An Overview of the doctrine of the virgin birth (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Bible, Theology, and the Virgin Birth: Continuing a Conversation?
2020
The topic of the virgin birth can provide a test case for the relation between critical biblical scholarship and creedal tradition within theological interpretation of Scripture. Divergent approaches to such interpretation are evident in Andrew Lincoln's monograph, Born of a Virgin? and Oliver Crisp's critique of that book in his Analyzing Doctrine. In this article Lincoln continues the discussion in a response to Crisp that explores some of their disagreements. It argues that Crisp misrepresents Lincoln's type of theological interpretation as dominated by a fear of anachronism, while Crisp himself unwittingly defends a version of the virgin birth that is not the traditional doctrine. Crisp's attempted theological refutations of Lincoln's proposals for a fully incarnational Christology without a literal virginal conception and for an interpretation of the later dogma in terms of its force of signaling Christ's full humanity are shown to be deficient. The exchange serves as a reminder that the result of bringing together biblical scholarship and theological skills will inevitably depend on the types of biblical and theological study involved and suggests that, in relation to the virgin birth, Crisp's version of analytic theology fails to do justice to the historical and cultural dimensions of biblical texts and creedal affirmations.
The doctrines of original sin and the virgin birth: divine revelation or human construct
Two South African theologians, Ben du Toit and Anton van Niekerk, recently published books in which they argued that postmodern believers can no longer subscribe to the doctrines of original sin and the virgin birth. According to them both these doctrines reflect a pre-modern world-view which should be regarded as outdated. However, they would not like to take leave of the grand narrative of Christianity. There are some fundamental flaws in the reasoning of both scholars. The doctrine of the virgin birth is intertwined with the doctrine of original sin, and both are important to the orthodox doctrine of salvation. As it is not viable or consistent to tamper with some of the orthodox doctrines and try to keep the rest intact, we are left with two options, either to discard the whole system and start afresh, or to try and keep the whole package intact. However, biblical research since the Enlightenment has ruled out the second option. The paper argues in support of this case and attempts to offer a different way forward for Christians living in the twenty-first century than the one offered by Du Toit and Van Niekerk.
The Immaculate Conception - A Theological Exploration.pdf
Our task, therefore, as we explore the Church’s teaching on the Immaculate Conception, will be to allow a dialogue between the voices of faith and reason to bring out its full meaning, and make it intelligible to any thinking person in the world today
Natus Ex Maria Virgine: A Case for Biblical Necessity and Biblical Fittingness of The Virgin Birth
Jurnal Amanat Agung, 2014
The purpose of this essay is to show that in spite of common objections, the doctrine of virgin birth is the only possible interpretation, inference and implication of what the Bible says, especially in the birth narratives. In other words, the doctrine is biblically or canonically necessary. Nevertheless, it will be argued that the doctrine is not metaphysically necessary: God can use other ways to bring about the incarnation while keeping the divinity, humanity, and sinlessness of Jesus Christ. Instead of defending the doctrine as metaphysically necessary, it is more fruitful to proclaim it as biblically fitting. Three theologians who see the doctrine as biblically fitting will be expounded (Irenaeus, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas), followed by suggestion to establish criteria for good biblical fittingness, partly by cultivating Christian imagination and a sense of divine mystery.
Westminster Theological Journal, 2021
Since the publication of J. Gresham Machen’s The Virgin Birth of Christ in 1930, there has been a wide variety of popular and scholarly engagements with the content and implications of Jesus’ infancy narratives. Machen’s weighty defense was among the most thorough treatments available at its time, and it cemented his already seminal role as a bastion oftheological conservatism in the midst of a changing era. Many of the initial responses to Machen’s work were positive, and with a few exceptions, publications produced in the decades immediately following were largely supportive of historic, traditional interpretations of the virgin birth. However, in the second half of the twentieth century, publications began to reveal a greater divide between the methodology and conclusions of interpreters, with a greater proliferation of dissenting voices. Within the last three decades, publications about the infancy narratives have reflected a further shift, namely, that the virgin birth has come to be viewed by an increasing number of interpreters as not only false but harmful. Even with more dissenting voices, there has also been an increase in defenses of the doctrine, following in Machen’s footsteps. This article will review how Jesus’ infancy narratives have been interpreted since 1930, examining developments over time. The analysis will begin with an examination of Machen’s original work and the responses to it, and will proceed by analyzing literature related to the virgin birth over the three thirty-year periods that have followed, with a view to affirming Machen’s arguments, interpretations, and enduring influence.
The Virgin-Birth Debate in Anthropological Literature: A Critical Assessment
Theological Studies
O ne of the most recent discussions in theological circles has focused on the Virgin Birth. 1 The debate has centered around the question, whether the virginal conception of Jesus was a historical fact. Theologians and Scripture scholars participating in the controversy have been unaware that the same topic was concurrently the subject of a lively, at times acrimonious, exchange in anthropological literature, 2 to which leading anthropologists from both sides of the Atlantic have contributed. 3 The anthropological debate on the Virgin Birth is important for a number of reasons. First, it is one of the few cases where anthropological theory has been applied to Christian beliefs. 4 Secondly, the topic under 1 See R. Brown, "The Problem of the Virginal Conception of Jesus," THEOLOGICAL STUDIES 33 (1972) 3-34, (a slightly revised version of this essay was published in Brown's monograph The Virginal Conception and the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus [New York, 1973]); J. A. Fitzmyer, "The Virginal Conception of Jesus in the New Testament," ibid. 34 (1973) 541-75. Both articles contain ample references to the copious literature on the subject. Cf. also A.