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Rating: 
Summary: infancy gospels
Review: I found spiritual insight in this slim volume by Fr. Raymond E Brown, S.S. "A COMING CHRIST in ADVENT" is a collection of essays on the gospel narratives preparing for the birth of Jesus. As such, it is a commentary of the first chapters of Matthew and Luke. The subjects include the genealogy of the CHRIST, Jesus, as presented in Matthew, the three Annunciations as well as the Benedictus. The subject is given the characteristic thoroughness Fr Brown applies to his larger works. Two themes which I found intriguing are first, that the Lucan Infacy Narratives contain figures from the Hebrew Scriptures (Zechariah and Elizabeth) and Gospel figures (John, the Baptist) encountering each other in order to bridge the two periods of GOD's salvific action. The second theme which was presented in a new light for me is the role of Mary as a disciple of the CHRIST. Fr Brown writes, "In all of this Luke has anticipated a christological terminology that is appropriate to Jesus' ministry and beyond." Jesus defines 'family' in terms of accepting his gospel about the LORD (Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21). Mary's answer in the Annunciation is "Let it be done to me according to your word." Again, from Fr Brown, "The evangelist is descrbing not only one who is consenting to be the physical mother of Jesus but also and very importantly one who meets Jesus' criterion for his family of disciples -- indeed the first one." If you are interested in understanding the Gospel message in the Infancy Narratives, this book will be interesting to you.
Rating:
Summary: infancy gospels
Review: I found spiritual insight in this slim volume by Fr. Raymond E Brown, S.S. "A COMING CHRIST in ADVENT" is a collection of essays on the gospel narratives preparing for the birth of Jesus. As such, it is a commentary of the first chapters of Matthew and Luke. The subjects include the genealogy of the CHRIST, Jesus, as presented in Matthew, the three Annunciations as well as the Benedictus. The subject is given the characteristic thoroughness Fr Brown applies to his larger works. Two themes which I found intriguing are first, that the Lucan Infacy Narratives contain figures from the Hebrew Scriptures (Zechariah and Elizabeth) and Gospel figures (John, the Baptist) encountering each other in order to bridge the two periods of GOD's salvific action. The second theme which was presented in a new light for me is the role of Mary as a disciple of the CHRIST. Fr Brown writes, "In all of this Luke has anticipated a christological terminology that is appropriate to Jesus' ministry and beyond." Jesus defines 'family' in terms of accepting his gospel about the LORD (Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21). Mary's answer in the Annunciation is "Let it be done to me according to your word." Again, from Fr Brown, "The evangelist is descrbing not only one who is consenting to be the physical mother of Jesus but also and very importantly one who meets Jesus' criterion for his family of disciples -- indeed the first one." If you are interested in understanding the Gospel message in the Infancy Narratives, this book will be interesting to you.
Rating:
Summary: Approachable scholarship
Review: Raymond E. Brown is best known for his large The Birth of the Messiah and the two volumes on the death of Christ. Those are readable texts aimed at a more scholarly crowd. A Coming of Christ in Advent is one of a group of slim volumes that collect his essays for magazines. In these essays he shows the same skill for scholarly work and equal skill at making it meaningful to today's Christian - not as Biblical study but as meaningful to one's life.My favorite section in this particular volume is the study of the genealogy in Matthew's Gospel - the points regarding the women mentioned as all being "outsiders" was one of several provocative points. I'm sure other readers would pick out different highlights depending upon the conditions under which they read the book - there are many possible highlights to chose between.
Rating:
Summary: Approachable scholarship
Review: Raymond E. Brown is best known for his large The Birth of the Messiah and the two volumes on the death of Christ. Those are readable texts aimed at a more scholarly crowd. A Coming of Christ in Advent is one of a group of slim volumes that collect his essays for magazines. In these essays he shows the same skill for scholarly work and equal skill at making it meaningful to today's Christian - not as Biblical study but as meaningful to one's life. My favorite section in this particular volume is the study of the genealogy in Matthew's Gospel - the points regarding the women mentioned as all being "outsiders" was one of several provocative points. I'm sure other readers would pick out different highlights depending upon the conditions under which they read the book - there are many possible highlights to chose between.
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