THE VIRGIN BIRTH

INTRODUCTION

The intent of this book is to take an objective look at a doctrine which over the centuries has become a test of faith in many religious circles; the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.  Often we find ourselves accepting without question the conventions and beliefs of those who surround us.  We accept their alphabet and their arithmetic, without any curiosity as to their origins, and with the vague feeling that they are products of nature rather than the works of humankind.  I feel as Descartes once put it that, "in order to seek truth, it is necessary once in the course of our life to doubt of all things" to doubt once, not necessarily in order to disbelieve always, but to discover whether our beliefs are well founded.

Because of this I wish to present as many facets as possible dealing with the several arguments surrounding this subject in order to gain a broader understanding of this present day doctrinal test of fellowship.  The modern world is asking questions.  Christianity and its traditional theology have come down to us from an age very different from our own, an age when the sun and the stars moved around the earth, when the meaning of natural law and evolution was only dimly apprehended, when the psychology of religion, the historical method, and the critical study of ancient documents was yet unborn.  These things touch the foundations of the old beliefs, and it is about the foundations that the world is asking.  We seek, through personal study and modern day inspiration, broader and more truthful understandings of God's plan for humanity.

The world is calling for religion to help us with those life-probing questions, but it cannot accept a religion if its theology is out of harmony with science, philosophy, and scholarship.  Those who believe should set themselves to a careful re-examination, and, if need be re-statement, of the foundations of their belief in the knowledge and thought of the day.

Today, few people read the New Testament with critical attention.  Many times we imagine that everything we ourselves know, or that we could know of the lives of Mary and her child comes from the text of the four Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Even a cursory examination will--

CHAPTER 1
THE INFANCY NARRATIVES

In the entirety of the New Testament there occur only two places where the childhood of Jesus is mentioned.  We find those narratives along with the account of his miraculous conception only in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke.  Even with these two accounts we find several harsh differences.  In our comparisons we must also keep in mind the intent with which each evangelist was writing.  Their objectives may not have been identical, and their audiences certainly different, for their proclamation that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.

Matthew and Luke

These two accounts differ in tone, atmosphere, and understanding of the subject.  They contain irreconcilable contradictions in the statements of facts.  It is important to begin our investigation with these only historical evidences that we have available to us.  To do so we must view critically the extent of their compatibility.  Three questions must be consistently before one's attention in a historical inquiry such as this. 1. What is the evidence?  2. How will it be evaluated?  3. How will it be interpreted?  In legal procedure, the jury hears the evidence of the witnesses, sifts and evaluates the conflicting testimony to find the facts, and then interprets the meaning of...