Historical Analysis
See also: Genealogy of Jesus, Massacre of the Innocents, and Historicity of JesusScholars have debated whether these two accounts can be reconciled or not, and some view the narratives as non-historical. Some scholars view the discussion of historicity as secondary, given that gospels were primarily written as theological documents rather than chronological timelines.
For instance, Matthew pays far more attention to the name of the child and its theological implications than the actual birth event itself and according to Karl Rahner the evangelists show little interest in synchronizing the episodes of the birth or subsequent life of Jesus with the secular history of the age.
As a result, modern scholars generally do not use much of the birth narratives for historical information. Nevertheless, the birth narratives do contain some useful biographical information, e.g. Jesus being born near the end of Herod's reign and his father being named Joseph are considered historically plausible.
Read more about this topic: Nativity Of Jesus
Famous quotes containing the words historical and/or analysis:
“It is hard to believe that England is so near as from your letters it appears; and that this identical piece of paper has lately come all the way from there hither, begrimed with the English dust which made you hesitate to use it; from England, which is only historical fairyland to me, to America, which I have put my spade into, and about which there is no doubt.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A commodity appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing. But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)