| Summary: | <p>This study argues that the New Testament infancy narratives are notably attentive to the senses of seeing and hearing, specifically in relation to characters’ perception of divine revelation and the infant Christ himself. Furthermore, this attention to ‘aesthetic piety’ invites further reflection on the visual and aural senses in several streams of pre-Nicene Christian literature devoted to the infancy of Jesus. Part I lays the foundation of this argument through analyzing conceptions of ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing’ in Matthew 1-2 (Chapter 2) and Luke 1-2 (Chapter 3). Matthew’s infancy narrative provides a high concentration of auditory forms of revelation in invoking the voices of prophetic Scripture and the angelic messages of dreams, while achieving its chief aesthetic moment in the visual revelation of the infant Christ to the magi. Luke contrasts modes of listening to revelation in his characterizations of Zechariah and Mary, records multiple visual encounters with the Child, and employs the ancient technique of ἐνάργεια to bring his infancy scenes vividly ‘before the eyes.’ While each gospel writer thus negotiates these concepts differently, both extend a certain ‘aesthetic invitation’ to subsequent literary productions seeking to further imagine or understand human perception of the Incarnation. This is confirmed in Part II, which examines three representative case studies of textual engagement with the New Testament infancy traditions. The early apocryphal infancy gospels, notably exemplified in the <em>Protevangelium of James</em>, respond creatively to the pre-canonical infancy traditions by expanding the reader’s visual and aural imagination of these events (Chapter 4). Irenaeus of Lyons demonstrates an aesthetic response in apologetic mode, interpreting visual witness of the Word made flesh against perceptual confusions of adoptionist and docetic interpretations (Chapter 5). Finally, Origen of Alexandria’s works illustrate explicit homiletic appeal to the aesthetic aspects of the infancy narratives, drawing listeners into an inner and embodied participation in their visual and aural piety (Chapter 6). A concluding chapter examines what this range of ‘aesthetic response’ to impulses present within the infancy narratives themselves can contribute to the study of ancient aesthetic piety and the interpretation of the infancy of Jesus in early Christianity. </p>
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