Comments on: Not wholly innocent

By: Tony Houghton

Tony Houghton — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 06:18:58 +0000

In reply to Rod Gillis. So the prophesy of Jeremiah was a lie or not fulfilled making God the liar ? Maybe God is into deception?

By: Rod Gillis

Rod Gillis — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 18:32:14 +0000

In reply to Steve Schuh. Given what we know of Herod the great from history, the atrocity in story has verisimilitude even if its context, the visit of the Magi, is non-historical.. The story may function within the gospel as a way contrasting Herod and his reign as one of the Roman empire's client-collaborators with the nature of the kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus. Such a hypothesis certainly fits the context of Matthew's infancy narrative. For interesting comparative views of Herod the great see two very good books: The Birth of The Messiah by Raymond Brown and Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans by Peter Richardson.

By: Tony Houghton

Tony Houghton — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 06:40:01 +0000

In reply to Steve Schuh. So the bible has as much validity as Aesop's Fables?

By: Scott Potter

Scott Potter — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 03:06:36 +0000

This reminds me of something that Douglas Farrow taught: that he increasing good in the world provides a skeleton that can support increasing evil. I think he had us read Ascension Theology 89ff. for that day, although I found the reading a rather abstruse explanation of the idea.

By: Ann Fontaine

Ann Fontaine — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 22:37:10 +0000

I think it is important to remember that it was not Jesus’ birth that caused the slaughter but the reaction of power when threatened – the fault is in Herod and all our Herod-like tendencies – and not in Jesus or the victims.

By: Rod Gillis

Rod Gillis — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 18:31:36 +0000

“…theologies and practices that, rather than simply share the good news, would distort it, giving rise to anti-Semitism,”

Thank you for including this important reference to antisemitism. It is an issue which requires that the propers in place for Holy Innocents be handled with care and scholarly competence. It is also a timely reference given the failure of the order of bishops, at the most recent general synod, to vote in favour of removing from the BCP a prayer widely regarded as blatantly antisemitic.

NB: I initially and mistakenly posted this comment under the wrong article. Mea culpa.

By: Steve Schuh

Steve Schuh — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 17:05:01 +0000

Like the genocide of the Midianites by the Hebrew people, historians suggest the ‘slaughter of the innocents’ by Herod very likely never happened. That offers some solace for those disturbed by the ethical implications of the stories, but it raises other questions, too: Why did the writers tell their story this way? How do fictional atrocities contribute to the writers’ theological purpose?