Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
Virgin Birth as Critique of Complicity with Empire

Virgin Birth as Critique of Complicity with Empire

Last updated on: December 24, 2025 at 11:48 am by Herb Montgomery

Virgin Birth as Critique of Complicity with Empire 2025-12-24T11:48:57-04:00 Herb Montgomery

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image by Canva

By adopting forms familiar from imperial birth legends and filling them with radically different content, the gospel writers offer a theological critique of empire. They portray Jesus as the genuine bringer of salvation, who saves society not through domination and imperial violence but through love of neighbor and solidarity with the marginalized. The birth narratives that we celebrate at this time of year originally functioned as political statements. They offer an alternative vision of power, challenge Rome’s claims to divine favor, and invite readers to imagine a world ordered not by imperial might but by the values of justice, compassion, and liberation.

Welcome Readers! Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here.

This is Part 2 of the series When Christianity Becomes Complicit with Societal Injustice

(Read this series from its beginning here.)

Supernatural as these narratives are, I would like us to try and step back from the supernatural elements of the narratives about Jesus’ birth. These claims were made for Caesar as well. So what are these supernatural narratives saying politically, and can they inform our justice work today as we, too, seek to follow that 1st Century Jewish prophet of the poor from Galilee.

The central passage the Matthew chooses to adopt in his birth narrative about Jesus is from a completely different ancient Jewish story. And if we are to understand Isaiah’s story in a life-giving way, we need to start with the history of the original claim in Isaiah 7 that “a virgin would conceive”. Isaiah is a book about prophetic justice. Bear with me as we briefly summarize its history. It will be worth it in the end.

Isaiah 7 is set during the Syro-Ephraimite War (735–732 BCE). This was a major geopolitical crisis where the northern kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) and Aram (Syria) formed an alliance against Assyria and then threatened to invade the southern kingdom of Judah. Their goal was to depose Judah’s king, Ahaz, and force his kingdom to join their anti-Assyrian alliance. Ahaz and his people were terrified of this impending war.

King Rezin of Aram (Syria) and King Pekah of Israel (Ephraim) marched to besiege Jerusalem. They planned to overthrow the Davidic monarchy (Ahaz) and install a puppet ruler, the son of Tabeal. Ahaz and his people “trembled with fear, like the trees of the forest shake with the wind” (Isaiah 7:2). Rather than seeking help from God, however, Ahaz began making secret overtures to Tiglath-Pileser III, the powerful king of Assyria, to become his vassal and gain his military protection.

In Isaiah 7, God sent Isaiah to meet Ahaz and urged him to stay calm and trust in the Lord instead of in a foreign alliance. Isaiah assured the king that the invasion would fail, and he referred to the two enemy kings as “smoldering stubs of firewood” who would soon be extinguished.

Within a few years, Assyria conquered both Syria and Israel, the two nations threatening Judah. Isaiah’s prophecy indicated that before the child Immanuel was old enough to know right from wrong, the threat from Rezin and Pekah would be over.

Because Ahaz chose to rely on Assyria rather than God, Judah became an Assyrian vassal state. Heavy tributes and the introduction of pagan practices set the stage for future conflict and exile.

This is the connection between Isaiah and Matthew’s birth narrative for Jesus and Isaiah. Our culture’s naturalistic worldview means that what catches our attention is the scientific impossibility of a virgin birth, and this has distracted us from the political point that the author of Matthew’s gospel is making. This has an interesting application to certain sectors of Christianity, today. We’ll explore that application in Part 3.

Begin each day being inspired toward love, compassion, justice and action. Free.

General Christian

Politics and Religion

About Herb Montgomery

Herb Montgomery, director of Renewed Heart Ministries, is an author and adult religious educator helping Christians explore the intersection of their faith with love, compassion, action, and societal justice. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

December 23, 2025

Christmas As Theological Critique of Empire

Next Post

December 24, 2025 Christmas as Critique of Complicity with Injustice

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ableism Abolition Advent Anti Semitism Christianity Christmas Climate Justice Criminal Justice Democracy Disability Justice Distributive Justice Easter Economic Justice Environmental Justice Equity Feminism Government Immigration Justice Indigenous Justice Interfaith Law and Order LGBTQ Affirmation Liberation Theology Migrant Justice Myth of Redemptive Suffering Nonviolence Prayer Racial Justice Reparation Resistance Resurrection Social Gospel Social Justice Survival Uncategorized Womanism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Apostle" mean in Greek?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Elder King One who is sent Preacher