Born of a Virgin?: Reconceiving Jesus In The Bible, Tradition And Theology

by Andrew Lincoln

Why focus on Jesus’ birth at all? What is the significance of anyone’s birth in relation to that person’s life as a whole? Though some have always turned to astrology to discover the significance of the time of their birth, for most people there is little to explore about the meaning of their births other than to state the obvious – they constitute the beginning of their lives. Any further significance is to be found only within the context of those lives as a whole. If those lives are deemed to have special importance, then their beginnings, in retrospect, are caught up in the impact of lives that have made a difference. In studying such lives due attention will then be paid to the formative influences on them from the very beginning, and the circumstances of their birth to particular parents at a particular time and a particular place can be said to take on meaning.