Jesus' genealogies: A critical survey of ideas and solutions

McFall, Leslie (1998) Jesus' genealogies: A critical survey of ideas and solutions. MTh(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The New Testament is clear that Jesus is the Seed promised to Adam and Abraham, and the King promised to David. All of God's promises terminated in Jesus. He is the Prophet Moses prophesied would come; the High Priest of the New Covenant, and the promised Messiah. The life of Jesus alone would have been sufficient attestation of who he was. His self-resurrection from the dead put his claim to have come from God on a footing that no man had ever claimed before. Prophets had raised people from the dead, but none had raised himself from the dead. The literal rising from the dead is held by the New Testament writers to be Jesus' crowning claim to, and demonstration of, deity-to be the only begotten Son of God. All would have been harmonious had it not been for two conflicting genealogies given by Matthew and Luke, and the complication of an unusual method of being born into the royal house of David. This latter problem has been held by some to be incompatible with the attribution of a human father to Jesus. However, the Gospels' texts permit the two facts to stand alongside one another without cancelling each other out: the virgin conception happened, and Jesus was born into a human family. Facts are facts. The former problem, the presence of two different genealogies for Jesus, is the subject of this dissertation. The first chapter is taken up with the central problem of why there are two genealogies given for Jesus, or rather, for his father, Joseph, and how commentators and writers through the ages have attempted to resolve this problem. Chapters two and three are taken up with internal problems within Matthew's genealogy, namely, why he has omitted three Davidic kings, and why he has omitted Jehoiakim who is needed to make up the fourteenth generation in the second series of fourteen names. Chapter four is taken up with the difficult phrase "as was supposed" which Luke uses when he introduces Jesus' genealogy. The aim of this dissertation has been to collect as many views as possible on the four chosen topics and then to come to some positive decision about each of the difficulties in the light of that research. The four chosen topics are: 1. The reconciliation of the two genealogies of Jesus 2. The omission of three kings in Matthew 3. The omission of Jehoiakim in Matthew 4. The meaning of "as was supposed" in Luke 3:23. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

• Item Type: Thesis (MTh(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: Biblical studies, theology.
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BS The Bible
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Davidson, Rev, Prof. Robert
• Date of Award: 1998
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1998-71891
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 May 2019 09:31
• Last Modified: 20 Oct 2022 17:34
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.71891
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/71891