Roger Nelson

To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. Matthew is the most intentionally Jewish of the gospels. In the first chapter Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus as a son of David and a son of Abraham, and in the second he’s layering stories with references to the Hebrew Scriptures.

To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century. Christmas begs for a story and not a theological treatise, but the story is scandalous because of its specificity, and that calls for theological reflection. As the story is told, God became this and not that. God took male shape and not female shape.