Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - “Inchiesta su Gesù Bambino” (Investigation on the Child Jesus) is the title of a book in Italian by Andrea Tornielli on sale since 16 December. The first edition sold out in two days and a second edition will be in the shops before Christmas: a sign that Jesus Christ and the historicity of the Gospels are subjects which interest people. Fides spoke to the author.
Why did you write this book?
As a journalist, used to reporting present day events, I wanted to use the same criteria to investigate the news, or better the ‘good news’ about what happened two thousand years ago: the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, an event which cut history in two.
What were your conclusions?
I tried to answer the classical questions listed in manuals on journalism: who, what, where, when and why. Unfortunately even in the field of Christian exegesis too many tend to consider the Gospels, particularly the Gospels on the infancy of Jesus written by Matthew and Luke, as ‘theological’ constructions written with hindsight, rich in symbols but little in keeping with what really happened. Instead the aim of my investigation was to demonstrate that the Gospels are very true to history and that the facts they narrate fit perfectly into the historical, geographical and cultural context of the times.
Can you give us some example?
Those who argue that the Gospels are a construction worked out at the bench of the ‘inventors’ of Christianity, the ‘creators’ of the ‘myth’ of Christ, should be able to explain why those inventors gave their great founder, identified as the Son of God, a name like Jesus, one of the most commonly used in Palestine at the time. If the Gospels were an invention, surely the authors would have thought of a more original name for the Messiah. Another example are the shepherds: Luke tells us they were the first to adore the Babe in Bethlehem. Well, at that time shepherds and nomads, were sort of excluded by society, they were seen as a category of people not to be trusted, robbers who lived day and night with their flocks and never washed. Their word had no value in court. A similar fact occurred at the resurrection of which women were the first witnesses: women were not allowed to give witness in court because the word of a woman had no value in ancient Jewish law. Would “inventors” have chosen such unreliable persons to be the first witnesses of the birth of the Son of God and his resurrection?. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/12/2004; righe 33, parole 432)
