the Gospels horizontally means exploring how each presentation relates to the others in a complementary fashion, jointly witnessing to the same historical reality, statements, and events. Both types of reading are valuable; both should be done sequentially. In the present case, since both Matthew’s and Luke’s infancy narratives (not to mention John’s prologue) are so unique and coherent, it makes sense to start with a vertical reading of their respective accounts and to draw horizontal connections