Careful interpretation is needed. These slides discuss some of the issues involved. For instance, both Matthew and Luke date Jesus’ birth toward the end of the reign of King Herod the Great, who we ...

In Matthew’s narrative, Jesus’ birth is detected by foreign priests, the magi; in Luke it is lowly Jewish shepherds who first learn the news. In Matthew’s narrative, King Herod in Jerusalem hunts ...

One important category is prophecy: Prophecy in the bible refers to the words spoken ... How does this relate to the birth of Jesus? Fast forward a few hundred years to the writers of the Gospels ...

And, indeed, this small city in modern-day Palestine is mentioned in the Bible multiple times as the site of Jesus’ birth — even before Jesus was born. In fact, the Jewish Bible claimed that ...

These and many other questions will be the subject of homilies across many Christian traditions that celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Counsellor, the Lord, the King of Kings.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! As we celebrate, we remember that words from the apostle John describe Jesus’ birth: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John ...

You’ve got to be kidding, right? A virgin birth? Surely that’s way out there with the Loch Ness Monster and Santa Claus?” No, I’m not kidding. Some 700 years before it happened, ...

Although Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Bible offers scant information on when Mary gave birth. 'In fact, there's very little about Jesus' birth and infancy ...

Christmas celebrates the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. Christians understand this as the “incarnation,” which means that God became human in the form of Jesus Christ. As it says in the Gospel of ...