Myth of the Nativity: The Virgin Birth Re-examined

by Andrew Welburn

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive..." The story of the conception and birth of Jesus is one of the most mysterious events recorded in the Gospels, surrounded as it was by great signs and miracles. But how should we interpret what we call the Virgin Birth? In this carefully researched study, Andrew Welburn says that we must look again at the stars, angels, and other signs, and penetrate the minds of the Gospel writers to find the real meaning of this most significant event. He suggests that at least three ancient traditions converge in the narrative of the Virgin Birth, each providing a layer of meaning that is, for the most part, lost to our modern viewpoint. He concludes that the Virgin Birth remains a miracle through the fact that it makes us deeply question our view of the world and the spiritual realities behind it.

Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Arthur George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating take on the notion of the virgin birth described in Matthew and Luke. In the field of mythology, it is already a commonplace to note, as Joseph Campbell and others did, that virginal or other abnormal births of hero figures such as Jesus and Buddha signify spiritual births/rebirths. Welburn, without even belaboring that basic idea, plunges headlong into the particular details of how that idea evolved in the cultural milieu of mystic Judaism, Gnosticism, Egyptian and Zoroastrian mythology, early Christian apocrypha, and the pagan traditions of the Greco-Roman world, as reflected in the particular mythological texts from each tradition. Welburn's presentation had me reaching out to read the various texts that he discusses as I followed his argument. It was particularly interesting how Welburn argued that Matthew and Luke operated from different perspectives yet settled on the same metaphor.