original/file-20171208-27674-c5dns5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198353/original/file-20171208-27674-c5dns5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198353/original/file-20171208-27674-c5dns5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198353/original/file-20171208-27674-c5dns5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/198353/original/file-20171208-27674-c5dns5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What social policy will do the most good?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fibonacciblue/5622069827/in/photolist-9yNzup-8ZfdRU-bEvuFi-8KVmxT-7QRhJ7-aV6gfK-dzshaF-9MZWzw-dzxMPu-aBCkcS-84ySLH-9N18eh-9MXfUM-9yRB6b-bziy7j-9MXgeV-aqVu12-bYmST1-9yNA8R-8KVmLD-9MXgor-bDedZq-8NLPMg-TcfSig-9xXqcE-9xUrxR-H1qpRF-PULhtu-WAboDG-VVeQCN-WAbqyd-WWhf9f-XbTJkV-XbTHde-H6YMq8-21S4nDN-XbTHJ4-VVeRMG-WAbqbu-VVeRzh-WAbsZL-21S4n3C-223zcM8-Cp25TM-ZGdovX-21S4nLw-H1qpyB-21S4ngJ-H6YMJp-WAbqXE">Fibonacci Blue</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to helping the poor in these current times, some argue that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-plan-analysis-growth-debt-deficit-2017-11">cutting taxes on individuals and corporations</a> will stimulate economic growth and create jobs – called the “<a href="https://www.thebalance.com/trickle-down-economics-theory-effect-does-it-work-3305572">trickle-down effect</a>,” in which money <a href="https://academic.oup.com/restud/article/64/2/151/1580865">flows</a> from those at the top of the social pyramid down to lower levels. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/pope-francis-denounces-trickle-down-economic-theories-in-critique-of-inequality/2013/11/26/e17ffe4e-56b6-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html?utm_term=.bd570ddbf156">Pope Francis</a>, however, argues that “trickle-down” economics places a “crude and naive trust in those wielding economic power.” In the pope’s view, an <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-mercy-72461">ethics of mercy</a>, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2017/11/16/markets-mercy-new-book-looks-church-neoliberalism/">not the market</a>, should shape society.</p>
<p>But given the Jewish and Christian commitment to the poor, the question is perhaps a factual one: What social policy does the most good? </p>
<p>In the <a href="http://biblehub.com/nlt/luke/6.htm">Gospel of Luke</a>, Jesus taught: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>At the very least, this means that people should never be afraid to offer up what they have in order to help those in need.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Schmalz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New economic realities have raised new challenges in applying Biblical principles to economic life. But they could still provide guidance on how to help those in need and how to levy taxes.Mathew Schmalz, Associate Professor of Religion, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/874222017-11-15T00:14:44Z2017-11-15T00:14:44ZDid early Christians believe that Mary was a teenager? It’s complicated<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194640/original/file-20171114-26420-1txgrhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The holy family.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Nov. 13, a fifth Alabama woman came forward <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/us/politics/roy-moore-alabama-senate.html">to accuse Roy Moore</a>, former judge and current GOP Senate candidate, of sexual assault when she was 16. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/14/politics/paul-ryan-roy-moore/index.html">Condemnation of Moore</a> has been widespread, but Moore himself <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/13/roy-moore-allegations-alabama-senate-244860">vehemently denies</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.6aa6185d3a00">these allegations</a>. He has backing from many in Alabama. </p>
<p>One of his most controversial statements of support came from Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler, <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/alabama-state-auditor-defends-roy-moore-against-sexual-allegations-invokes-mary-and-joseph/article/2640217">who declared</a>: “there’s nothing immoral or illegal here…Maybe just a little unusual.” Ziegler went on to appeal to the Christian story of Mary and Joseph:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I find the allegations against Moore repulsive. But, in addition, as a scholar of early Christianity, Ziegler’s remarks took my breath away. As most Christians would know, an important tenet of Christian theology is that Jesus was born of a virgin mother. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194641/original/file-20171114-26470-1vi18cs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Hal Yeager</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, there are many other little-known details in early Christian storytelling about the relationship between Mary and Joseph that I learned while researching my book, <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15736.html">“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: Family Trouble in the Infancy Gospels</a>.” Early Christians believed that Mary and Joseph did not have sex, but there was much more that was worth learning from that relationship. </p>
<p>Listen up, Jim Ziegler. </p>
<h2>The gospel narratives</h2>
<p>The Christian Bible includes four gospels, or narratives, of the life of Jesus. Two of them, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, include accounts of Jesus’s birth. These two versions of the “Christmas story” supply almost all of the details about Mary and Joseph that can be found in the Christian Bible.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1-2&version=NRSV">In Matthew 1-2</a>, readers learn about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the visit of the Magi or “wise men” to see the newborn and the flight of the holy family to Egypt in order to escape King Herod’s killing of infants. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1-2&version=NRSV">Luke 1-2</a> describes the birth of John (the cousin of Jesus), an imperial census under the Roman Emperor Augustus and the appearance of angels celebrating the birth of Jesus in the skies above Bethlehem.</p>
<p>Both the gospels seem to agree that Mary conceived by supernatural means, not through sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, whatever Zeigler claims, neither the Gospel of Matthew nor the Gospel of Luke specifies the ages of Mary and Joseph.</p>
<h2>The Proto-gospel of James</h2>
<p>The earliest source to mention ages is another ancient Christian gospel: the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a>. This gospel is a prequel to the more familiar stories of the first Christmas found in the Christian Bible. It was written in the second century A.D., a hundred years or so after the gospels of the Christian New Testament. Critically, it is mostly unknown to Christians because it is not found in their Bibles. </p>
<p>Even so, the Proto-gospel of James is an important witness to the things that mattered to early Christians. The relationship of Mary and Joseph is one of them.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a> tends to fill in gaps left by the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This, for example, is where readers can learn about the parents of Mary – Joachim and Anna – and about the divine intervention that leads to Anna’s conception of Mary.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">This gospel</a> also recounts the story of when Mary met Joseph, details absent from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In this telling, Joseph, an elderly widower, is chosen by lottery to take care of Mary, who is 12 years old at the time. </p>
<p>Like the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a> reports that Mary does not conceive through sexual intercourse. She receives news from the angel Gabriel that she will become pregnant and bear a son, Jesus. But the Proto-gospel of James’s account adds a new wrinkle: Mary forgets about her encounter with the angel. When she realizes that she’s pregnant, she’s overcome with fear and confusion. Joseph is likewise confused by Mary’s pregnancy. He nevertheless remains loyal and protects the 12-year-old girl. He takes her to a cave outside of Bethlehem. Soon there is a blinding flash of light. As it recedes, a child appears. </p>
<p>Jesus has arrived.</p>
<h2>Familiar and unfamiliar</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194643/original/file-20171114-26445-a3lhea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New Testament.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bc-burnslibrary/9161643118/in/photolist-eXzPj7-VT5EuQ-TNXD8h-Weqscg-npy3yc-UmXpFo-TjFJFS-WWDTWB-X9szg4-VxsQMu-UX1mGB-VL9ghz-UqDpEJ-Ur1f1L-VwCxbn-UtAfEu-VnqE49-W2UC42-VC2gJi-VSXnZu-U5QDEo-XjFNxi-V8KYXA-TEJwjw-TEJwxs-Gd5Xa8-W6ko8R-UuEuJP-UouHfe-VyszHQ-Ukj3Y9-6ZDrYC-W3rMs4-TGfufU-UrqNib-TzjURn-eXzPgU-TEF8R1-W6kob6-AxWWh6-eXzPfY-UUjAC6-UyywVY-VnWPC7-mUrzrb-UyywxU-UxaMAv-UZEsDE-VC2gLT-VyqHGj">Burns Library, Boston College Follow</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some of these details will be familiar to readers of the New Testament: the town of Bethlehem, for example, and the angelic announcement to Mary – the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+1-2&version=NRSV">Annunciation</a> – that she will become pregnant. </p>
<p>Other details, however, will come as a surprise: Wasn’t Jesus born in Bethlehem, and not, as the Proto-gospel of James reports, outside of Bethlehem in a cave? And what about the story of how Mary met Joseph? The Proto-gospel of James adds to and changes elements of the earlier accounts of Matthew and Luke. </p>
<p>And then there are details that some Christians know from their religion that other Christians do not. Most Orthodox and Roman <a href="http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=22">Catholics</a>, for example, know the names of <a href="https://orthodoxwiki.org/Joachim_and_Anna">Anna and Joachim</a>, the parents of Mary, even though they do not include the Proto-gospel of James in their Bibles. Most Protestant Christians, by contrast, will be unfamiliar with these figures. </p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a> is just one example of a wide range of gospels and other early Christian writings that are not included in the Christian Bible. The storytelling about the holy family alone could fill a bookshelf: There is the <a href="http://www.tonyburke.ca/infancy-gospel-of-thomas/the-childhood-of-the-saviour-infancy-gospel-of-thomas-a-new-translation/">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</a>, the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0848.htm">Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew</a> and the <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0805.htm">History of Joseph the Carpenter</a>. Written at different times in different places, these accounts reflect the early Christian fascination with the household of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. </p>
<h2>Love is not predatory</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=763&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194642/original/file-20171114-26445-fzk67l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=959&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Holy family with the lamb.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARaphael_Holy_Family_with_the_Lamb.jpg">Raphael via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One final observation that is relevant to Jim Ziegler’s comments: The Proto-gospel of James goes a step further than the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in making the point that there was no sexual contact between Mary and Joseph.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+1-2&version=NRSV">Gospel of Matthew</a>, Joseph overcomes personal anxiety about Mary’s pregnancy. In the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancyjames-hock.html">Proto-gospel of James</a>, the pregnancy of Mary becomes a matter of public scrutiny: Both Mary and Joseph must drink the “water of refutation,” a life-and-death ordeal designed to test the truth of their claims of not having had sex with one another. Both pass the test.</p>
<p>But the Proto-gospel of James is not just a story about the virginity of Mary, nor is it just about Joseph’s lack of involvement in the conception of Jesus. Mostly, it is a story about two people being swept up in events that they do not understand. </p>
<p>Together, Mary and Joseph risk everything despite not knowing what it all means. Amid the chaos, they learn to lean on each other. While Mary and Joseph do not, according to the Proto-gospel of James, have a physical relationship, they do love one another.</p>
<p>And love should not be compared to the predatory behavior alleged against Roy Moore.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87422/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher A. Frilingos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Alabama state auditor defended Roy Moore, citing Mary and Joseph. A scholar goes back to early Christian texts texts to explain lesser-known beliefs about the relationship.Christopher A. Frilingos, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.