Gospels can inspire without being factual

Published on Friday 25 December 2009 19:16

I am a Christian, but not a literal fundamentalist, and have no difficulty in accepting the Nativity stories in Matthew and Luke as imaginative constructions rather than historical records. Nor, certainly, am I enough of a Bible scholar to have any opinion on which, if either, of the Bethlehems was the location of Jesus's birth. Where I do take issue with Steuart Campbell (Letters, 24 December) is in his describing the two accounts as "incompatible".

Only Luke mentions the census as the reason for Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, or that he had to make the journey at all. Matthew simply states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And apart from the birth and its stated location, the two stories have scarcely any elements in common.

Nothing in Matthew's narrative contradicts anything in Luke's, nor vice versa: the fact that the Wise Men arrived at a "house" and not a stable could be explained by the possibility that Joseph remained in Bethlehem for some time after the birth of his son.

On their own terms, that is, both stories could be "true". I do not argue that they are: wise readers at this time of year will respond to them imaginatively and appreciate their symbolic meaning and their inspirational power. But Mr Campbell can at least give the Evangelists, and the scholars who later put both their accounts into the Bible, credit for not writing incompatible stories.

DERRICK McCLURE

Rosehill Terrace

Aberdeen

Richard Lucas assures us with his usual clarity and certainty that Jesus was the Messiah and his birth was the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. His proof? None whatsoever. Aside from four accounts in the Bible written decades after the events they describe, which all contradict one another, outside of the Bible there is no archeological or historical evidence that proves that a Jesus Christ even existed. There is not even a date given within the Bible for the birth of Jesus. One would think that Mr Lucas's God would want us to know the date he was sending the saviour of humanity to be born on?

There are about a dozen or so other messiah's from around the world who predate Jesus and whose story is one of death and resurrection, Osiris and Dionysus being just two. Far from being the fulfilment of Biblical prophecy, the Jesus myth was stolen from the Pagan religions and incorporated into Christianity.

ALAN HINNRICHS

Noran Avenue

Dundee

Steuart Campbell asserts that the Gospel writers embellished their nativity accounts to progress their agenda. But can we be sure that Mr Campbell is not interpreting the evidence to support his agenda? There is often a bizarre assumption that the anti-religious are the most objective in religious matters, and that their views are automatically more intellectually respectable.

RICHARD LUCAS

Cowan Road

Shandon, Edinburgh

As we celebrate of the 2008th birthday of the Prince of Peace, wouldn't it be wonderful if the government were to announce that the entire burden of any unavoidable cuts in public expenditure in the next few years would fall on the Ministry of Defence, starting with an immediate cancellation of the Trident renewal programme?

Such a transformation of swords into ploughshares, even if forced upon us by excessive greed and reckless risk-taking in the financial sector, would be a bankers' bonus that we could all approve of.

ALISTAIR KILGOUR

West Relugas Road

Edinburgh