A Sign For You: A Child Savior Revealed to Child Shepherds

Abstract

Drawing on parallels from Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Early Christian sources alongside of sociological models of agriculture in subsistence economies, this essay makes the case for the presence (if not preponderance) of child shepherds among those who receive the angelic message in Luke 2:1–20. By engaging a childist reading that both considers the position of the shepherds with regards to their economic and social standing in Bethlehem and re-reads the angelic message and proclamation of an infant as sign in light of such a youthful audience, this essay reframes the perceived identity of the Bethlehem shepherds to foreground the children in their midst.

Children in the New Testament

“…Several recent annotated bibliographies, both spanning the whole biblical corpus (Aasgaard 2018;Lindeman Allen 2020c) and specific to the New Testament and its environs (Lindemann 2011;Vuolanto 2015;Aasgaard 2021;Lindeman Allen 2021a, 2021b seek to address this diffusion of scholarship. Unfortunately, such work has frequently fallen short, especially with attention to research written in languages other than English and originating from scholars of the global South.…”

“…Smith 2016; M.J. Smith 2022b). Luke, on the other hand, lingers on Jesus’ infancy, describing Jesus’ early gestation and the days surrounding Jesus’ birth at greater length, followed by his circumcision and a visit to the Temple at eight-days-old (Martínez 2001; Davis 2004; Robbins 2015; Spoelstra 2015; Mothoagae 2017; Betsworth 2015, 2018; Lincoln 2013; Lindeman Allen 2021c; Lindeman Allen 2021d), followed by a subsequent visit to the temple at the age of twelve (Heininger 2005; Billings 2009; van Aarde 2019). This breadth of material, although uneven in attention, allows scholars the opportunity, not present with other child characters, to follow Jesus across various stages of his development and in relationship with others (Berquist 2009; Mbuvi 2009; Ibita and Bieringer 2010a; Betsworth 2013).…”

“…Parker 2017; Weren 2019; Betsworth and Parker 2022). Children, both free and enslaved, perform work within their households (Frilingos 2000; Villalobos Mendoza 2012; Aymer 2016; Kartzow 2017; Lopes 2021; Lindeman Allen 2021c; Montemayor 2022). The education of children, both formal and informal, features in both the gospels and epistles (Voeltzel 1973; Botha 1999b; MacDonald 2014, 67–148; Lietaert Peerbolte 2021).…”

“…Nevertheless, it was not until the latter half of the twentieth century that children themselves received sustained attention in New Testament studies; and even later that the study of children in biblical texts, the New Testament included, began to grow at an accelerated rate. Several recent review essays trace the field's development with attention to this latter growth (Aasgaard 2006(Aasgaard , 2019Gallagher Elkins and Parker 2016;Lindeman Allen 2020c; see also Bunge, Fretheim, and Gaventa 2008: xiv-xxvi;Lindeman Allen 2019a: xiv-xix;Lim 2021: 8-26), linking increased attention to the characterization and metaphorization of children in the New Testament with parallel studies of children in the Hebrew Bible and, in particular, the recent emergence of childist criticism as a distinct methodological and perspectival approach (Gallagher Elkins 2013;Gallagher Elkins and Parker 2016;Betsworth and Parker 2019;Garroway and Martens 2019b;Garroway 2020;Parker 2023).…”

Engaging studies of children in the Bible: What is going on and why you should care

“…Increasingly nuanced understanding takes seriously challenges faced by children in the biblical text (e.g. Allen, 2021; Hopkins, 2019; Lemos, 2017, 132–70; Martens, 2019b; Murphy, 2013; Parker, 2020b). Childist scholars also note how a character's construction as a young person helps to shape the passages in which children appear.…”