The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Birth

by Marcus J. Borg, John Dominic Crossan

The perfect follow-up to The Last Week, Borg and Crossan's The First Christmas is an account of the two nativity narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Borg and Crossan focus on discovering the actual literary story that the Gospels tell. Borg and Crossan feel that history has biased our readings of these texts; we are all so familiar with the nativity story that we don't really hear it anymore. The First Christmas will help us see the nativity story afresh and be able to appreciate the powerful message the Gospels contain.

Genres: Religion, Christmas, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity, History, Christian

258 pages, Hardcover

First published October 9, 2007

About the author

Borg was born into a Lutheran family of Swedish and Norwegian descent, the youngest of four children. He grew up in the 1940s in North Dakota and attended Concordia College, Moorhead, a small liberal arts school in Moorhead, Minnesota. While at Moorhead he was a columnist for the school paper and held forth as a conservative. After a close reading of the Book of Amos and its overt message of social equality he immediately began writing with an increasingly liberal stance and was eventually invited to discontinue writing his articles due to his new-found liberalism. He did graduate work at Union Theological Seminary and obtained masters and DPhil degrees at Oxford under G. B. Caird. Anglican bishop N.T. Wright had studied under the same professor and many years later Borg and Wright were to share in co-authoring The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, an amicable study in contrast. Following a period of religious questioning in his mid-thirties, and numinous experiences similar to those described by Rudolf Otto, Borg became active in the Episcopal Church, in which his wife, the Reverend Canon Marianne Wells-Borg, serves as a priest and directs a spiritual development program at the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, Oregon. On May 31, 2009, Borg was installed as the first canon theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

Marcus J. Borg is Canon Theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, OR. Internationally known in both academic and church circles as a biblical and Jesus scholar, he was Hundere Chair of Religion and Culture in the Philosophy Department at Oregon State University until his retirement in 2007.

Described by The New York Times as "a leading figure in his generation of Jesus scholars," he has appeared on NBC's "Today Show" and “Dateline,” PBS's "Newshour," ABC’s “Evening News” and “Prime Time” with Peter Jennings, NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, and several National Geographic programs. A Fellow of the Jesus Seminar, he has been national chair of the Historical Jesus Section of the Society of Biblical Literature and co-chair of its International New Testament Program Committee, and is past president of the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars. His work has been translated into eleven languages: German, Dutch, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Spanish, Portugese, Russian, and French. His doctor's degree is from Oxford University, and he has lectured widely overseas (England, Scotland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Israel and South Africa) and in North America, including the Chautauqua and Smithsonian Institutions.

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it was Advent and I wanted something thematically appropriate, I recognized Crossan's name from countless NatGeo and History documentaries, and it was on sale. It turned out to be a better book than I thought it'd be, although I have a feeling it may be a bit controversial to some Christians.

Borg and Crossan's basic premise for the book is that people know the story of the first Christmas mostly from hearsay and popular culture, rather than from the actual biblical text. Their goal is to look at Scripture, specifically Matthew and Luke, to see what the text actually says about the birth of Jesus, and seek to understand what it says in terms of life in the first century in Rome-occupied Israel, and for us today. To do this, the authors open with what I think is the most controversial part of their work: they explain that they do not see the gospels as literal and historical documents, but rather as parables, or to use a Jewish term, a midrash (commonly translated as legend), a literary form that tells of the stories behind the biblical stories in highly symbolic and metaphorical language. The authors argue that the writers of Matthew and Luke, being Jews, would have been familiar with this style of writing, and adapted it to tell their story of Jesus.

Whether you agree with their position or not, the analysis of the elements of the Christmas story is excellent, and brings to light a number of important points, such as the language of rebellion against imperialism (or very specifically, Rome), the reason why the titles given to Jesus are basically slaps in the face of Rome's Caesar, and how utterly brand new is the idea of a religion that embraces the masses, the poor, the outcasts. By their analysis of Matthew and Luke, Borg and Crossan show what an amazing paradigm shift the arrival of Jesus, and thus Christianity, are. Borg and Crossan succeed in making the narrative alive, and getting our collective attention, so used to the nativity story, to marvel anew at it all.

The English Lit graduate in me, and the new Christian in me, (and hey, even the former-Jewish guy in me) all enjoyed this book for its complex literary-meets-theological analysis. I will definitely check out the author's companion book on the Easter stories, The Final Week, later this year.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Huston Smith for the phrase "fact fundamentalism," which describes the post-Enlightenment, empirical worldview that if something isn't factually true, then it isn't true at all. We see fact fundamentalists in conservative Christianity and in atheism. Both camps believe a story is true only if it is factual.

What we've lost is the more-than-literal meaning, which was once assumed, is not bound to facts, and is also truth.

Apply this to the nativity stories and our choice is not between fact or fable... That is modernism. There is another choice. Thank God.



The First Christmas is not a riveting Advent read, but the significance is large and timely. Borg and Crossan argue that what we have in the nativity stories are (at least) highly evocative and politically charged parabolic narratives. To read them well, we have to put aside our quest for literalism, peel back our atonement theologies, and recognize that the messiah, Lord, and king who brings peace on Earth is... a person who cannot yet walk or talk.

First, Luke's account. Borg and Crossan point out that the titles given to Jesus... saviour, king, Lord of all, Son of God, light of the world, born of a virgin, bringer of good news and peace on Earth... were ALL, a few years earlier, originally given to Caesar Augustus, credited with the Pax Romana. So, Luke's narrative boldly suggests that Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. Jesus is the Son of God, and Caesar is not. The comparison does much to focus our attention on the key differences b/t Christian theology and Roman Imperial Theology (substitute American Imperial Theology). The essence is that while both men were said to be from God and bringing peace to "the whole world", their methods could not be more different.

The peace of Rome, it's explained, would have looked very different to the conquered and oppressed. As one historian puts it, "They make a desert and they call it peace."

By contrast, Luke has the good news proclaimed first to shepherds, a poor and marginalized class who would have experienced exploitation by Rome.

Whereas Caesar brought peace through victory by the sword, Christ brought peace through non-violent justice. That was the difference then, and should be the difference now. The language of the nativity in Luke echoes and counters Roman Imperial Theology in order to say there is one way to achieve true peace, and violence is not it.

The nativity story as told by Matthew is a close and deliberate parallel to the story of Moses. Both babies are born supernaturally, both are threatened by pharaoh/Herod, both escape a slaughter of infants, both leave Egypt, both will save their people. The comparison is to highlight that Jesus is a type of Moses, though greater, and the motif continues throughout all of Matthew's gospel.

The effect of all this is to take stories which have clear personal and spiritual meaning and expand them. The imagery "is both personal and political" and relates to other Biblical themes: "bondage and liberation, exile and return, injustice and justice, violence and peace, falsehood and truth, death and life. These all have a personal meaning as well as a political meaning. It is important to see both. So it is with the stories of Jesus's birth."

Borg and Crossan also explore the nativity hymns, attributed to Mary, Zechariah, and Simeon, as having Earthly concerns and as describing great reversals, rather than being only spiritual truths.

"He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things..."

The beauty of the nativity hymns is to remind us that God is concerned about the whole of life. There is a spiritual reading of this language, but it emerged only after Christianity became the dominant religion of late Roman and then early European culture.

This isn't my favorite from Borg, and while I like each author separately, I'm not sure they blended well. You can easily distinguish each voice and frequently the text seems to digress, as if one man's aim wasn't quite owned by the other and so the editing failed to give cohesion. Also, I missed Borg's usual pastoral instinct. Still, I rarely learn as much, as honestly, from other Christian writers.

[Donald Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book about bringing the stories of the First Christmas to one's life now. The last chapter is the most inspiring and a great recapitulation of the other chapters. The book discloses and analyzes the different and possibly not factual stories in the Bible of the first Christmas. This book was very enlightening and drills down on what it really means to be Christian.

[Tanya Spackman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't do research on the authors when I picked this book, so when it started out with the theory that the Christmas story is a parable and everyone in it a fictional character, that was a head scratcher. I hit Google and learned the authors are associated with the Jesus Seminar. Ah. That explains things. But despite being seriously theologically mismatched, I kept reading. Though I completely disagree with the driving premise, there is still some interesting info in the book.

For example, near the end comes this gem, to which I say, amen, brothers!

"The meaning of repentance in the Bible is quite different from that in widespread postbiblical Christian understanding. Many Christians think of repentance as primarily contrition—as being sincerely sorry for our sins, confessing them, and perhaps doing penance, but the biblical meaning emphasizes change.

"... To repent is to turn to God. ... The New Testament meaning of the word continues the Old Testament meaning and adds an additional nuance. In the New Testament, the root of the Greek word translated as “repent” means “go beyond the mind that you have,” to enter into a new mind-set, a new way of seeing. To repent means to begin seeing differently."

[Joe Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the majority of the world are winding down for the year and planning their exciting holiday adventures over the Christmas period, those of us who work in churches are about to enter one of the busiest periods of the year.

As exciting and joyous as Christmas can be for clergy and lay-person alike, there is a certain level of anxiety that arises within those who are required to plan church services and events over the Advent and Christmas season. It is normal to wonder when/if sudden, new inspiration is going to appear on this well-known story that we have most-likely planned lessons and sermons on countless times already.

One of the ways in which we can find inspiration to help us prepare for the busy Christmas season is by reading valuable insights from others.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS
This year, I decided to seek inspiration for my Christmas preparations from a book titled The First Christmas, co-written by two popular theologians and scholars, Marcus J Borg and John Dominic Crossan.

The nativity story is very familiar to those of us who have grown up in Christian circles. So familiar, in fact, that many of us have perhaps neglected to pay attention to the finer details in the story.

TWO CHRISTMAS STORIES
For example, are we aware that there are actually two nativity stories in the bible? One in the Gospel of Luke and one in Matthew. While they share a few similarities, Luke and Matthew’s nativity stories differ greatly from each other.

Jesus is born in a stable and laid in a manger in the Gospel of Luke, but in Matthew, Jesus is born in a house. In Luke, Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth before Jesus’ birth, but in Matthew, they were living in Bethlehem. In Matthew, the Christmas story is focused predominantly on male figures, while in Luke, women such as Mary and Elizabeth get prominent roles. As the authors say,

“these examples are not meant to be a condescending comment about how little people really know about these stories. Rather, they suggest the need to read and hear these stories anew, seeking to see them in their rich distinctions.”

Hearing the nativity story year after year, it is easy to presume that it is all one, uniform story. But when we pay attention to the details of each separate story, we can determine the author’s original intention in composing their nativity story in the way that they did.

CONTEXT IS KEY
Borg and Crossan do an excellent job in analysing and comparing the two nativity stories found in Matthew and Luke, providing valuable insight and context into the world surrounding the time of Jesus’ birth.

When we are assisted to re-read the Christmas story in its original context, we realise that the nativity story was more than a historical account of Jesus’ birth. Like much of the Gospels, the nativity story was a counter-narrative to the dominant empire in existence at the time.

As we are faced with the reality of what the Christmas story meant then to the first hearers of this story, we are better able to discern what the Christmas story could mean for us now.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Sunday School class at Highland Presbyterian Church is reading this book, and my biggest question is, For whom is this book intended? Marcus J. Borg, a New Testament scholar and a professor emeritus from Oregon State University, and John Dominic Crossan, another New Testament scholar who co-chaired the Jesus Seminar, which looked into the historical Jesus, authored the book, which led me to have, perhaps, too high hopes for the book. The material seems a bit -- how can I phrase this tactfully? -- too elementary for serious readers of New Testament literature, while being not detailed enough for readers with very little knowledge of the gospels or postmodern hermeneutics.

This book, unfortunately, is neither fish nor fowl. Borg and Crossan would have better served academics and laymen with serious Biblical pretensions with a hefty magazine article or a 50-page little book. For a book for a popular audience, those who are new to modern Biblical exegesis, Borg and Crossan would have needed to provide considerably more background than can be crammed in The First Christmas' 272 pages. By trying to write a book for both types of audiences, the authors ended up serving neither.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you know what you're getting into when you read this, then you are likely to enjoy it. Borg and Crossan were prominent in the "Historical Jesus" and Jesus Seminar movements over the past 20 years, and so they have a relatively low view of the historicity of the birth narratives. If you are deeply uncomfortable with that perspective, then spare yourself the pain of reading this.

That being said, there is massive insight to be gained from this little book. The parallels drawn between Jesus and Moses (through Matthew) and the emphasis brought out on the lowly and destitute (in Luke) is very convincing. The historical insights are also rich, especially the comparisons between Jesus and Augustus/Apollo in the ancient world. Borg and Crossan may push a little too far in some arguments, especially their constant emphasis on empire/imperial theology. However, this book enriched my own understanding of those birth stories, and I definitely recommend it to people who can take a critical eye to the Jesus Seminar perspective represented by the authors.

[Emma Sotomayor · Rating 1 out of 5]

The First Christmas takes a new look at the Nativity story by examining the literary and historical context around the accounts in Matthew and Luke. Borg writes about the books as parables rather than factual tales, looking at similarities between them and other historical documents describing Caesar, or Biblical books such as the Prophets.

The historical context around the language used to describe Christ was the only helpful part of this book. It certainly inspired me to investigate Greek and Roman history more to see what the original historians wrote about their times. Borg does make a compelling case for why Matthew and Luke may have described Christ in such ways—to push back against Rome. However, he does not seem to view the Bible any more highly than mere political treatise.

For any Christian who believes that the Gospels are literal, this book is not for you. Borg begins his argument with the massive assumption that Matthew and Luke's accounts of Jesus' birth are parables, despite the fact that neither of these authors indicated that this is the case. Borg tries to condition the reader to this possibility by arguing that the Enlightenment persuaded us all to insist on a literal telling. However, he himself seems very affected by Enlightenment thought, as he seems to believe that just because a fact cannot be proved empirically or seems "impossible," it therefore must be untrue.

Moreover, he takes an overly simplistic view of Scripture, assuming that it can be either literal or symbolic, but not both. Of course, there are symbolic aspects of the Nativity Story: we could argue that the star over Jesus' birthplace shows the world that a Light has come. But that does not mean that the star did not actually exist; I believe it was St. Augustine who argued that Scripture has four different layers, with the literal and symbolic as two of them. Borg seems unaware of this idea, and it seemed sloppy writing on his part to take the highly WESTERN and ENLIGHTENMENT-influence idea that a text must only have one meaning, and of course it must be the least supernatural meaning. While he is at it, he might as well assume the Resurrection is symbolic too, and that Jesus didn't REALLY die and raise to life, because, of course, that is impossible according to the infallible modern science.

Borg also does not seem to believe the Bible is inspired, infallible or inerrant. In this way, he seems to differ from most of church history. While I do not claim to be an expert on church history, I think Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox believers through time could agree with me that the Bible was not written by human authors alone, but rather inspired by God. Borg writes as if Matthew and Luke were writing without God's inspiration, and that most of the Bible is made up for "literary purposes" or for transmitting theological truth with little factual truth involved.

Furthermore, the tone of this book comes across as condescending to anyone who might not fit Borg's postmodern principles. He frequently describes Christians who do not hold to his interpretation of Scripture in rather demeaning terms, as if they are all overly-conservative backwoods hicks. He seems to push the Nativity Story as a political gospel, arguing that the story was written primarily to attack the Roman Empire's notion of having an emperor as deity. Loaded with buzzwords such as "oppression" and "chauvinistic," his book is more attractive to the present-day liberal reader than to any serious Biblical scholar. While his point about Rome winning through victory (while God wins through justice) does soberly remind the reader of falling into political utilitarian thinking (on either side of the aisle), the rest of the book so belittles the Nativity Story with political propaganda that I could hardly be impressed by it. He ends the book with political pleas, which, while I could understand his concerns, left a bad taste in my mouth. If I wanted to read a political treatise on why Christians should stop placing their hope in Republican politicians, I would not have chosen a book titled The First Christmas.

Overall, this book strips the Nativity Story of its supernatural elements and demonstrates a complete lack of research. Borg cites perhaps ten sources at the end of it, and did not seem to have footnotes throughout—I do not know where he was getting his information, but I do believe most of orthodox Christianity would disagree with him. He makes numerous historical claims and does not provide good citations. I would have less issue with this book if he did not claim to be Christian. As it is, no Christian should take it seriously or the authors as supposed Christians seriously. It felt poorly-researched (or at least poorly-cited), ignorant of the supernatural (for authors who write as if they are supposed to be Christians), and leaning towards the heretical.

[Karna Converse · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Christmas story, told in context of first-century history and theology


For many, the seasons of Advent and Christmas are sentimental and filled with childhood memories. They're filled with shepherds, angels, wise men, a manager, and the good news of a savior born to bring light to the darkness.

The First Christmas challenges readers to dig deeper into the story and to look at the Gospels of Matthew and Luke in light of who wrote them, when they were written, why they were written, and what it was like to live during the first century CE.

At the time this book was published, Biblical scholars Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan claimed more than ninety years between them in the scholarly study of Jesus but The First Christmas is not a hard-to-read academic tome. It is, in fact, patient and encouraging in both in structure and tone--helping readers see the story as parable, personal, and participatory.

A book worthwhile of rereading every year.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book I read for our EfM book group. The authors are famous and well known for their progressive and academic takes on the Gospels and this did not disappoint. The authors take apart the two nativity narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. They focus on the words of the stories and place them in their political, social, economic, theological contexts. They start with the theory that history and our own ideas of what the stories say based on experience have biased our readings of these stories; we are all so familiar with the nativity story that we don't really pay attention to it and we just accept it as a given. How many of us actually reflect on (or even knew about) the differences between Matthew and Luke? The authors make the reader look at the stories in new and enlightening ways. I learned a lot and enjoyed the book so much I bought it even though I had it out of the library.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful and I interesting. The Christmas stories explained as parable.

[mahatmanto · Rating 3 out of 5]

ini buku memang ditujukan untuk kaum awam.
banyak keterangan yang direntang-rentang, demikian pula istilah-istilah asing dan etimologinya perlu diterangkan lagi. mungkin lebay, tapi ya memang itu diperlukan untuk jenis audiens pembacanya yang umum tadi.
saya memang penggemar tulisan kedua orang ini. yang satu mantan imam dan satunya teolog protestan. keduanya berada dalam satu kubu dalam melakukan studi tentang "the historical jesus".
buku ini salah satu dari kolaborasi mereka berdua, tentang kisah kelahiran yesus. dan buku yang lain lagi tentang kematian dan kebangkitan yesus.
kedua orang ini melakukan kajian atas teks-teks baik yang kanonik mau pun yang bukan sehingga kisah-kisah kelahiran itu jadi jelas konteks penulisannya. lalu jelas pula "berita yang sebenarnya" dari kisah-kisah itu. kajian teks seperti ini saya pikir perlu dikerjakan, sebab bagaimana pun, sebuah buku suci tetaplah sebuah buku. pasti ditulis oleh manusia untuk manusia, meski mengklaim sebagai yang berasal dari surga.
untunglah, sudah banyak orang [kristen] yang sadar mengenai kodrat alkitab sehingga bisa lebih arif dalam menyikapi berbagai kisah mujijat atau kisah-kisah supranatural lain dalam kitabsucinya.

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one isn't as interesting as the pair's previous book on Easter, The Last Week, but that is mostly due to the source material - two of the gospels don't cover the nativity at all and the other two (which contain two rather different accounts) don't spend all that much time on it. But it's still worth a read if one wants to look at the subject from their usual Progressive Christian perspective - viewing the text as parabolic narrative, close attention to context and how the audience at the time Matthew and Luke's gospels were written would have understood the stories, etc. If you've read anything by the authors before you have a good idea already of the main themes they explore here; it sometimes seems like Marcus Borg is really writing the same book over and over. But it's a book that really resonates with me and there's always something new to discover in each iteration (and it's a perspective I really wish was more dominant in the Christian world these days) so keep on rewriting it, Mr. Borg. IN SUMMARY, read The Last Week (or The Heart of Christianity, or The God We Never Knew...) before this one unless you are only interested in Christmas, but thumbs up nonetheless.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fine introduction to the basic theology of Christmas. Treating the birth narratives in the gospels as myth rather than fact - which is rather obviously the case - Borg and Crossan ask us to consider what theological truth lies behind these powerful metaphorical narratives.
Of particular interest is the fact that Borg and Crossan explain in great detail the deliberate contrast between Jesus and his kingdom of peace through justice - and Caesar and his kingdom of peace through conquest. Indeed "savior," "lord," "prince of peace," "son of God" and so on were all first titles of Caesar, not Jesus. As Borg and Crossan explain, to shift these titles from Caesar to Jesus is to make profoundly anti-imeprial statements . . . it is high treason.
In the end Borg and Crossan ask us, to which Kingdom do we belong? The kingdom of Jesus? Or the Kingdom of Caesar?
A few parts of the book are repetitive and some parts are overly dry and academic. On the whole, however, this book is a great read and a fine piece to aid in meditation and reflection.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just another Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan explication of what it is to be a Christian in the times we live in. Full of surprises to those who do not know of the real stories and truths of the Christmas story.

You can't go wrong with this read...

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opened my mind for an entirely new way of understanding just how radical Jesus was and, for that matter, still is.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

TWO PROMINENT CRITICAL SCHOLARS LOOK AT THE STORIES OF JESUS’ NATIVITY

Authors Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan (who were both closely aligned with the Jesus Seminar) wrote in the Preface to this 2007 book, “This book… treats what may be the best-known stories in the world. The stories of Jesus’s birth are the foundation of the world’s most widely observed holiday… The idea to write this book … flowed out of our previous collaboration, ‘The Last Week.’ There we treated the last week of Jesus’s life… this book is an obvious sequel… A second reason: just as Holy Week is the most sacred time of the Christian year, Christmas is the second most sacred time. Indeed, in contemporary Western culture … the commemoration of Christmas exceeds the commemoration of Easter…how we understand the stories of Jesus’s birth matters… They are often sentimentalized. And, of course, there is emotional power in them… But the stories of Jesus’s birth … are both personal and political. They speak of personal and political transformation… they are comprehensive and passionate visions of another way of seeing life and of living our lives… We are not concerned with the factuality of the birth stories… our concern is neither to defend them nor to trash them as nonfactual. Rather, we focus on their meaning. What DID and DO these stories MEAN? Our task is twofold. The first is historical: to exploit these stories and their meanings in their first-century context. The second is contemporary: to treat their meanings for Christian understanding and commitment today.” (Pg. vii-ix)

In the first chapter, they explain, “As an example of the filter of tradition, who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the infant Jesus? Many would answer: three kings from the East, as in the well-known Christmas carol ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are.’ But Matthew’s story does not refer to kings. Instead, Matthew speaks of wise men, ‘magi,’ from the East. And how many wise men were there? Matthew does not tell us how many---only that they brought three gifts. The notion that there were THREE and that they were KINGS is a much later tradition.” (Pg. 23)

They state, “A consensus of mainstream biblical scholarship sees the stories as relatively late in the development of early Christianity. Matthew and Luke were most likely written in the last two decades of the first century, in the 80s or 90s CE. They are not the earliest Christian writings. That honor belongs to the genuine letters of Paul, written in the decade of the 50s, and the gospel of Mark, written around the year 70. In Mark and Paul, there is no mention of an extraordinary birth of Jesus… From this scholarly consensus … flows an obvious inference: stories of Jesus’s birth were not of major importance to earliest Christianity… From this inference flows a second highly probable inference: the reason that references to a special birth do not appear in the earliest Christian writings is either because the stories did not yet exist or because they were still in the process of formation. In either case, these stories are relatively late, not part of the earliest Christian tradition about Jesus.” (Pg. 25-26)

They assert, “That virginal CONCEPTION of Jesus should not be confused with the Roman Catholic doctrine of his virginal BIRTH---with Jesus coming from Mary’s womb like sunlight though the glass of a medieval cathedral window. This is not found in either Christmas story. Neither should it be confused… with the ‘immaculate conception.’ That is another Roman Catholic doctrine meaning that Mary herself was conceived without the stain … of original sin---as was Jesus also. That is also not found in either Christmas story.” (Pg. 111)

They contend, “that reference to Isaiah 7:14 is present in Matthew, but not in Luke and, therefore, NOT in the tradition about Mary’s virginal conception they inherited independently of one another, It is best seen as Matthew’s own creation… necessitated by his need for exactly FIVE prophetic fulfillments (and FIVE angelic dream messages) in Matthew 1-2 as overture to the five great discourses of Jesus in Mathew 3-28.” (Pg. 114)

They ask, “Why… did that earlier tradition behind both those Christmas stories insist not just on a divine conception, but on a VIRGINAL divine conception? Why not follow Jewish tradition of at least sterile if not aged parents? The only reason we can suggest is part of a deliberate exaltation of the New Testament over the Old Testament…” (Pg. 120)

They note, “taken literally, Caesar Augustus never did and never could have ordered a census of the entire Roman Empire, let alone the entire inhabited world, all at one time… in 6 CE… there followed the ‘first registration,’ that is, census for taxation… This was conducted by the Syrian governor … Quirinius… But Luke had already dated the conception of John and Jesus with ‘the days of King Herod of Judea.’ Matthew agreed that it was ‘in the time of King Herod’ that ‘Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.’ [2:1] Indeed, we have to imagine Jesus’s birth in Matthew as much as two years before Herod’s death in March/April of 4 BCE… The birth of Jesus under the rule of Herod the Great … cannot have taken place under the census of Quirinius, which started in 6 CE… The Roman taxation… was done by one’s own household… You were counted where you lived, worked, and paid your taxes. What is described by Luke … would have been… a geographical impossibility, a bureaucratic nightmare, and a fiscal disaster.” (Pg. 147-148)

They observe, “Nobody knows the day, the month, or the season of the year of Jesus’s birth. The date of December 25 was not decided upon until the middle of the 300s. Before then, Christians celebrated his birth at different times---including March, April, May, and November. But around the year 350 Pope Julius in Rome declared December 25 as the date, thereby integrating it with a Roman winter solstice festival … The Roman birthday of the sun became the Christian birthday of the Son.” (Pg. 172)

They argue, “The issue of whether to translate Isaiah 7:14 as referring to a virgin or a young woman has caused controversy among Christians… fifty years ago, the Revised Standard Version … correctly translated the Hebrew word in Isaiah 7:14 as ‘young woman.’ Some Christians reacted strongly… [and] even burned copies of the RSV. The second difference between Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew’s citation of it is that, in Isaiah, the young woman is ALREADY with child, already pregnant… The sign in Isaiah concerns not how the child would be conceived, but the naming of the child. Isaiah 7:14 is not a prediction of a miraculous birth centuries later, not a prediction of Jesus.” (Pg. 205)

Of Matthew 2:23, they comment, “The holy family has not returned to the Jewish homeland from Egypt, but instead of going back to Bethlehem… they move to Nazareth. This, Matthew says, took place ‘so that what has been spoken of through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”’ This citation can be treated very concisely, for there is no such passage in the Old Testament, though there have been many scholarly speculations about what Matthew may have had in mind.” (Pg. 209)

This book will be of great interest to those (who accept modern critical theories about the Bible) studying Jesus’ birth, etc.

[Cathryn Conroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subversive? Possibly. Intriguing? Definitely. Worth your time and effort to read it? Absolutely.

Authors and biblical scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan examine the events and meaning of the first Christmas based on the two widely differing accounts of Jesus's birth that appear in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But beware! Their conclusions may rock your spiritual world.

They maintain that the historicity of the Christmas stories cannot be proven, including the virgin birth, the stable, Bethlehem as the location, the date of December 25 and the visit by the three kings. And that's OK! Maybe we should shed our 21st-century mindset and instead of arguing about historical facts, we should view these very different birth stories in Matthew and Luke as parables for the story of Jesus yet to come.

Look at it this way: It is not historical time on which we should be focused, but rather sacred time.

Borg and Crossan assert the following:
• The Christmas stories are based on biblical tradition, rather than historical fact.
• What counts is meaning more than facts that can never be proven to be historically accurate.
• For the greatest understanding, we must read and interpret the birth stories from the first-century context in which they were written.
• Just because we can't prove the facts of Jesus's birth doesn't mean we can't believe.
• Each of the two Christmas stories is an "overture," that is, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke in miniature. But if the two are seamlessly combined into one story, the authors say this becomes the entire of the gospels in miniature.

This is not a light book. Rather, it is dense with history and theology, but the language is easier to read than a theology textbook. Still, it is difficult enough that the reader must pay attention.

[Jim Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book inspiring and informative. The author presents the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke as parabolic fiction designed to serve as introductions or "overtures" to the gospels that follow. I believe this approach is both accurate and fruitful. When studying the Bible the key question is not "what happened way back when" but "why was it written to me and to my world." This book explores the message God is sending us about faith, society, politics and daily living through the stories surrounding Christmas. Borg reveals many themes that would have been readily received by first century readers and amplifies their meaning for readers today. It is, for example, important to know that the titles like "Lord" "Savior" and "peacemaker" that appear in the stories relative to Jesus were all claimed by the Roman ruler Augustus This meant that these beloved stories had a confrontational quality in that they challenged all imperial demands.

As a conservative Christian I understand how Borg's approach might seem challenging or even wrong to some. The question to ask is: if the Christmas story was designed by it's divine and human authors to offer both inspiration and insights is it wise to read it flatly as just one more historical report? This book encourages readers to cherish the Christmas story for the beautiful thing it is while also seeing and valuing the lessons it teaches.

[Neil Purcell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good stuff here. I have read several books by Marcus Borg and have found each of them to be very worthwhile. Here he collaborates with John Dominic Crossan whose contributions to my understanding of Jesus and the early Christian church have been valuable and enjoyable. This book describes the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke as overtures to their Gospels and in many ways these chapters contain the key to understanding how they saw Jesus. Even acknowledging that these overtures are completely made up (blame Jesus if you don't like parables), and that they are inconsistent with one another, nonetheless there is a great deal in these chapters worthy of consideration and indeed contemplation.

Jesus. in his infancy, escapes from Herod's attempt to kill him, and, of course, is killed by Pontius Pilate at the end of his life, a reminder of the lethal cruelty of the imperial domination system, and also of the fact that two thousand years later we still live under unjust economic and political systems, still have not brought relief to the poor and oppressed, still have not brought an end to war.

In our most well-known and celebrated mythology, God takes human form, tells us we must transform this world to lift up the poor and abstain from violence, and two thousand years later, we are not much better than the Romans.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This small book -- 244pp plus 3 short appendices -- analyses the two birth stories contained in the gospels of Matthew and Luke as parables told by and to the earliest Christians, and their enduring appeal over two millennia later.
The idea that especially got my attention on this first reading (this is a book that bears repeated readings) places the two birth stories firmly in the context of the Roman domination and contrasts the "peace through victory" of Caesar with the "peace through justice" promised by Jesus. The birth stories speak of "the perennial temptation of imperial power and hubris" that impede the establishment of that justice in the here and now. To quote a text from a first century historian, "They make a desert and they call it peace."
The parallels to life in the 21st century American empire are unavoidable. How is it possible that so many American Christians -- politicians and citizens -- identify more with imperial Rome and less with the poor shepherds keeping watch over their flocks? That's a mystery to me, and this book doesn't really address that question, but it does state the question in pretty stark terms.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t found a Marcus Borg book yet that I didn’t like and this book, authored with John Dominic Crossan, was no exception. The authors don’t work to pull the rug out from anyone’s belief system, but they do an excellent job summarizing the historical context of the multiple birth narratives of Jesus (that’s right, there’s not just one mish-mash story). They explain things like the significance of providing Jesus’s genealogical lineage (a direct comparison to the descendants of the Roman God Apollo since Jesus existed in a world ruled by Romans) and give insight into the reason for dream narratives and more.

The book isn’t always gripping suspense, but if you’re looking for a well-written book to read during the next advent season (or to listen to while you write your Christmas cards like I did this year), this is a good one and is very informative, whether you’re interested because of your own religious belief or history/mythology.

[1 Way Ticket · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I tried to get into this book. While I was initially perplexed by the whole "nativity story is a parable" idea, I decide to give it a chance. My problem is that a couple of chapters into the book it never explains why the nativity story being factual is bothersome in the first place, it just decides that it is and then tries to find some other reason why it must be included in the Bible.

My question is: why? For what reason is the author assuming that the nativity story is not factual? He never seems to explain it beyond, "it seems improbable". To which I want to say, "Yeah buddy, miracles always are. Duh". I have serious reservations about the author's own faith and intentions in writing this book. I'm all for looking at the Bible with a critical eye, but let's not pick things apart when we can't even clearly identify a specific reason for doing so.

[John Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borg and Crossan, in general, take an approach to biblical interpretation that I don't prefer--but in this case, in reading about the Christmas stories, I appreciate it more. Taking a more historical-sociological and literary approach to understanding the meaning of the Christmas passages rather than merely accepting them as fact is probably the best approach. The two stories, in Matthew and Luke, are different and, in some cases, contradictory. How do we reconcile them? Borg and Crossan argue that we don't reconcile them to conclude what the actual history is but that we hear the meaning each gospel story has to tell us. Whether it's factually true or not doesn't matter--Jesus was born, somehow, and was and is the Son of God, so whatever stories help us hear and believe are good.

I don't have any criticism except that for a number of people this book will be hard to read.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking to reconstruct your thoughts about Christmas, if you've lost your faith and the deconstructed bricks are lying in a messy pile around you, this is the tool with which to examine those bricks and build anew with fresh insight.

For example: where just a couple years ago I would have dismissed an image of the crucifixion with a thought that "yeah, hundreds, thousands of people died by crucifixion, so what? Let's not glorify one man and forget all those others", now instead I see a story that Jesus' death pointed to the horrendous ways we humans torture each other, that this story doesn't dismiss all those other deaths but rather brings them to attention in a crescendo of tragedy, and so called us to bring the scandal of sacrifice to an end.

[Jimi]

Really enjoyed this. Learned so much about the peripheral stories about Moses and Roman theology about Caesar and how they influenced the birth stories. By seeing the birth accounts through those lenses so much of the gospel writers intentions and motivations are clarified.

“The birth stories are not a pipe dream, but a proclamation that what we see revealed in Jesus is the way—the way to a different kind of life and a different future. Both personal and political transformation, both the eschatology of rebirth and the eschatology of a new world, require our participation. God will not change us as individuals without our participation, and God will not change the world without our participation.”

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know people who are convinced every detail in the Christmas story is like a newspaper report only more accurate. I know people who mock the idea that anyone called Jesus is even a historical figure and mock religion as useless delusion.
Both should read this book and think about it- but probably won't.
It examines the two stories of Jesus' birth,(three if you count the one in Revelation,) and asks why those particular stories were told about their Lord by the early Christians. Why shepherds? Why magi/kings? Why are titles give to this baby, Lord, Son of God, Savior,the same titles given to Caesar? And what difference does the Christmas story make to our lives?

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borg and Crossan reject the interpretations of the Bible by critics who want to discredit the scripture due to historical inaccuracies and fundamentalist who want to interpret the Bible as 100 % historically accurate. They propose that Luke and Matthew used the language of the OT, familiar to them and not quoted word by word, to tell the story of who Christ was to them. Most of this book deals with the birth narratives in those two gospels. They also explore light and dark images in the Bible as they relate to Christ. This book is written for lay readers who want to be educated on the way in which the Bible was written and how it influences modern Christians.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revered Stories Visited for Deep Meaning

“What really happened?” is a less important question than “What do these stories tell us about the nature and significance of Jesus?” Two eminent biblical scholars discuss the context of the stories at the times they were written, and they expand upon and compare and contrast references in them to the ancient Hebrew writings, especially the prophets, and to the Greek writings of the New Testament. This is a wonderful opportunity to go deep and expand knowledge of both traditional hope and contemporary longings. One can develop a fresh understanding of the beginnings of the Jesus story.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The First Christmas is an engaging and important book which explores the similarities and differences of the Nativity story in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and the ways in which we might interpret them. The book breaks open the domestication of the Gospels and details how the birth of Jesus and the language surrounding it was not about individual salvation but directly challenged the power of Empire in our ragged world, both then and now.

It feels right to have finished this on the day of Donald Trump's inauguration as 47th President of the US. Jesus wept. May we resist Pax Americana to our dying breath.