Tag: Bethlehem

• The Nativity Stories (ii) More Questions

  The chief supporting actors in Matthew’s story are the “wise men from the east”. “Magi” weren’t kings, but practitioners of oriental magical arts, which would have included astrology. In Acts 8:9 there is a ‘Magus’ called Simon who “astounded the Samaritans with his magic”. Predictably, he gets a bad press in Acts, but this is […]

  calgacus83

  16th Dec 2021

  Christmas, Jesus of Nazareth, Literature, Mythology, New Testament, Poetry

  Bethlehem, Census, Christmas, Gospels, Nativity, Star

• The Nativity Stories (i) Asking Questions

  Now that December has come, it’s time to revisit the endlessly enchanting nativity stories found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. I use the word “stories”, firstly because these are not historical accounts and, secondly, because there are two of them, even though the yearly ‘nativity plays’ join them up, and present them as […]

  calgacus83

  14th Dec 2021

  Christmas, Jesus of Nazareth, Mythology, New Testament, Poetry, Religion

  Bethlehem, Christmas, Gospels, Herod, Luke, Matthew, Nativity, Nazareth

• A Christmas Poem with a Difference

  This impressive poem is capable of suggesting a variety of meanings, none of which will be “it”, and this makes it worthy of ongoing revisits. This brief post is in no way an ‘analysis’, but only a sharing of some thoughts which have arisen. Historically, the poem was written just after World War I, which […]

  calgacus83

  20th Dec 2020

  Christmas, Jesus of Nazareth, Literature, Poetry, Religion

  Bethlehem, Second Coming, W B Yeats

• When and where was Jesus born?

  What I aim to do is to jettison the last 2000 years of dogmas and creeds and to try to take an ‘unbaggaged’ look at Jesus. If we do this, it must immediately strike us that Jesus wasn’t a Christian – there weren’t any until around 45 CE. He was a 1st century Palestinian Jew, […]

  calgacus83

  13th Dec 2020

  Jesus of Nazareth, New Testament, Religion

  Bethlehem, Nazareth