We Don't Need No Stinking Evidence
At least, this is often the problem with much of what passes as Scripture Scholarship these days. This is not an indictment of all contemporary Exegesis. I know some fantastic guys in the field. However, they are a persecuted class.
I have already seen some pushback against the third Jesus of Nazareth book by Pope Benedict XVI. I have even seen a brief article mocking the Holy Father's claims by a popular tech magazine. That's right! A tech magazine. Folks should really stick to what they know. Reach too far and you might just fall off the mountain side.
However, my friend Mark Brumley has written a short piece in defending the Holy Father's claim that literally all evidence points to Jesus being born in Bethlehem as opposed to those who claim that Jesus was born in Nazareth. Mark, however, makes a more important point: arguments from silence should not be taken seriously. Unfortunately, many contemporary theories in biblical scholarship stem from either silence or inference. Unfortunately, such claims are taken very seriously.
“In other words, the only places we can go for information regarding the birth of Jesus are the gospel accounts. They give no indication of Jesus having been born in Nazareth but they insist he was born in Bethlehem.”
