Historians know a fair bit about Herod the Great, the king of Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth.
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Articles on Nativity
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The Christmas story is about Jesus coming to mankind. As holiday decorations show, Christians around the world often picture him in their own cultures.
The Catholic Church considers St. Joseph a role model of fatherhood and faith. In many countries, Father’s Day is celebrated on his feast day.
Trees that produce resin for frankincense and myrrh – used for thousands of years in healthcare, worship and trade – are facing collapsing populations.
The routine of holding nativity plays and other Christian practices has led them to be viewed as part of British culture.
Recent archaeological studies suggest that early Christians were identifying important sites as little as a century after the last of the gospels.
Nativity scenes showing the birth of baby Jesus first originated in the small Italian town of Greccio.
The inn, the shepherds, angels and animals: pretty much everything we think we know about the Christmas story is historically wrong.
The animals that are so familiar in Christmas cards and carols did not begin to make an appearance until hundreds of years after Jesus’ birth.
The nativity offers an enticing opportunity to discover how words and interpretations have shaped the story and our understanding of it.
Top contributors
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Director of Slang and New Language Archive, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King's College London
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Senior Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies, University of Sheffield
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Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity
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Adjunct Professor of History, Academic Counselor, Georgetown University
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Librarian/Archivist at the Marian Library and Associate Professor, University of Dayton
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Professor of Archaeology and History, University of Reading
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Lecturer in Plant Science, University College Cork
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Senior Teaching Fellow, Sociology and Policy, Aston University
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Research Professor, University of Dayton
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Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton
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Associate Professor of Religious Studies, West Virginia University
