Before: "He believes that since the early readers of the text were not expecting such an astounding story, the authors had no ulterior motive to create a false narrative. Assuming that his analysis is correct, Longnecker’s points are not substantial enough to boast such a supernatural claim. While the authors of Matthew and Luke may not have influenced each other, they nonetheless could have been influenced by similar discourse at the time. Furthermore, the job of a storyteller is not to simply meet the audience's expectations. If anything, storytellers often aim to exceed expectations to make a point or to captivate the audience. This article highlights the tendency of some modern Christians to read the Bible literally, going to great lengths to prove the historical accuracy of a story, even if that means developing a fallible argument."
After: "He believes that since the early readers of the text were not expecting such an astounding story, the authors had no ulterior motive to create a false narrative. Assuming that his analysis is correct, Longnecker’s points are not substantial enough to boast such a supernatural claim. While the authors of Matthew and Luke may not have directly influenced each other, they nonetheless could have been influenced by similar discourse at the time. Furthermore, the job of a storyteller is not to simply meet the audience's expectations. I mean, when was the last time an author topped the charts for doing exactly what we expected? If anything, storytellers often aim to exceed expectations to make a point or to captivate the audience. This article highlights the tendency of some modern Christians to read the Bible literally, going to great lengths to prove the historical accuracy of a story, even if that means developing a fallible argument."
In this part of a paragraph, I incorporated the use of second person that Sword discusses on page 46. I think that this addition is beneficial as it keeps the reader engaged. It can become boring for the reader to continuously reader perspectives of academics, so this addition makes the reader think about their own lives and maintain interest.