The Christmas Mystery: What on Earth Happened at Bethlehem? - Softcover

Charles Foster examines the truth of the Christmas accounts in the gospels. The Christmas story is held by many to be an embarrassing legend which diminishes Christians' ability to defend the rest of the New Testament. Scholars are almost all dismissive of it. The notionally supportive accounts in Christian books are skimpy and amount to either a mere assertion or an acknowledgement that it is apologetically weak. Yet there is a lot to be said in its support. It can only be said coherently if one comes afresh to the gospels, and takes seriously the historical and archaeological objections. The story that emerges is strange - but compelling. Christmas happened: the world was changed. What does this mean for you?

Charles Foster is a lawyer and part-time judge, and lectures in medical ethics at the University of Oxford. He is also an explorer, and in 2002 was a member of a successful British ski expedition to the North Pole. He is the author of Wired for God: The biology of spiritual experience (Hodder 2010); The Selfless Gene: Living with God and Darwin (Hodder 2009); Tracking the Ark of the Covenant (Monarch,2007); The Christmas Mystery (Authentic, 2007); and The Jesus Inquest: The case for - and against - the resurrection of the Christ (Monarch Press; 2007)