Re: [asa] The Christmas Story

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal today on the history of the
Christmas holiday. According to that article, Luke's reference to shepherds
"abiding in their fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night" means
Christ must have been born in the spring. In the winter, the author says,
the flocks were kept in pens, not in the fields. Further, the author says
Pope Liberius initiated a feast of the Nativity in 325 A.D., to coincide
with the Roman pagan holidays that were celebrated at that time of year, as
a way of getting people to come to church. He must have hired a "church
growth" consultant. However, the Wikipedia entry on Christmas makes it seem
that the Nativity was celebrated much earlier in the east, so I'm not sure
the Journal editorial got it right. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
)

On Dec 21, 2007 9:08 AM, John Walley <john_walley@yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> Yes he does use Dec 25th because according to him in 2 BC "Jupiter reached
> full stop in its travel through the fixed stars".
>
> I have heard before that Christ was likely born in the spring, since that
> is
> when they took the census. I wonder if he has every commented on this. I
> can't find anything about it on his website. All the rest of the
> astronomical evidences sound compelling to me though.
>
> Thanks
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
> Behalf Of gordon brown
> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 10:41 PM
> To: asa@calvin.edu
> Subject: RE: [asa] The Christmas Story
>
>
> I have problems with the dates. His placing of the first Christmas on
> December 25 makes me especially suspicious of his approach to the subject.
>
> Gordon Brown (ASA member)
>
>
> On Thu, 20 Dec 2007, Christine Smith wrote:
>
> > Hello all,
> >
> > John sent me this link off-list (so that he'd stay
> > within his posting limit :) ), and I found it a really interesting
> > read. Admittedly, I'm working on less than 6 hours of sleep, but the
> > arguments sounded pretty well thought out and supported. Any other
> > perspectives on the merits of the arguments presented?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Christine
> >
> > --- John Walley <john_walley@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Offlist:
> >>
> >> This guy came to our church last year and although I
> >> didn't get to hear him
> >> I heard very favorable reviews and from checking it
> >> out I think it is the
> >> most plausible explanation of the Bethlehem Star of
> >> all the ones that are
> >> out there.
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >>
> >> John
> >>
> >> http://www.bethlehemstar.net/
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu]
> >> On Behalf Of Christine Smith
> >> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 1:44 PM
> >> To: asa@calvin.edu
> >> Subject: [asa] The Christmas Story
> >>
> >>
> >> Hello all,
> >>
> >> Was contemplating the Christmas story and all of the
> >> popular conjecture about both the story's origins
> >> and
> >> the holiday's origins. Specifically from a science perspective, I've
> >> done a bit of reading about the Star
> >> of Bethlehem and the theories about astronomical
> >> events that this may have corresponded to. I was
> >> wondering what your perspectives on the Christmas
> >> story, the Christmas holiday, and the Star of
> >> Bethlehem might be?
> >>
> >> Thanks ahead of time for the insights :) Merry
> >> Christmas!
> >>
> >> In Christ,
> >> Christine
> >>
> >> To unsubscribe, send a message to
> >> majordomo@calvin.edu with "unsubscribe
> >> asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > "For we walk by faith, not by sight" ~II Corinthians 5:7
> >
> > Help save the life of a homeless animal--visit www.azrescue.org to
> > find out how.
> >
> > Recycling a single aluminum can conserves enough energy to power your
> > TV for 3 hours--Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Learn more at www.cleanup.org
> >
> > To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> > "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
> >
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with "unsubscribe
> asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Dec 21 09:35:57 2007