Christmas is approaching, and in every city there are nativity scenes with such classic historical details as the birth of Jesus in a manger, the Star of Bethlehem and the Magi. But which of these details are historically valid?
Brent Landau, a religious scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, says there are very few details in the Christmas story that can be backed up by reliable sources. Many Bible scholars find the story of Jesus' birth to be historically implausible. Let us also consider some points of the story of the birth of Jesus, which may raise doubts.
Birthday
Most scholars agree that Jesus probably was not born in A. D. 1.
Johannes Kepler tried to connect his birth with an astronomical anomaly - the star of Bethlehem, which showed the way for the wise men so that they could honor the baby Jesus. His calculations tie the birth of Jesus to 4 BC. BC, but this is probably wrong in terms of both history and astronomy, according to archaeologist Judith Weingarten. “Considering that Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod, who ruled over the province of Judea at the time, his birth probably occurred closer to 1 BC,” Weingarten said.
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Likewise, virtually none of the scholars thinks that December 25 (like January 7) is the real birthday of Jesus. The story of his resurrection was probably far more important to early Christians than his origins, and therefore the date of Christmas does not even appear on the calendar until 336 AD. e. Bible clues, such as the mention of sheep grazing in the fields, suggest that it was warmer than December-January. Thus, Jesus may have been born in the spring.
Could the story of the Magi be true?
The Gospel of Matthew describes the wise men, or wise men, who came to Bethlehem from the East to honor the infant Jesus - the "King of the Jews" - with gifts such as incense. Nevertheless, no historical records testify to such journeys of the Magi at that time, as Landau claims.
Magic star
For 2000 years, many people have tried to find astronomical anomalies that correspond to the Star of Bethlehem. “Almost every year, something unusual appears,” Weingarten said. - However, the movement of any star in the sky cannot indicate a specific house, from the point of view of science. Moreover, this story does not make sense, since the Magi, who supposedly came from Jerusalem, only had to walk 10 kilometers to get to Bethlehem. Given this distance, it is unlikely that they would need a guiding star.
“Still, the word 'star' made more sense at the time than we attribute to it now,” said Ben Witherington, a researcher at Asbury Theological Seminary, Willmore, Kentucky. - Ancient people thought that the stars were living beings or angels. Thus, if one perceives the Star of Bethlehem as a living being that appears as a ball of light to guide the Magi, then historians should not try to link it to a recorded astronomical event. Most likely, it was a magical local phenomenon"
Massacre of the innocents
Although King Herod was known as a cruel and fratricidal ruler, no historian of the time mentions the "slaughter of babies." According to the Gospel of Matthew, Herod allegedly killed babies under the age of 2 in Bethlehem. Even the historian Joseph, who despised Herod and spared no detail when it came to describing his atrocities, never mentioned it.
But given that Bethlehem probably had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, three or four children may have suffered from the killing of innocent babies. We are not talking about streets filled with the bodies of dead children. But in a world full of cruelty and violence, the deaths of several children in a sleepy village, whose names remain unknown, could not appear in the history books.
Single parents
Historians generally agree that Joseph and Mary were not married at the time of Jesus' conception. This is a key point for those who believe in the virgin birth. This detail is mentioned in many books about the birth of Jesus, although in fact such an incident would have been scandalous at the time. This suggests that the early stories of Jesus' birth were different.
While some scholars question the authenticity of the Gospels, this does not mean that their authors lied. They could perceive the stories of Jesus' birth as authentic, even if they were free about the facts.
Regardless of which details of the Christmas story are correct, it holds true even in the modern world. Even if this story is only half confirmed in our time, who cares to know that at the time of Jesus' birth, there was no star, no manger, no magi? This is interesting only for historians, as well as for those who want to somehow justify the lack of the spirit of Christmas.
Anna Pismenna