[amc] On TV Tonight
- From: wseverin1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Werner J. Severin)
- To: amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 16:35:14 -0500
You might want to tape it from the National Geographic channel at 9 p.m.
Wednesday.
The review from the Wednesday New York Times follows.
TV Review | 'Science of the Bible'
National Geographic tonight (Wednesday) 9, Central time.
What Jesus' Birth May Have Looked Like
By ANITA GATES
Published: September 14, 2005
Even some conservative Christians are willing to allow that the Nativity
scene presented in church pageants and Christmas decorations may not be
absolutely accurate. That means the shepherds, three wise men bearing
gifts, Mary and Joseph, their baby son (lying in a manger), a couple of
angels and maybe a star overhead.
"The Birth," the first episode of the National Geographic Channel's
"Science of the Bible," which has its premiere tonight, sets out to
determine what Jesus' birth really looked like. It takes the job seriously,
with responsible interpretations of ancient history and intriguing
historical possibilities.
"Much of the nativity story we know comes from later writings, folk tales
that never even made it into the Bible," the narrator says. The only
mention of Mary's riding a donkey, for instance, is from the Infancy Gospel
of James, a second- or third-century text read by early Christians.
The Gospels of Matthew and Luke differ considerably in their description of
Jesus' birth, but as Lawrence H. Schiffman, a professor of Hebrew and
Judaic studies at New York University, says, "There must be a core story
that they all inherited."
Here are some of the program's conclusions.
Mary and Joseph may have indeed been going to Bethlehem for a census, as
the biblical book of Luke says. If so, Jesus was born in A.D. 6. Or the
couple may have lived in Bethlehem, as Matthew says. Matthew mentions the
reign of Herod, which would put Jesus' birth date at 4 B.C. or earlier.
If Mary and Joseph were travelers, they were probably not looking for an
inn in the modern sense. People may have rented out rooms in their house to
pilgrims passing through. Either way, Mary, who may have been only 14 or
15, probably gave birth in the lower level of a private house where the
animals were kept. It was a very modest, small stone house with tiny
windows or no windows at all. (You want light? Go outdoors.)
Because she was poor, Mary did not have a birthing stool, the choice of
wealthy women at that time. She had a midwife and delivered standing up,
leaning against the midwife's assistants, who helped with the pushing by
massaging Mary's abdomen. Joseph waited nervously outside.
Afterward Mary took a mikvah, or purifying bath. There was a circumcision
(and what sounds like a modern bris, with extended family coming over for a
special meal) and a sacrifice (the Bible says a couple of birds) at the
temple.
The Star of Bethlehem that the wise men, or magi, saw in the east was
probably not a nova or even Halley's Comet. John Mosley, an astronomer at
the Griffith Observatory, says it was most likely a rare convergence of
Jupiter and Venus.
Mr. Mosley describes the result, on the evening of June 17 of 2 B.C.: "The
two planets had merged into one single gleaming object, one giant star in
the sky, in the direction of Jerusalem, as seen from Persia."
(Unfortunately this date means that both Matthew and Luke were wrong about
the year.)
Roman history probably influenced the gospel writers. Jonathan L. Reed, a
professor of religion at the University of La Verne in Southern California,
points out that after seeing a comet, Augustus, the great-nephew and
adopted son of Julius Caesar, took it as an omen and declared his dead
father God. Logically enough, he declared himself the son of God.
So when Matthew wrote the story, using the Star of Bethlehem as an omen, he
was trying to make a parallel. Similarly, King Herod behaves a lot like an
Old Testament pharaoh. Daniel Smith-Christopher, a professor of biblical
studies at Loyola Marymount University, suggests, "Matthew wants the reader
to make the connection between Moses and Jesus." And Luke may have put
shepherds into his description because he wanted to suggest a connection
with David, the shepherd king.
One thing that everyone in "The Birth" seems to agree on is that Mary and
Joseph were poor. "This is a lower-class birth," Mr. Reed says, "and Jesus
is part of the peasant class."
Science of the Bible
National Geographic tonight at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.
Produced by Peter Karp; James Younger, series producer; Kris Denton,
director of photography; Kris Lindquist and Paul Marengo, editors; Erik
Nelson, executive producer; Dave Harding, co-executive producer; narration
by J. V. Martin and Tony Jay; original music by Mark Leggett. For National
Geographic Channel: Colette Beaudry, supervising producer; Michael Cascio,
senior vice president of production; John B. Ford, executive in charge of
production. Produced by Creative Differences Productions.
Werner J. Severin
3108 Silverleaf Drive
Austin, Tx. 78757-1611
(512) 452-5080
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Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org
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