A better solution, and one that explains why Luke and his readers might not have found the juxtaposition uncomfortable or contradictory, can be found by returning to Luke’s use of the conventions of ancient biography. The writers of such biographies were also sometimes content to juxtapose two different sorts of tradition, one natural and one miraculous, about their subjects’ origins and in some cases to leave readers to sort out the connection or to decide for themselves which to accept.
