De verhalen over Jezus’ geboorte en jeugd in de uitleg van Joseph Ratzinger: Reactie van een exegeet

In the third volume of his Jesus of Nazareth, on the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke, Ratzinger prolongs the main lines of the peceding volumes: in a clear argument, he elucidates the theological substance of Matthew 1–2 and Luke 1–2, paying attention to the use of the Old Testament in these chapters. He shows a tendency to harmonize and historicize the very different narratives of Matthew and Luke. The reviewer shows how these two tendencies cohere in Ratzinger’s argument, and that they do no justice to the texts under consideration. Ratzinger’s plea for historicity by appealing to traditions transmitted in Jesus’ family is flimsy. The historicity of the infancy narratives is rather slight; the aim of these narratives is to indicate the significance of Jesus with the help of, among other things, the Old Testament and its early Jewish explanation.