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First Christmas: The True and Unfamiliar Story in Words and Pictures
The historical and geographical background of the Nativity is reconstructed in photographs and text
125 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
2 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Paul L. Maier
61 books134 followersPaul L. Maier was an American historian and novelist. He wrote several works of scholarly and popular non-fiction about Christianity and novels about Christian historians. He was the Russell H. Seibert Professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University, from which he retired in 2011, retaining the title of professor emeritus in the Department of History. He previously served as Third Vice President of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 3, 2020
This well-researched book provides a great deal of historical background for the events of the first Christmas as described in the Gospel accounts. Although it is a relatively short book that doesn’t have much depth, it nevertheless covers a very broad range of topics connected to the Christmas story. It pieces together likely possibilities from a variety of sources, which it cites clearly. Maier writes in an engaging style, and maps, charts, and full-color photographs make for a charming reading experience.
April 5, 2020
My interest in this book is due mostly to the fact that Sunday mornings while I was in school would find me and my boyfriend at the time in the chapel. Our pastor every week was the author of this book Paul Maier. I came to appreciate his unreserved faith in Christ.
This is a good book. It is worth looking for. The book was written the year I graduated from H.S. It tells the true story of the First Christmas not necessarily what we have been lead to believe.
This is a good book. It is worth looking for. The book was written the year I graduated from H.S. It tells the true story of the First Christmas not necessarily what we have been lead to believe.
January 10, 2024
A SCHOLAR LOOKS IN DETAIL AT THE HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THE NATIVITY
Author and scholar Paul L. Maier wrote in the Introduction to this 2001 book, “useful tools for prying open the biblical past include such specialties … as the following: Linguistics and Literature… Geography… Meteorology and Climatology… Politics and Law… Economics… In dealing with the Nativity, this book will utilize all of these avenues into the past, as well as others. The wealth of information available from ancient history should, then, enrich our quest and help bridge between what is secular and what is sacred in biblical antiquity. Such an approach can yield a fourfold benefit: 1. History and its related fields give us a means by which to ‘check up’ on the Bible, gauge its accuracy… 2. From these different perspectives, we can see the biblical events in sharper focus and greater dimension… 3. Problems in the biblical text can often be solved by recourse to the other ancient disciplines. 4. Gaps in the biblical record can often be filled in by correlating outside evidence from antiquity… Using both sacred and secular evidence, then, this book tells the unfamiliar story of Jesus’ birth by exploring the nooks and crannies of the past for fresh information and interesting sidelights on the Nativity… This Christmas documentary will aim to tell ‘how it really was’ in the world of the Nativity…” (Pg. 9-11)
He suggests, “it is by no means certain that the Nativity … took place in the winter months. But, assuming for the moment that it did, COULD the first Christmas have been a white one? This is highly improbable, certainly, but by no means impossible…. Snow does fall in the Jerusalem area about three or four days each winter and sometimes in considerable quantity… The meteorology, then, would allow a very remote possibility of snow at Bethlehem on the day that would shift history.” (Pg. 24)
He reports, “Mary lived happily at Joseph’s house… One day came news of the Roman emperor’s edict requiring all subjects to enroll themselves… at their ancestral homes… they must have dreaded the prospect of a five- or six-day trip down to Bethlehem when Mary was in advanced pregnancy… The other difficulty concerned the familiar prophecy that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem… if she were intended to bear the Christ, why had God chosen a girl living in Nazareth rather than in Bethlehem?... Even though Joseph could probably have attended to the census obligations in Bethlehem alone, Mary had every reason to make the trip also.” (Pg. 32)
He acknowledges, “While Jesus may have been born as early as 7 B.C., such earlier datings for the Nativity would make him a little too old for the ‘about thirty years’ of age when he began his public ministry in A.D. 28-29… Unfortunately, it is not possible to work back to an exact date for Jesus’ birth from any other information about his adult life.” (Pg. 36)
He recounts, “many scholars set the date for the Nativity sometime in the fall of 5 B.C. Others maintain it must have happened in spring, because the shepherds were out in the fields… which would suggest lambing time… In the winter, sheep would have been in the corral. This clue seems impressive… but it is by no means conclusive. In many of the rural districts of Palestine, the flocks were not fed in pens but had to forage for their food in both summer and winter… And Christmastime visitors to Bethlehem today tell of seeing shepherds out in the fields with their sheep, their heads muffled against the chilly weather…” (Pg. 37-38)
Of the Church of the Nativity, he comments, “the dominant question in the mind of any thinking contemporary visitor to the shrine must be this: Did it all really happen HERE---at this spot? Though final proof is necessarily lacking, the surprising answer lurks closer to PROBABLY than to POSSIBLY. Where there is no direct archaeological evidence… nothing is more important in establishing the authenticity of an ancient site than antiquity… Constantine the Great… erected the original Church of the Nativity at this place in A.D. 326, over the very grotto that had been identified as the true site by … Justin Martyr, writing in A.D. 150.” (Pg. 45-47)
He suggests, “The following… is a possible astronomical reconstruction of what happened that first Christmas. The remarkable conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C. alerted the Magi to important developments in Palestine, for the astrological significance closely paralleled what they had learned from Hebrew lore about a star heralding the expected Messiah. The comet of 5 B.C. … dramatically underscored this interpretation and sent them on their way. That the star … ‘stopped over the place where the child was’ need not imply any sudden visible movements on the part of the astral phenomenon. Because of the rotation of the earth, anything in the night sky appears to move westward … And, as people travel, the stars do seem to ‘move’ with them or before them, ‘stopping’ when they stop. So when it reached a zenith in the skies over Bethlehem the gleaming blue-white star of Christmas would indeed have seemed to stop for the Magi as they reached their destination.” (Pg. 60-61)
This book will be of great interest to those studying this historical basis of the Nativity.
Author and scholar Paul L. Maier wrote in the Introduction to this 2001 book, “useful tools for prying open the biblical past include such specialties … as the following: Linguistics and Literature… Geography… Meteorology and Climatology… Politics and Law… Economics… In dealing with the Nativity, this book will utilize all of these avenues into the past, as well as others. The wealth of information available from ancient history should, then, enrich our quest and help bridge between what is secular and what is sacred in biblical antiquity. Such an approach can yield a fourfold benefit: 1. History and its related fields give us a means by which to ‘check up’ on the Bible, gauge its accuracy… 2. From these different perspectives, we can see the biblical events in sharper focus and greater dimension… 3. Problems in the biblical text can often be solved by recourse to the other ancient disciplines. 4. Gaps in the biblical record can often be filled in by correlating outside evidence from antiquity… Using both sacred and secular evidence, then, this book tells the unfamiliar story of Jesus’ birth by exploring the nooks and crannies of the past for fresh information and interesting sidelights on the Nativity… This Christmas documentary will aim to tell ‘how it really was’ in the world of the Nativity…” (Pg. 9-11)
He suggests, “it is by no means certain that the Nativity … took place in the winter months. But, assuming for the moment that it did, COULD the first Christmas have been a white one? This is highly improbable, certainly, but by no means impossible…. Snow does fall in the Jerusalem area about three or four days each winter and sometimes in considerable quantity… The meteorology, then, would allow a very remote possibility of snow at Bethlehem on the day that would shift history.” (Pg. 24)
He reports, “Mary lived happily at Joseph’s house… One day came news of the Roman emperor’s edict requiring all subjects to enroll themselves… at their ancestral homes… they must have dreaded the prospect of a five- or six-day trip down to Bethlehem when Mary was in advanced pregnancy… The other difficulty concerned the familiar prophecy that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem… if she were intended to bear the Christ, why had God chosen a girl living in Nazareth rather than in Bethlehem?... Even though Joseph could probably have attended to the census obligations in Bethlehem alone, Mary had every reason to make the trip also.” (Pg. 32)
He acknowledges, “While Jesus may have been born as early as 7 B.C., such earlier datings for the Nativity would make him a little too old for the ‘about thirty years’ of age when he began his public ministry in A.D. 28-29… Unfortunately, it is not possible to work back to an exact date for Jesus’ birth from any other information about his adult life.” (Pg. 36)
He recounts, “many scholars set the date for the Nativity sometime in the fall of 5 B.C. Others maintain it must have happened in spring, because the shepherds were out in the fields… which would suggest lambing time… In the winter, sheep would have been in the corral. This clue seems impressive… but it is by no means conclusive. In many of the rural districts of Palestine, the flocks were not fed in pens but had to forage for their food in both summer and winter… And Christmastime visitors to Bethlehem today tell of seeing shepherds out in the fields with their sheep, their heads muffled against the chilly weather…” (Pg. 37-38)
Of the Church of the Nativity, he comments, “the dominant question in the mind of any thinking contemporary visitor to the shrine must be this: Did it all really happen HERE---at this spot? Though final proof is necessarily lacking, the surprising answer lurks closer to PROBABLY than to POSSIBLY. Where there is no direct archaeological evidence… nothing is more important in establishing the authenticity of an ancient site than antiquity… Constantine the Great… erected the original Church of the Nativity at this place in A.D. 326, over the very grotto that had been identified as the true site by … Justin Martyr, writing in A.D. 150.” (Pg. 45-47)
He suggests, “The following… is a possible astronomical reconstruction of what happened that first Christmas. The remarkable conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C. alerted the Magi to important developments in Palestine, for the astrological significance closely paralleled what they had learned from Hebrew lore about a star heralding the expected Messiah. The comet of 5 B.C. … dramatically underscored this interpretation and sent them on their way. That the star … ‘stopped over the place where the child was’ need not imply any sudden visible movements on the part of the astral phenomenon. Because of the rotation of the earth, anything in the night sky appears to move westward … And, as people travel, the stars do seem to ‘move’ with them or before them, ‘stopping’ when they stop. So when it reached a zenith in the skies over Bethlehem the gleaming blue-white star of Christmas would indeed have seemed to stop for the Magi as they reached their destination.” (Pg. 60-61)
This book will be of great interest to those studying this historical basis of the Nativity.
November 19, 2023
A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE EVIDENCE FOR THE ‘CHRISTMAS STORY’
Paul L. Maier wrote in the Preface to this 1971 book, “Although little is known of the birth of Jesus Christ outside the New Testament, the full story of the first Christmas is not limited to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Many important aspects of the event come into sharper focus when history, geography, archaeology, and even astronomy shed their light on the Nativity. In offering this evidence, these chapters deal less with the familiar story of Jesus’ birth and more with its background. They try to tell the UN-familiar story of the first Christmas by exploring the nooks and crannies of the past for fresh information and interesting sidelights on the Nativity. Stripping away the layers of legend and folklore which nineteen centuries have imposed on the famous event, this Christmas documentary will aim to tell ‘how it really was’ in the world of the nativity, providing some insights which are well known, some little known, and some new. No liberties were taken with the facts…”
He notes, “That Mary ever had to endure the rigors of this eighty-mile journey on the back of a jogging donkey while in a state of very advanced pregnancy has been doubted by some scholars. Rome never ordered her subjects to return to their original homes for such enrollments, they claim, and Luke must have garbled his facts. But this view has been disproved by the discovery of a Roman census edict from 104 A.D. in neighboring Egypt, in which taxpayers who were living elsewhere were ordered to return to their original homes for registration.” (Pg. 16) He continues, “The census mentioned in the Christmas story was probably a provincial enrollment associated with the citizens’ census of 8 B.C., but apparently the machinery necessary to take it in far-off Palestine was not prepared until about 5 B.C. is some three years too early for the birth of Christ.” (Pg. 19)
He states, “Under the assumption that it must have taken even a divine-human baby the normal term to develop, Christendom appointed March 25 (exactly nine months before December 25) as the Feast of the Annunciation, when Jesus was also conceived. The emphasis, however, is not on any calendar precision---the exact date of the Nativity is unknown---but on the commemoration itself.” (Pg. 34)
He explains, “the first Christmas happened ‘in the fullness of tine’ … But precisely WHEN was that time? Unfortunately, there is no exact answer. Ironically, the event… is itself almost undatable. ‘Everyone knows’ Jesus must have been born on December 25, A.D., but it is not quite that simple, and certainly this date is wrong. For Herod the Great died in the spring of 4 B.C., and the king was very much alive during the visit of the Magi in the Christmas story. Therefore Jesus would have to have been born before this time…. While Jesus may have been born as early as 7 B.C., such earlier datings for the Nativity would make him a little too old for the ‘about thirty years of age’ when he began his public ministry in 28-29 A.D. Unfortunately, it is not possible to work back to any exact date for Jesus’ birth from any later information about his adult life.” (Pg. 39-40)
He observes, “the first governor of Syria, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, is known from Roman records. He had been a consul, with military and business successes to his credit… But when was he governor of Syria? Not until 6-7 A.D., according to ancient records, which is ten years too late for the Nativity census… However, an archaeological inscription suggests that Quirinius may have had an earlier term as governor, or at least a special commission to carry out such a census, since he was in the East at the time, also as military commander. Other scholars suggest an alternate reinterpretation of Luke’s text: ‘This census was first really carried out when Quirinius was governor of Syria,’ i.e., a decade later than the preliminary census during the reign of Herod.” (Pg. 41)
He asks, “Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25? The early Christian church seems to have observed the birth of Christ on January 6 in the East, and on December 25 in the West, but both practices began too late---the 300’s A.D.---to warrant attaching any precision to these dates. Probably it was a matter of substitution. The Romans of the time not only celebrated their Saturnalia festival at the close of December, but they also thought that December marked the date of the winter solstice (instead of December 21) when they observed the pagan feast of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, which was just in the act of turning about to aim northward once again. Christianity sought to replace these pagan festivals with a Christian celebration honoring the ‘sun of righteousness,’ a common epithet for Jesus as Messiah. Yet Christmas, even with its Christian name, has never been able to shake off the secular part of this end-of-the-year festival. But all of this should not obscure the fact that, according to the best reckoning, Jesus may indeed have been born in the winter of 5-4 B.C.” (Pg. 42-43)
He suggests, “There is evidence that someone in Bethlehem relented and offered more normal accommodations to Joseph, Mary, and the newborn Jesus. For by the time the wise men arrived to present their gifts, the Holy Family seems to have been living in a ‘house’ (Mt 2:11). Or as happens on many vacation trips today, the motel vacancies which are nonexistent the night a traveler arrives because he failed to call ahead for reservations quickly materialize the next day.” (Pg. 48)
Of the Church of the Nativity, he comments, “the dominant question in the mind of any thinking contemporary visitor to the shrine must be this: did it all really happen HERE---at this spot?... the surprising answer lurks somewhere between ‘Possibly’ and ‘Quite probably.’… nothing is more important in establishing the authenticity of an ancient site than antiquity: the place must have been regarded as such from earliest times… Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome, erected the original church of the Nativity at this place in 326 A.D., over the very grotto which had been identified as the true site by the early church father Origen and before him the Justin Martyr, writing in 150 A.D. They stated that Jesus was born in a cave which was used as a stable---not the typical stone or wooden stable so familiar in Christmas art.” (Pg. 55-56)
He observes, “How much time elapsed between the adoration of the shepherds and the visit of the Magi is not known, but the mysterious men from the East do not seem to have arrived until after Jesus’ presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem, forty days after he was born. Unfortunately, little more is known of the Magi than of the shepherds. ‘We three kings of orient are…’ So the beloved Christmas carol begins, but already it has made at least three errors. First, how many Wise Men made the trip to Bethlehem is not known. And they were not ‘kings.’ And they did not come from as far away as the ‘Orient,’ that is, the Far East.” (Pg. 66) He continues, “Tradition … has placed their number at three, probably because of the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh… the assumption being one gift---one giver. But some earlier traditions make quite a caravan of their visit, setting their number as high as twelve.” (Pg. 66)
Of the Star of Bethlehem, he argues, “The following … is a possible astronomical reconstruction of what happened that first Christmas. The remarkable conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in 7-6 B.C. alerted the Magi to important developments in Palestine, for the astrological significance closely paralleled what they had learned from Hebrew lore about a star heralding the expected Messiah. The comet of 5 B.C. … dramatically underscored this interpretation and sent them on their way, while it was the nova (or comet) of 4 B.C…. which appeared after they had reached Jerusalem and were seeking further information from Herod… That the star ‘went before them till it came to rest over the place where the child was’ need not imply any sudden visible movements on the part of the astral phenomena. Because of the rotation of the earth, anything in the night sky appears to move generally westward as the night progresses… So when it reached a zenith in the skies over Bethlehem, the gleaming blue-white) star of Christmas would indeed have seemed to stop for the Magi as they reached their destination.” (Pg. 80-81)
This book will be of great interest to anyone studying Jesus’ life, and the origin of the Christmas festival.
Paul L. Maier wrote in the Preface to this 1971 book, “Although little is known of the birth of Jesus Christ outside the New Testament, the full story of the first Christmas is not limited to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Many important aspects of the event come into sharper focus when history, geography, archaeology, and even astronomy shed their light on the Nativity. In offering this evidence, these chapters deal less with the familiar story of Jesus’ birth and more with its background. They try to tell the UN-familiar story of the first Christmas by exploring the nooks and crannies of the past for fresh information and interesting sidelights on the Nativity. Stripping away the layers of legend and folklore which nineteen centuries have imposed on the famous event, this Christmas documentary will aim to tell ‘how it really was’ in the world of the nativity, providing some insights which are well known, some little known, and some new. No liberties were taken with the facts…”
He notes, “That Mary ever had to endure the rigors of this eighty-mile journey on the back of a jogging donkey while in a state of very advanced pregnancy has been doubted by some scholars. Rome never ordered her subjects to return to their original homes for such enrollments, they claim, and Luke must have garbled his facts. But this view has been disproved by the discovery of a Roman census edict from 104 A.D. in neighboring Egypt, in which taxpayers who were living elsewhere were ordered to return to their original homes for registration.” (Pg. 16) He continues, “The census mentioned in the Christmas story was probably a provincial enrollment associated with the citizens’ census of 8 B.C., but apparently the machinery necessary to take it in far-off Palestine was not prepared until about 5 B.C. is some three years too early for the birth of Christ.” (Pg. 19)
He states, “Under the assumption that it must have taken even a divine-human baby the normal term to develop, Christendom appointed March 25 (exactly nine months before December 25) as the Feast of the Annunciation, when Jesus was also conceived. The emphasis, however, is not on any calendar precision---the exact date of the Nativity is unknown---but on the commemoration itself.” (Pg. 34)
He explains, “the first Christmas happened ‘in the fullness of tine’ … But precisely WHEN was that time? Unfortunately, there is no exact answer. Ironically, the event… is itself almost undatable. ‘Everyone knows’ Jesus must have been born on December 25, A.D., but it is not quite that simple, and certainly this date is wrong. For Herod the Great died in the spring of 4 B.C., and the king was very much alive during the visit of the Magi in the Christmas story. Therefore Jesus would have to have been born before this time…. While Jesus may have been born as early as 7 B.C., such earlier datings for the Nativity would make him a little too old for the ‘about thirty years of age’ when he began his public ministry in 28-29 A.D. Unfortunately, it is not possible to work back to any exact date for Jesus’ birth from any later information about his adult life.” (Pg. 39-40)
He observes, “the first governor of Syria, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, is known from Roman records. He had been a consul, with military and business successes to his credit… But when was he governor of Syria? Not until 6-7 A.D., according to ancient records, which is ten years too late for the Nativity census… However, an archaeological inscription suggests that Quirinius may have had an earlier term as governor, or at least a special commission to carry out such a census, since he was in the East at the time, also as military commander. Other scholars suggest an alternate reinterpretation of Luke’s text: ‘This census was first really carried out when Quirinius was governor of Syria,’ i.e., a decade later than the preliminary census during the reign of Herod.” (Pg. 41)
He asks, “Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25? The early Christian church seems to have observed the birth of Christ on January 6 in the East, and on December 25 in the West, but both practices began too late---the 300’s A.D.---to warrant attaching any precision to these dates. Probably it was a matter of substitution. The Romans of the time not only celebrated their Saturnalia festival at the close of December, but they also thought that December marked the date of the winter solstice (instead of December 21) when they observed the pagan feast of Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, which was just in the act of turning about to aim northward once again. Christianity sought to replace these pagan festivals with a Christian celebration honoring the ‘sun of righteousness,’ a common epithet for Jesus as Messiah. Yet Christmas, even with its Christian name, has never been able to shake off the secular part of this end-of-the-year festival. But all of this should not obscure the fact that, according to the best reckoning, Jesus may indeed have been born in the winter of 5-4 B.C.” (Pg. 42-43)
He suggests, “There is evidence that someone in Bethlehem relented and offered more normal accommodations to Joseph, Mary, and the newborn Jesus. For by the time the wise men arrived to present their gifts, the Holy Family seems to have been living in a ‘house’ (Mt 2:11). Or as happens on many vacation trips today, the motel vacancies which are nonexistent the night a traveler arrives because he failed to call ahead for reservations quickly materialize the next day.” (Pg. 48)
Of the Church of the Nativity, he comments, “the dominant question in the mind of any thinking contemporary visitor to the shrine must be this: did it all really happen HERE---at this spot?... the surprising answer lurks somewhere between ‘Possibly’ and ‘Quite probably.’… nothing is more important in establishing the authenticity of an ancient site than antiquity: the place must have been regarded as such from earliest times… Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome, erected the original church of the Nativity at this place in 326 A.D., over the very grotto which had been identified as the true site by the early church father Origen and before him the Justin Martyr, writing in 150 A.D. They stated that Jesus was born in a cave which was used as a stable---not the typical stone or wooden stable so familiar in Christmas art.” (Pg. 55-56)
He observes, “How much time elapsed between the adoration of the shepherds and the visit of the Magi is not known, but the mysterious men from the East do not seem to have arrived until after Jesus’ presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem, forty days after he was born. Unfortunately, little more is known of the Magi than of the shepherds. ‘We three kings of orient are…’ So the beloved Christmas carol begins, but already it has made at least three errors. First, how many Wise Men made the trip to Bethlehem is not known. And they were not ‘kings.’ And they did not come from as far away as the ‘Orient,’ that is, the Far East.” (Pg. 66) He continues, “Tradition … has placed their number at three, probably because of the three gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh… the assumption being one gift---one giver. But some earlier traditions make quite a caravan of their visit, setting their number as high as twelve.” (Pg. 66)
Of the Star of Bethlehem, he argues, “The following … is a possible astronomical reconstruction of what happened that first Christmas. The remarkable conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn in 7-6 B.C. alerted the Magi to important developments in Palestine, for the astrological significance closely paralleled what they had learned from Hebrew lore about a star heralding the expected Messiah. The comet of 5 B.C. … dramatically underscored this interpretation and sent them on their way, while it was the nova (or comet) of 4 B.C…. which appeared after they had reached Jerusalem and were seeking further information from Herod… That the star ‘went before them till it came to rest over the place where the child was’ need not imply any sudden visible movements on the part of the astral phenomena. Because of the rotation of the earth, anything in the night sky appears to move generally westward as the night progresses… So when it reached a zenith in the skies over Bethlehem, the gleaming blue-white) star of Christmas would indeed have seemed to stop for the Magi as they reached their destination.” (Pg. 80-81)
This book will be of great interest to anyone studying Jesus’ life, and the origin of the Christmas festival.
December 22, 2018
I first read this as a kid, maybe 11 years old or so. And I have always gone back to it as a yearly yuletide read, it handles the gospel stories of the Nativity straight-forwardly, and just treats same as he would anything else. Who did what? what was it like then? how did these people actually act given the situation? etc.
While it's a 1971 book, it holds up fairly well. It's not meant to be some deep dish scholarly tome, it's 'tell me about Xmas from the point of view of a believer and what happened?' etc. And that's fine that's what it's for. Maier is not a bad writer and has an engaging voice. You'll like it.
While it's a 1971 book, it holds up fairly well. It's not meant to be some deep dish scholarly tome, it's 'tell me about Xmas from the point of view of a believer and what happened?' etc. And that's fine that's what it's for. Maier is not a bad writer and has an engaging voice. You'll like it.
March 24, 2023
Many years ago I sat under the teaching of Dr. Maier in a history class at Western Michigan University. He was an excellent teacher and story teller. He was also the on campus Lutheran minister.
This book is an interesting story of the first Christmas and it’s central characters set in an historical perspective. It is a good study during Lent of the role of Jesus. It is an easy read.
This book is an interesting story of the first Christmas and it’s central characters set in an historical perspective. It is a good study during Lent of the role of Jesus. It is an easy read.
December 19, 2018
Helder geschreven boekje met veel historische details rondom de geboorte van Jezus Christus.
December 20, 2018
Learned a few things.
May 22, 2023
Very interesting detailed account of the birth and times of Jesus Christ
January 10, 2011
This book features a discussion between a mother and son about the Christmas story. The text of Luke 2 is read during their discussion, and I like that it is set off in italics so those unfamiliar with the story can have clarity about what words are actual Scripture.
The book is good, and has won The Gold Medallion Book Award, but Maier's clunky dialogue and heavy handed writing (how often do we have to hear the boy is intelligent to justify his somewhat advanced questions, does the prologue really need to kick off with a rebuke of other Christmas story versions?). I had the same feeling I've had with other Maier books, this is a clever idea that would have been more effectively presented by someone who writes.
I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. While it may leave your artistic side unsatisfied, it is a solid contribution for parents wanting to discuss the historical setting of the Christmas story.
Two other books for children are in this series: The First Easter and The First Christians. In searching for this book on Goodreads, I noticed Maier has written a series of books for adults that are now published as a trilogy on historical aspects of the First Christmas, Resurrection and Early Christians. This is something I'd like to read.
The book is good, and has won The Gold Medallion Book Award, but Maier's clunky dialogue and heavy handed writing (how often do we have to hear the boy is intelligent to justify his somewhat advanced questions, does the prologue really need to kick off with a rebuke of other Christmas story versions?). I had the same feeling I've had with other Maier books, this is a clever idea that would have been more effectively presented by someone who writes.
I wish I could give it 3.5 stars. While it may leave your artistic side unsatisfied, it is a solid contribution for parents wanting to discuss the historical setting of the Christmas story.
Two other books for children are in this series: The First Easter and The First Christians. In searching for this book on Goodreads, I noticed Maier has written a series of books for adults that are now published as a trilogy on historical aspects of the First Christmas, Resurrection and Early Christians. This is something I'd like to read.
February 8, 2008
Non-fiction concerning the realities of the Nativity. I really like this book! Tim Challies (challies.com) recommended it a while back, and I agree with the recommendation. It's very well-researched, with archaeological, historical, and even astrophysical references. Answers questions like: Just when was Jesus born? What political situations drove Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, then Egypt, then Galilee? And much more. It's a fairly easy read, too. I would love to see an updated version of the book (as I imagine more evidence and such has been found since 1971), and I would also love more *color* pictures (most of the pics in the book are black and white.) Very good Advent/Christmas reading.
December 9, 2016
I loved this book. I had the original edition, written in the 1970's. This book was short, meaningful and simply a great way to focus me on the Advent season. Each chapter took a bible verse of the Christmas story and delved into some more cultural/historical aspects of the verse that were able give me a clearer picture of what that First Christmas might really have been like. The reading was easy. There were pictures of historical sites to help me understand the times and places of which the author was writing. It was just a really nice read right before Christmas.
December 5, 2014
I read this book every Christmas and have my kids read it also. Each chapter is a super-fast, very clear treatment of several interesting issues related to Christmas that offers great evidences, possibilities and faith-bolstering tidbits for Christians to ponder and share during the holidays.
December 25, 2010
A wonderful, short look at the true story of Christmas, with many color photos of the sites today.
December 25, 2012
I read the library edition from 1971 and I found the text interesting. This book sheds a historic look at the first nativity rarely ever seen. Very interesting and quick read.
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March 13, 2008232.921
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews