The account of John’s birth (1:57–66) continues the parallelism between John and Jesus, which is characteristic of the Lukan infancy narrative, although Jesus’s birth is described in more detail (cf. 2:1–20). Circumcision on the eighth day (1:59) was in obedience to the Old Testament law (Lev. 12:3), indicating that John was incorporated into the covenant (Gen. 17:9–14). The controversy over the naming of the child is curious because this is …