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SOUTHEASTERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
HISTORY DRIVING THEOLOGY:
A LITERARY, THEOLOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
OF THE MATTHEAN BIRTH NARRATIVES
SUBMITTED TO DR. ANDREAS KÖSTENBERGER IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF PHD9950 PHD DISSERTATION DEFENSE
BY LANCE T. BEAUCHAMP FEBRUARY 22, 2010
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...... 1
Relevance of the Study 1
Purpose of the Study 4
Organization and Methodology of the Study 6
CHAPTER 1: HISTORICAL AND MODERN INTERPRETATION OF THE MATTHEAN BIRTH NARRATIVE...... 9
The Early Church Fathers 9
Genealogy of Jesus 10
Virgin Birth 11
Magi and Moving Star 13
Chronology and Location of Birth 16
Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Sources 18
Middle Ages Through Renaissance 23
Anselm of Canterbury 24
Thomas Aquinas 25
Martin Luther 27
John Calvin 29
Erasmus 32
John Lightfoot 34
Nineteenth Century Lives of Jesus 36
ii Source Criticism and the Virgin Birth 36
Events of Matthew 2 40
Monographs of the Birth Narratives: Virgin Birth Revisited 42
Paul Lobstein 43
Louis Matthews Sweet 43
G. H. Box 45
Vincent Taylor 46
Elwood Worcester 48
J. Gresham Machen 49
Thomas Boslooper 50
Raymond Brown 51
Jane Schaberg 53
Edwin Freed 55
Twentieth Century Commentaries on Matthew 56
Genealogy and Virgin Birth 56
Events of Matthew 2 65
Recent Works on the Matthean Birth Narrative 71
John Meier 72
James D. G. Dunn 73
John Shelby Spong 74
Conclusion 76
CHAPTER 2: LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE MATTHEAN BIRTH NARRATIVE...... 77
Textual Criticism 77
iii Gospel Starting Point Comparison 80
Birth Narrative Comparison: Matthew and Luke 82
Literary Structure of Matthew 85
Literary Style and Vocabulary 89
Structure of Matthean Birth Narrative 92
Literary Analysis of the Genealogy (Matt 1:1–17) 94