This link is to a nice synopsis of Stephen Carlson's thesis concerning Luke's account of Jesus' birth. I think I might have been present at an SBL session where Carlson presented this paper. Or I might be making that up based on my vague memory of reading this essay a couple years ago. Does anyone know if Carlson presented this paper at an annual or regional SBL... an affirmation it would help me improve my memory.
Anyway, really interesting thesis.
-anthony
My problem here is not with the history, but with what happens to the Christmas carols. Yes I'm Jewish, but I sang these carols every year in our elementary school pageants, so I feel entitled to complain about songs being stripped of innkeepers and barns in the name of "detailed lexical and semantic analysis."
ReplyDeleteOr maybe not. How does this revised carol strike you?
Away from the main room of his village home
Per the patrilocal marital custom
Joseph erected a marital chamber
A room too small for immaculate labor
So Jesus was born in the living room where
Joseph’s relatives were already crammed there
Mary and Jesus find space where they’re able
Is this a step up from birth in a stable?