gary@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (gary w buchholz) (06/19/85)
I was very interested to read Davids note concerning Raymond Browns (600 page) book The Birth of the Messiah. So interested was I (on how anyone could write 600 pages on this(birth narratives in Matthew and Luke)) that I purchased the book. Paging through the book two things are of immediate notice 1. Brown makes heavy use of critical scholarship. 2. The book carries the "nihil obstat" and "imprimatur" meaning that, as regards Catholicism, the book is free from doctrinal and moral error. Now anyone that can chart a course between critical scholarship and an "imprimatur" is deserving of respect - (maybe as much for rhetorical skills as for scholarly erudition.). (Which has he troped ?) In any case, I don't want to prejudge Browns book before reading it so this weekend I'll be in for some heavy reading. How one addresses critical scholarship to "believing communities" has always interested me so in this respect Browns book is a good test case and may be worth more to me in this regard than it is for its particular contribution to scholarship which could be gleaned from elsewhere. Thanks for bringing this book to my attention. Gary