2009م - 1444هـ
The time-honored traditions of Christmas are dear to the hearts of Christians today. The

story of the first Christmas recaptures the imagination as it is retold year after year in Bible

readings, carols, Christmas pageants, live manger scenes and crèche displays, to name a few.

Perhaps in the midst of all this, we might wonder what the story of Jesus’ birth meant to the

earliest Christians. How did their story differ from the one we tell today, and what significance did

they give to each member of the cast of characters? In the articles that follow, expert Bible

scholars and archaeologists offer glimpses of the first Christmas as recounted and understood by

those who first told the beloved story.

Early and modern-day Christians alike have been captivated in particular by the three

magi in the Christmas story. Author Robin Jensen tells us that early Christian art contains more

representations of the adoration of the magi than of the infant Jesus in the manger. What key

theological message did the early Christians see in the story of the magi? Jensen uncovers the

answer by tracing the magi’s numerous appearances in art and literature from the period in

“Witnessing the Divine: The Magi in Art and Literature.”

Perhaps the most mystifying part of the magi’s journey is the star that guides them.

Scholars and astronomers have tried for some time to identify a celestial event that corresponds

with the magi’s guiding star, in part because it would also pinpoint the date of Jesus’ birth. Where

modern science fails to explain the mysterious star, Babylonian astronomy gives better clues in

“The Magi and the Star: Babylonian Astronomy Dates Jesus’ Birth” by Simo Parpola.

In contrast, author Dale C. Allison, Jr. does not look to astronomy for an explanation of

the magi’s star, though he does look heavenward. In “What Was the Star that Guided the Magi,”

he suggests that another sort of celestial entity was the bright light that guided the magi’s journey

to pay homage to the infant Jesus.





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