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

by Andrew Lincoln

The diversity among the witnesses to Jesus’ conception within the New Testament also raises questions about scriptural truth. Such questions are, of course, not new and are raised, for instance, by the existence of the four very different Gospel narratives about the life of Jesus as a whole. Each can be seen as drawing out different aspects of the significance of God’s action through that life and thereby allowing the gospel message to speak again to a variety of different situations. Rather than assuming that scriptural truth has to be monolithic or uniform, readers can appreciate its plural and dialogical nature as, for example, they allow the different perspectives among Matthew, John, Paul, Hebrews and James on the nature of the salvation accomplished in Christ and on its relation to the Jewish law to be what they are and to challenge and interact with one another.