The Star of Bethlehem and the Magi PDF Download

Author: George H. van Kooten
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004308474
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 718

View

Book Description
This book is the fruit of the first ever interdisciplinary international scientific conference on Matthew's story of the Star of Bethlehem and the Magi, held in 2014 at the University of Groningen, and attended by world-leading specialists in all relevant fields: modern astronomy, the ancient near-eastern and Greco-Roman worlds, the history of science, and religion. The scholarly discussions and the exchange of the interdisciplinary views proved to be immensely fruitful and resulted in the present book. Its twenty chapters describe the various aspects of The Star: the history of its interpretation, ancient near-eastern astronomy and astrology and the Magi, astrology in the Greco-Roman and the Jewish worlds, and the early Christian world – at a generally accessible level. An epilogue summarizes the fact-fiction balance of the most famous star which has ever shone.

Author: Michael R. Molnar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813564715
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 187

View

Book Description
Tracing the possible origins of the Magi's star, the author uses an ancient Roman coin as a starting point to investigate the possibility that the legendary star may in fact have been an eclipse of Jupiter and the star Aries.

Author: Brent Landau
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0061947032
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

View

Book Description
Each Christmas, adults and children alike delight at the story of the kings from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to offer gifts to the newborn Christ. While this familiar tale is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, another little-known version later emerged that claimed to be the eyewitness account of the wise men. This ancient manuscript has lain hidden for centuries in the vaults of the Vatican Library, but through the determined persistence of a young scholar, Brent Landau, this astonishing discovery has been translated into English for the very first time as the Revelation of the Magi. Everything we know about the wise men is based on only a few verses from the Bible. With the Revelation of the Magi, we can now read the story from the Magi's perspective. Readers will learn of the Magi's prophecies of God's incarnation from the beginning of time, their startling visitation in the form of a star, the teachings they receive from the baby Jesus, and the wise men's joyous return to their homeland to spread the good news. This ancient version of the Christmas story is guaranteed to astonish and delight. It will also raise larger questions of the significance and meaning of Christ's birth, and the mission to spread the good news to every corner of the globe. All the drama and intrigue of the brief description of Jesus's birth in the Bible is filled out in greater, more colorful detail, offering for the first time the complete story of these beloved characters.

Author:
Publisher: Canongate U.S.
ISBN: 9780802136169
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 100

View

Book Description
The publication of the King James version of the Bible, translated between 1603 and 1611, coincided with an extraordinary flowering of English literature and is universally acknowledged as the greatest influence on English-language literature in history. Now, world-class literary writers introduce the book of the King James Bible in a series of beautifully designed, small-format volumes. The introducers' passionate, provocative, and personal engagements with the spirituality and the language of the text make the Bible come alive as a stunning work of literature and remind us of its overwhelming contemporary relevance.

Author: Dr. Jason Lisle
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 1614582823
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 129

View

Book Description
"This book is meant to be an introduction only - a starting point to a biblical view of the universe. . . . Who knows what amazing truths are waiting to be discovered if only the shackles of secular thinking are removed. Now is the time of discovery..." Take a breathtaking look at the universe that is comprehensive guide to the heavens! Sit back and explore the world at your fingertips in this book which: Explains the scale and size of the universe that is hard for our minds to imagine - yet can only indicate the Master's hand at work. Over 50 full-color, rarely seen photos of stars, nebulas, and galaxies. Filled with facts that challenge secular theories and models of the universe - how it began and how it continues to amaze the scientific community. Explores numerous evidences that point to a young universe: magnetic poles of planets, the spiral shape of galaxies, comets and how long scientists think they can last, and much more. With a doctorate in astrophysics from the University of Colorado, Dr. Jason Lisle is your guide to the universe beyond our world in this remarkable book. Step out among the stars and experience the truly awesome power of God through this glimpse of His vast creation.

Author: Dwight Longenecker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1621576566
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

View

Book Description
"The perfect Christmas gift for anyone interested in the historical background behind the birth of Jesus of Nazareth." — Robert J. Hutchinson, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible, The Dawn of Christianity, and Searching for Jesus. "Utterly refreshing and encouraging." — Eric Metaxas, New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Martin Luther "The best book I know about the Magi." — Sir Colin John Humphreys, Ph.D., author of The Mystery of the Last Supper Modern biblical scholars tend to dismiss the Christmas story of the “wise men from the East” as pious legend. Matthew’s gospel offers few details, but imaginative Christians filled out the story early on, giving us the three kings guided by a magical star who join the adoring shepherds in every Christmas crèche. For many scholars, then, there is no reason to take the gospel story seriously. But are they right? Are the wise men no more than a poetic fancy? In an astonishing feat of detective work, Dwight Longenecker makes a powerful case that the visit of the Magi to Bethlehem really happened. Piecing together the evidence from biblical studies, history, archeology, and astronomy, he goes further, uncovering where they came from, why they came, and what might have happened to them after eluding the murderous King Herod. In the process, he provides a new and fascinating view of the time and place in which Jesus Christ chose to enter the world. The evidence is clear and compelling. The mysterious Magi from the East were in all likelihood astrologers and counselors from the court of the Nabatean king at Petra, where the Hebrew messianic prophecies were well known. The “star” that inspired their journey was a particular planetary alignment—confirmed by computer models—that in the astrological lore of the time portended the birth of a Jewish king. The visitors whose arrival troubled Herod “and all Jerusalem with him” may not have been the turbaned oriental kings of the Christmas carol, but they were real, and by demonstrating that the wise men were no fairy tale, Mystery of the Magi demands a new level of respect for the historical claims of the gospel.

Author: Robert A. Powell
Publisher: SteinerBooks
ISBN: 0880109629
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 314

View

Book Description
Sergei O. Prokofieff and Peter Selg, two leading authorities and spiritual researchers into the life and work of Rudolf Steiner, gave a series of conferences from 2009 to 2010 on the Christological foundations of Anthroposophy. Their aim was to show the power of anthroposophic Christology. Thus, they focused on key turning points in Steiner's exposition--his major work, An Outline of Esoteric Science; the first Goetheanum; the reappearance of Christ in the etheric realm and its relationship to Rudolf Steiner's lectures on the Fifth Gospel; and the Christmas Conference of 1923/1924 and the founding of the New Mysteries. The lectures from these conferences, published as four booklets in German, are collected here in a single volume. The Creative Power of Anthroposophical Christology will prove to be an important work for anyone interested in the true meaning and depth of Rudolf Steiner's experience and understanding of Christ's act on Golgotha and his continuing presence among us and within Anthroposophy.

Author: Colin R. Nicholl
Publisher: Crossway Books
ISBN: 9781433542138
Category : Astonomy in the Bible
Languages : en
Pages : 0

View

Book Description
Drawing on the biblical text and using the latest astronomical research, this book presents compelling evidence that the historic star of Bethlehem that accompanied Christ's birth was actually a great comet.

Author: Various Authors,
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310294142
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 6793

View

Book Description
The NIV is the world's best-selling modern translation, with over 150 million copies in print since its first full publication in 1978. This highly accurate and smooth-reading version of the Bible in modern English has the largest library of printed and electronic support material of any modern translation.

Author: Mark Kidger
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400887542
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319

View

Book Description
Two thousand years ago, according to the Bible, a star rose low in the east and stopped high above Bethlehem. Was it a miracle, a sign from God to herald the birth of Christ? Was there a star at all, or was it simply added to the Bible to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy concerning the birth of the Messiah? Or was the Star of Bethlehem an actual astronomical event? For hundreds of years, astronomers as prominent as Johannes Kepler have sought an answer to this last baffling question. In The Star of Bethlehem, Mark Kidger brings all the tools of modern science, years of historical research, and an infectious spirit of inquiry to bear on the mystery. He sifts through an astonishing variety of ideas, evidence, and information--including Babylonian sky charts, medieval paintings, data from space probes, and even calculations about the speed of a camel--to present a graceful, original, and scientifically compelling account of what it may have been that illuminated the night skies two millennia ago. Kidger begins with the stories of early Christians, comparing Matthew's tale of the Star and the three Magi who followed it to Bethlehem with lesser-known accounts excluded from the Bible. Crucially, Kidger follows the latest biblical scholarship in placing Christ's birth between 7 and 5 B.C., which leads him to reject various phenomena that other scientists have proposed as the Star. In clear, colorful prose, he then leads us through the arguments for and against the remaining astronomical candidates. Could the Star have been Venus? What about a meteor or a rare type of meteor shower? Could it have been Halley's Comet, as featured in Giotto's famous painting of the Nativity? Or, as Kidger suspects, was the Star a combination of events--a nova recorded in ancient Chinese and Korean manuscripts preceded by a series of other events, including an unusual triple conjunction of planets? Originally published in 1999. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.