The Nativity: History and Legend

Here Geza Vermes, the world’s most respected Biblical historian, examines what really happened when, according to Church liturgy, Jesus was born on the 25 December. Taking us through the main events surrounding the Nativity: the prophetic star, the virgin and the holy spirit, the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, the miraculous birth in a stable, the arrival of the magi and the murderous decree of King Herod, Vermes puts the story in its real historical context. He sifts through all the evidence – examining the New Testament Infancy Gospels of Matthew and Luke as well as parallel Jewish documents and sources from classical literature and history – to separate morsels of fact from centuries of legendary accretions.

The Nativity gives us a clearer idea than ever before of what belongs to real history and what derives from man’s hopeful and creative religious imagination, penetrating the deeper meanings of the New Testament story that evolved into the festival we call Christmas.