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99-712: The Massacre (or Slaughter ) of the Innocents is a story recounted in the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew ( 2:16 – 18 ) in which Herod the Great , king of Judea , orders the execution of all male children who are two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem . Modern scholarship finds no evidence that it happened outside the passages in Matthew, though it is congruous with Herod's character. The Feast of

198-700: A hanging of the greens ceremony. In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Lord's Day (Sunday) was the earliest Christian celebration and included a number of theological themes. In the 2nd century, the Resurrection of Jesus became a separate feast as Easter and in the same century Epiphany began to be celebrated in the Churches of the East on January 6. The celebration of the feast of the Magi on January 6 may relate to

297-451: A curse as inheritance. The birth of Jesus, on the other hand, counterbalanced the fall of Adam, bringing forth redemption and repairing the damage done by Adam. In patristic theology, Paul's contrasting of Jesus as the new man versus Adam provided a framework for discussing the uniqueness of the birth of Jesus and the ensuing events of his life. The Nativity of Jesus thus began to serve as the starting point for "cosmic Christology" in which

396-608: A dream that Herod wishes to find the child and kill him, and do not do so. Matthew continues: When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. This is followed by a reference to and quotation from the Book of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 31:15 ) (Jeremiah 31:14 in

495-505: A feast on January 6 in the year 361. The Chronography of 354 illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome includes an early reference to the celebration of a Nativity feast. In a sermon delivered in Antioch on December 25, c.  386 , John Chrysostom provides specific information about the feast there, stating that the feast had existed for about 10 years. By around 385 the feast for

594-441: A historical incident, it is unsurprising that it was not recorded by other historical sources due to the likely limited scale of the violence. While France believed that Josephus would have mentioned the event had he been aware of it, France would not have been surprised if Joseph was ignorant of what would have been a minor episode of local violence. New Testament scholar Eugene Eung-Chun Park contested France's conclusion, saying that

693-509: A key element in Christian teachings, from the early Church Fathers to 20th century theologians. The theological issues were addressed as early as Apostle Paul , but continued to be debated and eventually lead to both Christological and Mariological differences among Christians that resulted in early schisms within the Church by the 5th century. He is the image of the invisible God,

792-502: A major change from the early "Lord and Master" image, mirroring changes in the common approaches taken by Christian pastoral ministry during the same era. Only the Gospels of Matthew and Luke offer narratives regarding the birth of Jesus. Both agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the reign of King Herod, that his mother was named Mary and that her husband Joseph was descended from King David (although they disagree on details of

891-589: A more "tender image of Jesus", and the Franciscan approach to popular piety was instrumental in establishing this image. James Dunn (theologian) James Douglas Grant Dunn FBA (21 October 1939 – 26 June 2020), also known as Jimmy Dunn , was a British New Testament scholar , who was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at

990-522: A practice reinforced by the 1960 Code of Rubrics . Nativity of Jesus The Nativity is the basis for the Christian holiday of Christmas and plays a major role in the Christian liturgical year. Many Christians traditionally display small manger scenes depicting the Nativity within or outside of their homes, or attend Nativity plays or Christmas pageants focusing on the Nativity cycle in

1089-577: A pre-Christian celebration for the blessing of the Nile in Egypt on January 5, but this is not historically certain. The festival of the Nativity which later turned into Christmas was a 4th-century feast in the Western Church notably in Rome and North Africa, although it is uncertain exactly where and when it was first celebrated. The earliest source stating December 25 as the date of birth of Jesus

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1188-491: A retelling of the Moses story. Luz also points out that in the massacre narrative, once again, a fulfilment quotation is given: Rachel , the ancestral mother of Israel, weeping for her dead children (Matthew 2:18). Scholars who interpret Matthew as casting Jesus in the role of being a second Moses argue that, like Moses, the infant Jesus is saved from a murderous tyrant; and he flees the country of his birth until his persecutor

1287-415: A savior for all people, tracing a genealogy all the way back to Adam, demonstrating his common humanity, and likewise for the lowly circumstances of his birth. Luke, writing for a gentile audience, portrays the infant Jesus as a savior for gentiles as well as Jews. Matthew uses quotations from Jewish scripture, scenes reminiscent of Moses ' life, and a numerical pattern in his genealogy to identify Jesus as

1386-626: A small-scale massacre would have still "merited a remark by competent historians". Joan Taylor and Anthony Le Donne observe that Herod was a vindictive and harsh ruler, while it was common for Jews at the time to face becoming refugees, frequently in Egypt . Taylor argues that the Historical Jesus could indeed have been a refugee whose background shaped his teachings. James DG Dunn also views Herod's massacre as an action in line with his known character. The author appears to have modeled

1485-484: A son of David, of Abraham, and of God. Luke's prelude is much longer, emphasizing the age of the Holy Spirit and the arrival of a savior for all people, both Jew and gentile. Mainstream scholars interpret Matthew's Nativity as depicting Jesus as a new Moses with a genealogy going back to Abraham, while Ulrich Luz views Matthew's depiction of Jesus at once as the new Moses and the inverse of Moses, and not simply

1584-573: Is December 25. In the Council of Tours of 567 , the Church, with its desire to be universal, "declared the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany to be one unified festal cycle "; at this time, the disagreement was caused by using lunar calendars in Eastern provinces of the Empire. The liturgical season of Advent precedes, and is used to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Customs of

1683-408: Is dead and it is safe to return as the savior of his people. In this view, the account in Matthew is based on an earlier narrative patterned on traditions about the birth of Moses. Moses' birth is announced to Pharaoh by Magi; the child is threatened and rescued; the male Israelite children are similarly put to death by an evil king. According to Ulrich Luz, the beginning of the narrative of Matthew

1782-593: Is in danger and act to save him. Later in life, after Moses has to flee, like Jesus, he returns when those who sought his death are themselves dead. As a matter of understanding what the myth is trying to communicate, its lack of historicity is unsurprising given that gospels were primarily written as theological documents rather than chronological timelines. The Byzantine Rite liturgy asserts 14,000 Holy Innocents, while an early Syrian list of saints asserts 64,000. Coptic sources assert 144,000 and that it took place on 29 December. Frederick George Holweck 's 1910 entry on

1881-576: Is similar to earlier biblical stories, e.g., the Annunciation of Jesus' birth (Matthew 1:18–25) is reminiscent of the biblical accounts of the births of Ishmael (Genesis 16:11, Genesis 17), Isaac (Genesis 21:1), Samson (Judges 13:3, 13:5), and recalls the Haggadic traditions of the birth of Moses. Yet in Luz's view, the contours appear, in part, strangely overlapped and inverted: "Egypt, formerly

1980-637: Is traditionally sung a cappella . The 17th century Dutch Christmas song O Kerstnacht, schoner dan de dagen , while beginning with a reference to Christmas Night , is about the Massacre of the Innocents. In 1974, the Dutch progressive rock band Focus recorded the first two verses of the song for their album Hamburger Concerto . The theme of the "Massacre of the Innocents" has provided artists of many nationalities with opportunities to compose complicated depictions of massed bodies in violent action. It

2079-448: Is with us". Joseph awoke, took Mary for his wife, did not have intercourse with her until she had given birth to a son, and gave him the name Jesus (Matthew 1:18–25). Joseph has been shown to be the descendant of David (the angel addresses him as "son of David") and heir to the kingdom of Judah, but Matthew 1:16 reveals that Jesus is not Joseph's son, and Matthew is careful never to refer to him in this way. The role of Joseph in naming

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2178-480: The Kyrios image of Jesus also implied his power over all creation. Paul then looked back and reasoned that the final lordship of Jesus was prepared from the very beginning, starting with pre-existence and the Nativity, based on his obedience as the image of God. Over time, based on the influence of Anselm of Canterbury , Bernard of Clairvaux and others, the Kyrios image of Jesus began to be supplemented with

2277-534: The Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew . The carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants two years old and under in Bethlehem to be killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother's lament for her doomed child. The author is unknown. The oldest known text was written down by Robert Croo in 1534, and the melody dates from 1591. The carol

2376-419: The Christmas season include completing an Advent daily devotional and Advent wreath , carol singing , gift giving, seeing Nativity plays , attending church services , and eating special food, such as Christmas cake . In many countries, such as Sweden, people start to set up their Advent and Christmas decorations on the first day of Advent . Liturgically , this is done in some parishes through

2475-684: The Codex Sinaiticus do not mention the prophet Isaiah in the statement in Matthew 1:22 : "All this happened to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet", but some copies of Matthew from the 5th–6th centuries, such as the Codex Bezae , read "Isaiah the prophet". The statement in Matthew 1:23 , "Behold the virgin shall be with child", uses the Greek term parthenos ("virgin") as in

2574-516: The Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th century. In Chalcedon the hypostatic union was decreed, namely that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human, making this part of the creed of orthodox Christianity . In the 5th century, leading Church Father Pope Leo I used the Nativity as a key element of his theology. Leo gave 10 sermons on the Nativity and 7 have survived. The one on December 25, 451, demonstrates his concern to increase

2673-670: The Holy Spirit in Christianity . In 2009 another Festschrift was dedicated to Dunn for his 70th birthday, consisting of two forewords by N. T. Wright and Richard B. Hays and 17 articles all written by his former students who went on to have successful careers in either academic and ministerial fields around the world. Dunn was especially associated with the New Perspective on Paul , along with N. T. Wright and E. P. Sanders . Dunn took up Sanders' project of redefining Palestinian Judaism in order to correct

2772-627: The Jewish law , his parents presented the infant Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem, where two people in the temple, Simeon and Anna the Prophetess , gave thanks to God who had sent his salvation. Joseph and Mary then returned to Nazareth. Matthew and Luke agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod the Great. In Luke the newborn baby is placed in a manger "because there

2871-605: The Old Testament attributes of an omnipotent God. The use of the term Kyrios , and hence the Lordship of Jesus, pre-dated the Pauline epistles , but Paul expanded and elaborated on the topic. Pauline writings established among early Christians the Kyrios image, and attributes of Jesus as not only referring to his eschatological victory, but to him as the "divine image" ( Greek εἰκών , eikōn ) in whose face

2970-592: The Septuagint Isaiah, while the Book of Isaiah 7:14 uses the Hebrew almah , which may mean "maiden", "young woman", or "virgin". Raymond E. Brown states that the 3rd century BC translators of the Septuagint may have understood the Hebrew word almah to mean "virgin" in this context. The statement in Matthew 2:23 that "he will be called a Nazarene" does not mention a specific passage in

3069-697: The University of Durham . He is best known for his work on the New Perspective on Paul , which is also the title of a book he published in 2007. He worked broadly within the Methodist tradition and was a member of the Church of Scotland and the Methodist Church of Great Britain during his life. Dunn was born on 21 October 1939 in Birmingham , England. He had the following degrees: Dunn

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3168-605: The renaissance and baroque , including Jacob Clemens non Papa , Giaches de Wert , and Heinrich Schütz (in German). Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed an oratorio, Caedes sanctorum innocentium , H.411, for soloists, chorus, two violins, and continuo (1683–1685). Today, the date of Holy Innocents' Day , also called the Feast of the Holy Innocents , or Childermas or Children's Mass , varies. The commemoration of

3267-638: The 13th century, Thomas Aquinas addressed the Christologocal attribution of the Nativity: if it should be attributed to the person ( the Word ) or only to the assumed human nature of that person. Aquinas treated Nativity in 8 separate articles in Summa Theologica , each posing a separate question: To deal with this issue, Aquinas distinguishes between the person born and the nature in which

3366-468: The 4th and 5th centuries to deal with these issues. The Council of Ephesus debated hypostasis (co-existing natures) versus Monophysitism (only one nature) versus Miaphysitism (two natures united as one) versus Nestorianism (disunion of two natures). The 451 Council of Chalcedon was highly influential and marked a key turning point in the Christological debates that divided the church of

3465-415: The 5th century, in effect as the first formal feast for the Nativity of Jesus. Pope Sixtus III then instituted the practice of Midnight Mass just before that feast. The feast was celebrated in Jerusalem by the 6th century, when Emperor Justinian declared Christmas to be a legal holiday. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the theological importance of the Nativity of Jesus was coupled with an emphasis on

3564-473: The Bible. Elaborate Nativity displays featuring life-sized statues are a tradition in many continental European countries during the Christmas season . The artistic depiction of the Nativity has been an important subject for Christian artists since the 4th century. Artistic depictions of the Nativity scene since the 13th century have emphasized the humility of Jesus and promoted a more tender image of him,

3663-519: The Hebrew Bible): "Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: A voice is heard in Ramah , weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." ( Matthew 2:17 – 18 ). The relevance of this to the massacre is not immediately apparent, as Jeremiah's next verses go on to speak of hope and restoration. The historicity of

3762-567: The Holy Family begins in Bethlehem, moves to Egypt following the birth, and settles in Nazareth, while according to Luke they begin in Nazareth, journey to Bethlehem for the birth, and immediately return to Nazareth. The two accounts cannot be harmonised into a single coherent narrative or traced to the same Q source , leading scholars to classify them as "special Matthew" (or simply the M source ) and "special Luke" (the L source ). Mary

3861-616: The Holy Innocents , also known as Childermas , is celebrated in the Western Christian Churches on 28 December, the fourth day of Christmastide . In Eastern Christianity , the feast is celebrated on various dates , depending on the denomination. The Gospel of Matthew tells how the Magi visit Jerusalem to seek guidance as to where the king of the Jews has been born; King Herod directs them to Bethlehem and asks them to return to him and report, but they are warned in

3960-575: The Innocents , in an unusual vertical format, is at Bologna. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens painted the theme more than once. One version, now in Munich, was engraved and reproduced as a painting as far away as colonial Peru. The communion motet for the Feast of the Holy Innocents is the text from Matthew 2:18 (citing Jeremiah 31:15) Vox in Rama . This was set polyphonically by a number of composers of

4059-622: The Innocents also provided a comparison of ancient brutalities with the brutalities of the early modern period , during the period of religious wars that followed the Reformation ;– Bruegel's versions show the soldiers carrying banners with the Habsburg double-headed eagle. The 1590 version by Cornelis van Haarlem also seems to reflect the violence of the Dutch Revolt . Guido Reni 's early (1611) Massacre of

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4158-516: The Innocents. Fulgentius of Ruspe (6th century) gives a homily De Epiphania, deque Innocentum nece et muneribus magorum ("On Epiphany, and on the murder of the Innocents and the gifts of the Magi"). From the time of Charlemagne , Sicarius of Bethlehem was venerated at Brantôme, Dordogne as one of the purported victims of the Massacre. In the Middle Ages , especially north of the Alps ,

4257-523: The Magi had tricked him, he was infuriated and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem under the age of two (the Massacre of the Innocents ). This was in fulfilment of the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." But an angel had appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to take

4356-556: The Matthew account is not accepted by many scholars. The story of the massacre is found in no gospel other than Matthew, nor is it mentioned in the surviving works of Nicolaus of Damascus (who was a personal friend of Herod the Great), nor in Josephus 's Antiquities of the Jews , despite his recording many of Herod's misdeeds, including the murder of three of his own sons. The early 5th-century account of Macrobius —that "on hearing that

4455-405: The Nativity inside the town, built by St. Helena , contains the cave-manger site traditionally venerated as the birthplace of Jesus, which may have originally been a site of the cult of the god Tammuz . In his Contra Celsum (1.51), Origen , who travelled throughout Palestine beginning in around 215, wrote of the "manger of Jesus". The date of birth for Jesus of Nazareth is not stated in

4554-407: The Nativity of Jesus on Christmas , which is marked on December 25 by the Western Christian Churches , while many Eastern Christian Churches celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord on January 7 (in 20th and 21st century). This is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar ( Gregorian or Julian ) should be used to determine the day that

4653-537: The New Testament, but Matthew builds on it in Matthew 28:20 ("I am with you always, even unto the end of the world") to indicate that Jesus will be with the faithful to the end of the age. According to Ulrich Luz , the Emmanuel motif brackets the entire Gospel of Matthew between 1:23 and 28:20, appearing explicitly and implicitly in several other passages. A number of ecumenical councils were convened in

4752-660: The Old Testament, and there are multiple scholarly interpretations as to what it may refer to. Barbara Aland and other scholars consider the Greek Ναζωραίος , Nazoréos used for 'Nazarene' of uncertain etymology and meaning, but M. J. J. Menken states that it is a demonym that refers to an "inhabitant of Nazareth". Menken also states that it may be referring to Judges 13:5 and 13:7. Gary Smith states that Nazirite may mean one consecrated to God, i.e. an ascetic; or may refer to Isaiah 11:1 . The Oxford Bible Commentary states that it may be word-play on

4851-602: The Pauline perspective emphasizes the birth of a new man and a new world in the birth of Jesus. Paul's eschatological view of Jesus counter-positions him as a new man of morality and obedience, in contrast to Adam . Unlike Adam, the new man born in Jesus obeys God and ushers in a world of morality and salvation. In the Pauline view, Adam is positioned as the first man and Jesus as the second: Adam, having corrupted himself by his disobedience, also infected humanity and left it with

4950-580: The West celebrated a Nativity feast on December 25 (perhaps influenced by the Winter solstice ); and that by the last quarter of the 4th century, the calendars of both churches included both feasts. The earliest suggestions of a feast of the Baptism of Jesus on January 6 during the 2nd century comes from Clement of Alexandria , but there is no further mention of such a feast until 361 when Emperor Julian attended

5049-507: The angel speaks to Joseph, while Luke has one speaking to Mary . Only Luke has the stories surrounding the birth of John the Baptist , the census of Quirinius , the adoration of the shepherds and the presentation in the Temple on the eighth day; only Matthew has the wise men , the star of Bethlehem , Herod's plot, the massacre of the innocents , and the flight into Egypt . The two itineraries are quite different. According to Matthew,

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5148-405: The author and exemplar of a new humanity. In the 2nd century Church Father Irenaeus writes: When He became incarnate and was made man, He commenced afresh the long line of human beings, and furnished us, in a brief, comprehensive manner, with salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam – namely to be according to the image and likeness of God – that we might recover in Christ Jesus. Irenaeus

5247-401: The beginning of the 21st century these countries began to pay more attention to the sensitivities of non-Christians during the festivities at the end of the calendar year. Early Christians viewed Jesus as "the Lord" and the word Kyrios appears over 700 times in the New Testament , referring to him as such. The use of the word Kyrios in the Septuagint Bible also assigned to Jesus

5346-403: The birth of Jesus was distinct from that of the Baptism and was held on December 25 in Constantinople, Nyssa and Amaseia. In a sermon in 386, Gregory of Nyssa specifically related the feast of Nativity with that of the martyrdom of Saint Stephen , celebrated a day later. By 390 the feast was also held in Iconium on that day. Pope Leo I established a feast of the "Mystery of Incarnation" in

5445-433: The birth of a new man who succeeded Adam. In Barth's theology, in contrast to Adam, Jesus acted as an obedient Son in the fulfilment of the divine will and was therefore free from sin and could hence reveal the righteousness of God the Father and bring about salvation. The Nativity of Jesus impacted the Christological issues about the Person of Christ from the earliest days of Christianity. Luke's Christology centers on

5544-414: The birth takes place. Aquinas thus resolved the question by arguing that in the hypostatic union Christ has two natures, one received from the Father from eternity, the other from his mother in time. This approach also resolved the Mariological problem of Mary receiving the title of Theotokos for under this scenario she is the " Mother of God ". During the Reformation , John Calvin argued that Jesus

5643-404: The birth, life and Resurrection of Jesus have universal implications. The concept of Jesus as the "new man" repeats in the cycle of birth and rebirth of Jesus from his Nativity to his resurrection : following his birth, through his morality and obedience to the Father, Jesus began a new harmony in the relationship between God the Father and man. The Nativity and resurrection of Jesus thus created

5742-416: The bonds of an earthly nativity". He also liked to quote: "Just as in Adam all of us died, so too in Christ all of us will be brought to life". The theology persisted into the Protestant Reformation , and second Adam was one of the six modes of atonement discussed by John Calvin . In the 20th century, leading theologian Karl Barth continued the same line of reasoning and viewed the Nativity of Jesus as

5841-409: The chief priests and scribes that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem according to prophecy, sent the Magi there with instructions to return and tell him when they had found him. The Magi worshipped the child in Bethlehem and gave him gifts of gold , frankincense , and myrrh , but an angel warned them in a dream not to return to Herod, and they returned home by another way. When Herod learned that

5940-476: The child and his mother and flee to Egypt , and the Holy Family remained there until Herod died to fulfil the words of the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." On the death of Herod an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to return with the child and its mother to Israel, but Herod's son was now ruler of Judea, and after being warned in a dream Joseph went instead to Galilee, where he made his home in Nazareth "so that what had been spoken through

6039-562: The child indicates that he is being legally adopted, and thus becoming, like his now-legal father, "son of David." The birth took place in the town of Bethlehem in the region known as Judea to the Romans and Palestine to the Assyrians, in the time of King Herod ( Herod the Great ). Wise men from the East (the Magi) came to Jerusalem, asking where they could find the child born king of the Jews , for they had seen his star at its rising, and wished to pay him homage. Herod and all Jerusalem were afraid when they heard this, but Herod, learning from

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6138-423: The church service." In Spain , Hispanic America , and the Philippines , 28 December is still a day for pranks , equivalent to April Fool's Day in many countries. Pranks ( bromas ) are also known as inocentadas and their victims are called inocentes ; alternatively, the pranksters are the inocentes and the victims should not be angry at them, since they could not have committed any sin . One of

6237-409: The damage of Adam. In the 4th century, this uniqueness of the circumstances related to the Nativity of Jesus, and their interplay with the mystery of the incarnation, became a central element in both the theology and hymnody of Ephrem the Syrian . For him, the uniqueness of the Nativity of Jesus was supplemented with the sign of the majesty of the Creator through the ability of a powerful God to enter

6336-418: The day was a festival of inversion involving role reversal between children and adults such as teachers and priests, with boy bishops presiding over some church services. Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens suggest that this was a Christianized version of the Roman annual feast of the Saturnalia (when even slaves played "masters" for a day). In some regions, such as medieval England and France, it

6435-430: The dialectics of the dual natures of the earthly and heavenly manifestations of existence of the Christ, while Matthew's Christology focuses on the mission of Jesus and his role as the savior. The belief in the divinity of Jesus leads to the question: "was Jesus a man to be born of a woman or was he God born of a woman?" A wide range of hypotheses and beliefs regarding the nature of the Nativity of Jesus were presented in

6534-405: The episode on the biblical story of Pharaoh 's attempt to kill the Israelite children in the Book of Exodus , as told in an expanded version that was current in the 1st century. In that expanded story, Pharaoh kills the Hebrew children after his scribes warn him of the impending birth of the threat to his crown (i.e., Moses ), but Moses' father and mother are warned in a dream that the child's life

6633-488: The event occurred, many scholars hold that the story is folklore inspired by Herod's reputation. Historian Paul L. Maier contended that the story's invention would have been a liability for Christians and—by pointing to Herod's violent actions and plans—argued that "one of the most doubted episodes in the New Testament has stronger historical credibility than it has thus far been accorded in critical scholarship." New Testament scholar Richard T. France held that, if this were

6732-399: The first four centuries of Christianity. Some of the debates involved the title Theotokos (God bearer) for the Virgin Mary and began to illustrate the impact of Mariology on Christology . Some of these viewpoints were eventually declared as heresies , others led to schisms and the formation of new branches of the Church. The salvific emphasis of Matthew 1:21 later impacted

6831-403: The firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Paul the Apostle viewed the birth of Jesus as an event of cosmic significance which brought forth a "new man" who undid the damage caused by the fall of the first man, Adam . Just as the Johannine view of Jesus as the incarnate Logos proclaims the universal relevance of his birth,

6930-438: The glory of God shines forth. This image persisted among Christians as the predominant perception of Jesus for a number of centuries. More than any other title, Kyrios defined the relationship between Jesus and those who believed in him as Christ: Jesus was their Lord and Master who was to be served with all their hearts and who would one day judge their actions throughout their lives. The lordship attributes associated with

7029-564: The gospels or in any secular text, but basing it on the death of Herod would place the date between 6 BC and 4 BC. The historical evidence is too ambiguous to allow a definitive date to be determined, but dates have been estimated through known historical events mentioned in the Nativity accounts, by working backwards from the estimated start of the ministry of Jesus , or by associating the claimed astrological portents mentioned with actual historical astronomical alignments and phenomena. Helmut Koester writes that while Matthew's narrative

7128-429: The importance of the feast of Nativity and along with it emphasize the two natures of Christ in defense of the Christological doctrine of hypostatic union. Leo often used his Nativity sermons as an occasion to attack opposing viewpoints, without naming the opposition. Thus Leo used the occasion of the Nativity feast to establish boundaries for what could be considered a heresy regarding the birth and nature of Christ. In

7227-475: The land of suppression becomes a place of refuge and it is the King of Israel who now takes on the role of Pharaoh . Yet Matthew is not simply retelling the Moses story. Instead, the story of Jesus really is a new story: Jesus is at once the new Moses and the inverse of Moses." Scholars have debated whether Matthew 1:22 and Matthew 2:23 refer to specific Old Testament passages. Fourth century documents such as

7326-473: The line of descent), and both deny Joseph's biological parenthood while treating the birth, or rather the conception, as divinely effected. Beyond this, they agree on very little. Joseph dominates Matthew's and Mary dominates Luke's, although the suggestion that one derives from Joseph and the other from Mary is no more than a pious deduction. Matthew implies that Joseph already has his home in Bethlehem, while Luke states that he lived in Nazareth. In Matthew

7425-554: The loving nature of the child Jesus in sermons by figures such as Jean Gerson . In his sermons Gerson emphasized the loving nature of Jesus at his Nativity, as well as his cosmic plan for the salvation of mankind. By the early part of the 20th century, Christmas had become a "cultural signature" of Christianity and indeed of the Western culture even in countries such as the United States which are officially non-religious. By

7524-596: The massacre of the Holy Innocents, traditionally regarded as the first Christian martyrs , if unknowingly so, first appears as a feast of the Western church in the Leonine Sacramentary , dating from about 485. The earliest commemorations were connected with the Feast of the Epiphany , 6 January: Prudentius mentions the Innocents in his hymn on the Epiphany. Leo in his homilies on the Epiphany speaks of

7623-546: The more famous of these traditions is the annual " Els Enfarinats " festival of Ibi in Alacant , where the inocentes dress up in full military dress and incite a flour fight. In Trinidad and Tobago , Catholic children have their toys blessed at a Mass. In the Roman Rite prior to 1955, a unique feature of this feast was the use of liturgical elements ordinarily ascribed to penitential days—including violet vestments,

7722-417: The mother of Jesus was betrothed to Joseph, but was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit . Joseph intended to divorce her quietly, but an angel told him in a dream that he should take her as his wife and name the child Jesus, "because it is he who will save his people from their sins". This would fulfil the prophecy that a virgin would give birth to a son, who would be known as Emmanuel , meaning "God

7821-509: The omission of the Gloria , and the substitution of a Tract in place of the Alleluia—unless the feast fell on Sunday, in which case the rubrics required the feast to be celebrated as on its octave day, with red vestments, Gloria, and Alleluia. The octave of this feast was suppressed by Pope Pius XII in 1955, with the feast now celebrated using the features formerly ascribed to its octave day,

7920-420: The prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."" In this chapter, the author of Matthew needs to establish that "Jesus of Nazareth" was in fact born in Bethlehem, the town where David was born, for the "son of David" born there will be "King of the Jews" (a designation that does not reappear in Matthew until the crucifixion). Herod's fear and the visit of the Magi underline the royal birth, as do

8019-574: The return from Egypt, as well as the Massacre, all centered on Rachel weeping in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy. These events were likewise in one of the medieval N-Town Plays . The " Coventry Carol " is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors . The play depicts

8118-466: The son of Herod, king of the Jews, had been slain when Herod ordered that all boys in Syria under the age of two be killed, [Augustus] said, 'It's better to be Herod's pig than his son'"—has been discounted as extra-biblical evidence for the event due to its later authorship, possible influence by the gospel narrative, and the confused nature of the account. In view of the lack of independent confirmation that

8217-522: The subject in the Catholic Encyclopedia referenced estimates that both assumed the event actually occurred and recognized that Bethlehem was too small a town to provide such numbers, reducing the victims to between six and 20 children in the town. France, citing estimates that Bethlehem's population would have been around 1,000 people at the time the event was supposed to occur, concurred with an upper limit of around 20 children killed if it

8316-540: The theological issues and the devotions to the Holy Name of Jesus . Matthew 1:23 provides the only key to the Emmanuel Christology in the New Testament. Beginning with 1:23, Matthew shows a clear interest in identifying Jesus as "God with us" and in later developing the Emmanuel characterization of Jesus at key points throughout the rest of his Gospel. The name 'Emmanuel' does not appear elsewhere in

8415-472: The time of the birth drew near, Caesar Augustus commanded a census of Roman domains, and Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem, the ancient city of David, as he was of the House of David . Jesus was born in Bethlehem; since there was nowhere for them to stay in the town, the infant was laid in a manger while angels announced his birth to a group of shepherds who worshipped him as Messiah and Lord . In accordance with

8514-434: The trepidation he felt when he had to inform the king of an emergency on the day. In denominations of Western Christianity , such as Catholicism and Lutheranism, some Christians attend Mass on Childermas to remember the martyrdom of the Holy Innocents. In England, the memorial is referred to as Childermas or Children's Mass in which "Children are given a blessing; they sing in the choir and take on other special roles in

8613-692: The use of nazirite , "Holy One of God," in Isaiah 4:3, meant to identify Jesus with the Nazarenes , a Jewish sect who differed from the Pharisees only in that they regarded Jesus as the Messiah. The Swiss theologian Ulrich Luz , who locates the Matthean community in Syria, has noted that Syrian Christians also called themselves Nazarenes. The theological significance of the Nativity of Jesus has been

8712-523: The various prophetic texts quoted or referenced in this chapter. In the Gospel of Luke, when Herod was king of Judea, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth in Galilee to announce to a virgin named Mary , who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, that a child would be born to her. The angel Gabriel announced that she was to name him Jesus, for he would be the son of God and rule over Israel forever. When

8811-427: The world as a small newborn. In the Middle Ages the birth of Jesus as the second Adam came to be seen in the context of Saint Augustine 's Felix culpa ("happy fall") and was intertwined with the popular teachings on the fall from grace of Adam and Eve . Augustine was fond of a statement on the Nativity by Gregory of Nyssa and he quoted it five times: "Venerate the Nativity, through which you are freed from

8910-464: Was Hippolytus of Rome (170–236), written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox which he placed on March 25, and then added nine months. There is historical evidence that by the middle of the 4th century the Christian churches of the East celebrated the birth and Baptism of Jesus on the same day, on January 6, while those in

9009-586: Was also one of the early theologians to use the analogy of "second Adam and second Eve". He suggested the Virgin Mary as the "second Eve" and wrote that the Mary had "untied the knot of sin bound up by the virgin Eve" and that just as Eve had tempted Adam to disobey God, Mary had set a path of obedience for the second Adam (i.e. Jesus) from the Annunciation to Calvary so that Jesus could bring about salvation, undoing

9108-726: Was an alternative to the Flight into Egypt in cycles of the Life of the Virgin . It decreased in popularity in Gothic art , but revived in the larger works of the Renaissance , when artists took inspiration for their "Massacres" from Roman reliefs of the battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs to the extent that they showed the figures heroically nude. The horrific subject matter of the Massacre of

9207-599: Was formed in a Jewish environment, Luke's was modeled to appeal to the Greco-Roman world . In particular, while shepherds were regarded negatively by Jews in Jesus' time, they were seen in Greco-Roman culture as "symbols of a golden age when gods and humans lived in peace and nature was at harmony". C. T. Ruddick Jr. writes that Luke's birth narratives of Jesus and John were modeled on passages from Genesis , chapters 27–43. Regardless, Luke's Nativity depicts Jesus as

9306-571: Was indeed a historical event. Medieval liturgical drama recounted Biblical events, including Herod's slaughter of the innocents. The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors , performed in Coventry, England, included a haunting song about the episode now known as the Coventry Carol . The Ordo Rachelis tradition of four plays includes the Flight into Egypt, Herod's succession by Archelaus ,

9405-488: Was licensed as a minister of the Church of Scotland in 1964. He was chaplain to overseas students at Edinburgh University in 1968–70. In 1970, Dunn became a lecturer in divinity at the University of Nottingham , and was promoted to reader in 1979. Whilst at Nottingham, he served as a Methodist local preacher . He became Professor of Divinity at Durham University in 1982, and in 1990 became Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham. He retired in 2003, and

9504-524: Was no place in the katalyma . Katalyma might mean a private home (this has little support among scholars), or a room in a private home, or an inn, but it is impossible to be certain which is meant. In the 2nd century, Justin Martyr stated that Jesus had been born in a cave outside the town, while the Protoevangelium of James described a legendary birth in a cave nearby. The Church of

9603-492: Was not sanctified to be "God manifested as Incarnate" ( Deus manifestatus in carne ) only due to his virgin birth, but through the action of the Holy Spirit at the instant of his birth. Thus Calvin argued that Jesus was exempt from original sin because he was sanctified at the moment of birth so that his generation was without blemish; as generation was blemishless before the fall of Adam . Christian Churches celebrate

9702-412: Was said to be an unlucky day when no new project should be started. There was a medieval custom of refraining where possible from work on the day of the week on which the feast of "Innocents Day" had fallen for the whole of the following year until the next Innocents Day. Philippe de Commynes , the minister of King Louis XI of France , tells in his memoirs how the king observed this custom, and describes

9801-736: Was succeeded as Lightfoot Professor of Divinity by John M. G. Barclay . For 2002, Dunn was the President of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas , an international body for New Testament study. Only three other British scholars had been made President of the body in the preceding 25 years. In 2006 he became a Fellow of the British Academy . In 2005 a Festschrift was published dedicated to Dunn, comprising articles by 27 New Testament scholars, examining early Christian communities and their beliefs about

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