It is, of course, also theologically required if God is to reconcile humanity through Jesus’ full solidarity in that humanity. The possession of human DNA, as Kelsey has made clear, is basic to this view of humanity and yet, if we retain a virginal conception, even one in which half of this DNA is supplied miraculously, there remains at very best both a semantic and a theological ambiguity about the humanity of the Word become flesh. On the other hand, taking seriously the strand of New Testament witness whereby Jesus is the seed of David through Joseph requires no semantic and theological
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