RE: [asa] Star of Bethlehem presentation?

I see there's been a flurry of activity related to ideas about the Star of Bethlehem. If in fact a misprint of Josephus led Kepler and others to accept of a birth year for Christ of 4 BC or earlier, that would be very interesting. I'm looking into that claim.
 
Many years ago I undertook a translation (which I won't be making public) of Kepler's treatise, "De vero anno quo Aeternus Dei Filius Humanam Naturam in Utero Benedictae Virginis Mariae Assumpsit," in which Kepler offered his view on this topic--I have a longstanding interest in it myself. In general, I recommend the following book on this topic:
http://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/
 
Let me comment as follows, for Bernie: the dominant Christian view on astrology, Bernie, has since the time of Augustine been as follows. Deterministic astrology, in which the stars actually determine & control human affairs, is verboten. But it was OK for Christians to hold that God can use the stars to reveal events under his own control, and in that context the magi were led to Bethlehem. Most contemporary Christians, including evangelicals, probably no little or nothing about the history of astrology and Christian views of it; the same is true of almost everyone else as well--nothing peculiar to Christians here, Bernie. Thus, many evangelical preachers might be very reluctant to see the magi as "astrologers," despite the use of the word "Magi" in the Bible. Others might know something about this and mention it helpfully.
 
Ted
 
 

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Received on Mon Nov 23 14:38:12 2009