Part 1
Norman picks up his journey at a stop in the city of Hebron on his way to Bethlehem. Here Norm reviews the birth stories in the books of Matthew and Luke noting both parallels and differences between the stories of the books. Pondering the differences intrigues him to email Guilder asking him his personal take on the birth stories. Like many biblical scholars, Guilder dismisses the idea of Jesus being born of a virgin and notes his reasons for that conclusion. Norm then goes to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. He describes how it has been transformed from the original nativity scene and how the cave has been face lifted into a sanctuary of sorts. After taking a tour of the birth place, Norm travels to the Deheisheh refugee camp outside of town. There he meets a group of American professors, students, and filmmakers.
Part 2
Norm is bothered by the differences in the birth story between Matthew and Luke. Norm, Conrad, Max, Modred, Hani discuss this topic over smoking. The conversation is intriguing because it portrays an idea that many people have including myself: Matthew and Luke told the same story, but had several different points they wanted to make. Modred makes a great analogy saying that they “hold their cameras at different angles” (93). Matthew seems to be directing his work to Jewish Christians. He opens his book with the genealogy of Jesus to show how Jesus comes from the family of David and Abraham. This shows how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy which happens to one of his common themes. On the other hand, Luke is not so much worried about the ties to scripture. His focus is more or less on Jesus being the savior and him bringing salvation to the world. I feel like they had different opinions on what should have been included. Some things, mostly minor details, were simply important to Matthew and not to Luke. Vice versa.
Norman picks up his journey at a stop in the city of Hebron on his way to Bethlehem. Here Norm reviews the birth stories in the books of Matthew and Luke noting both parallels and differences between the stories of the books. Pondering the differences intrigues him to email Guilder asking him his personal take on the birth stories. Like many biblical scholars, Guilder dismisses the idea of Jesus being born of a virgin and notes his reasons for that conclusion. Norm then goes to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. He describes how it has been transformed from the original nativity scene and how the cave has been face lifted into a sanctuary of sorts. After taking a tour of the birth place, Norm travels to the Deheisheh refugee camp outside of town. There he meets a group of American professors, students, and filmmakers.
Part 2
Norm is bothered by the differences in the birth story between Matthew and Luke. Norm, Conrad, Max, Modred, Hani discuss this topic over smoking. The conversation is intriguing because it portrays an idea that many people have including myself: Matthew and Luke told the same story, but had several different points they wanted to make. Modred makes a great analogy saying that they “hold their cameras at different angles” (93). Matthew seems to be directing his work to Jewish Christians. He opens his book with the genealogy of Jesus to show how Jesus comes from the family of David and Abraham. This shows how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy which happens to one of his common themes. On the other hand, Luke is not so much worried about the ties to scripture. His focus is more or less on Jesus being the savior and him bringing salvation to the world. I feel like they had different opinions on what should have been included. Some things, mostly minor details, were simply important to Matthew and not to Luke. Vice versa.
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