Table of Contents

Acknowledgements



1 The Birthplace of Jesus: The State of the Question

 1.1 Are Matthew and Luke Independent Sources?

 1.2 Two Stubborn Facts

 1.3 A Survey of Scholarly Opinions

 1.4 How Is the Bethlehem Tradition to Be Explained?



2 Modern Scholarship’s Explanation: A Theologoumenon

 2.1 Two Preliminary Observations

 2.2 Second Temple Messianic Expectations

 2.3 Interpretations of Micah 5:2

 2.4 New Testament Evidence of Jewish Messianic Views?



3 Luke’s Explanation: The Census under Quirinius

 3.1 Roman Censuses

 3.2 The Census of Quirinius

 3.3 A Grammatical Solution?

 3.4 Why Did Luke Tell the Story the Way He Did?

 3.5 A Theological Aside



4 An Alternative View: Travel Provoked by Shame

 4.1 Shame vis-à-vis “Illegitimate” Births: Greco-Roman Culture

 4.2 Shame vis-à-vis “Illegitimate” Births: Ancient Judaism

 4.3 Shame vis-à-vis “Illegitimate” Births: The Specific Case of Jesus

 4.4 The NT Evidence Intimating Scandal in the Conception of Jesus

 4.5 Other Early Christian Texts and the Scandalous Conception of Jesus

 4.6 Later Jewish Writings and the Conception of Jesus

 4.7 Summary: Shame – A Moving Experience

 4.8 A Second Theological Aside

 4.9 A Constantinian Coda



5 “Jesus of Nazareth, Born in Bethlehem.” Is This a Problem?

 5.1 Commonsense Observations about Mobility

 5.2 The Semantics of the Key Term

 5.3 Philosophical and Poetic Reflections on One’s Homeland

 5.4 Ancient Persons associated with Cities Other Than Their Birthplaces

 5.5 Summary



6 Conclusion

Bibliography

Indices

About the Author

N. Clayton Croy, PhD. (1995), Emory University, has taught at Trinity Lutheran Seminary (Columbus, OH), Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University, and Southern Nazarene University (Oklahoma City). He has written academic monographs, peer-reviewed articles, and textbooks, including A Primer of Biblical Greek.