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The autos about the Christ’s Birth have received less attention than those known as their “older brothers”: The sacramental autos. As a contribution to filling this gap, this article briefly presents the work Nochebuena. Autos al nacimiento del Hijo de Dios con sus loas, villancicos, bailes y sainetes para cantar al propósito, written by Cosme Gómez de Tejada y de los Reyes at the beginning of the 17th Century, and analyzes two of the four autos that integrate this work. This will allow us to establish that the author, from Toledo, inserts his creations into the Christmas and pastoral theatrical tradition, but that he gives special importance to the allegorical characters and the development on stage of plays and riddles to reach the dual characteristic purpose in the Golden theatre: docere and delectare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nativity play called La natività di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo e la strage degli innocenti (The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Massacre of the Innocents) by an anonymous author was quite popular in the 19th century and was popularly known as Gelindo. The shepherds in it spoke a dialect of the Higher Monferrato region, while the holy or illustrious characters - like Emperor Augustus and his councillors, Herod and the members of his family - spoke in educated literary Italian. The language uses more than one linguistic register and style: the holy characters had a somewhat hesitant syntax and made use of words in dialect; the illustrious characters used a better syntax in spite of complex paragraphs with several subordinate clauses, and style wise they were often Baroquelike, bordering on ridiculous. This use of language suggests there were two authors: one lively playwright with a sense of the theatre who may have written the scenes with the shepherds. A second, less theatrically inclined author added scenes that played no structural role where famous, illustrious characters appeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how Francis of Assisi enriches and challenges the Christian Christmas celebration with Nativity play and message of peace. Topics include Franciscan movement is said to have inspired Christmas devotion like no other religious family; and birth of Jesus with pastoral creativity in a cave in new biographies of Francis by distinguished historians also see the popular tradition of the nativity scene that combined mysticism with politics and pastoral care with creativity.

The article "For a careful approach to the language of prayer" discusses whether it is meaningful to renew common prayer texts and adapt them to everyday language. The Ave Maria, the most widespread Marian prayer, refers to Mary's encounter with the angel and her experience of grace. Prayers and rituals are characterized by constancy, but the meaning of words changes over time. It is emphasized that changes in the language of prayer should be handled sensitively, as they can restrict the space for personal interpretation. It is also pointed out that the use of specific language in prayers can help to transmit almost forgotten aspects and introduce critical moments. [Extracted from the article]

The Catholic University (UC) began Advent with a party of music and colors. The celebration involved the participation of the university community and presented the story "A Lighthouse at Christmas", performed by young actors. In addition, Christmas carols were performed by the UC Folklore Ensemble and the Citizen Choir of the San Borja Neighborhood. The party took place in the Juan Pablo II Courtyard of the Main House and was attended by families and members of the UC community and the nearby neighborhood. Rector Ignacio Sánchez highlighted the importance of this activity as a form of extended community. Father Tomás Scherz, Vice Grand Chancellor of the UC, pointed out that Advent is a time of unity and anticipation, and a nativity scene and the present children were blessed as part of the celebration. Father Jorge Merino, Chief Chaplain of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, invited everyone to live Advent by emphasizing the importance of sharing with others and remembering the importance of hope during this time. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the Christmas carol "Silent Night" to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria dealing with the lyrics of Joseph Mohr in the light of the story of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2: 1-20). Luke presents a childhood narrative about John the Baptist and a childhood narrative about Jesus of Nazareth in a total of 14 narrative episodes and summary notes.

The Feast of the Lord's Nativity or Christmas has a highly controversial history, because of the lack of old historical documents that would provide more details regarding its origins. However, the most plausible hypothesis states that the Feast of the Lord's Nativity is of equal importance with the Feast of Pascha, and was most probably instituted during the apostolic period in early Christianity. Christmas concentrates in the Romanian folkloric culture one of the richest and most complex ritual structures, which brings together people of all ages. The festive-ceremonial attitude, the dignity, the superior social status are the obvious prevailing themes in the message transmitted by traditional carols. Thus, the custom of going carolling with its plethora of meanings comes from the paleo-Christian tradition of the Latin speaking Eastern Roman Empire. In time, it evolved and was enriched by poetical texts that were arranged on specific melodies. These texts contained answers to issues and questions raised during the big theological disputes in the first Christian millennium, and later-on, to the inter-confessional frictions that followed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to be born fully human (Latin: vere homo) X and Y chromosomes are needed. Without the involvement of chromosomes, Jesus of Nazareth would have had no ties to humanity. Aristotelian ("On the generation of animals" / "Peri zōōn geneseōs") and ancient Hellenistic (Galen on the Hippocratic Corpus) views on how the vere homo came into being differ much from today's knowledge of biology. In the Hebrew Scriptures, rabbinic traditions and Graeco- Roman literature, vere homo was the result not only of a male and female contribution; the third component was divine involvement. This article revisits the textual evidence of the conception of Jesus in the New Testament. The results are compared to propositions in the Athanasian Creed (Quicunque Vult) and the exegetical and/or dogmatic/socio-cultural views of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann. The article explores the ethical and cultural relevance of the Christian belief that Jesus was both vere homo and vere Deus, and enters into critical discussion with British New Testament scholar Andrew Lincoln and his idea of "DNA in antiquity." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses articles in the issue on topic including the synopsis on the membership with the New Testament Society of Southern Africa (NTSSA), the birth of Jesus, and the Sermon on the Mount.

One of America’s foremost poet-critics, Robert Pinsky has written two relatively unexamined poems about Jesus: “Icicles” and “From the Childhood of Jesus.” These works present three distinct senses of the paradox of the powerlessness of the Nativity through the unruly and destructive actions of an unnamed youth and the child Jesus, respectively. I compare the second poem in detail to the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas to show Pinsky’s transformation of it. In rejecting both a reductionistic God and a boy Jesus who imposes divine will violently, the two poems point via negativa to the paradox of powerlessness affirmed by historical Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What might epiphany mean for a 'secular' society? What does it mean after the death of God? This article explores the hermeneutics of immanent, planetary epiphanies in the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins. In the creative spaces between author, text, and reader new possibilities for becoming enter the world. As such we might be able to name these anatheistic epiphanies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on his childhood in the Canadian prairie in the 1950s which was marred by the Great Depression and severe winter seasons, highlighting Jesus Christ's nativity. He explores the experience of his parents of enduring the cold, taking his newborn daugher home from the hospital in a blizzard, and reading the book "A Northern Nativity" by William Kurelek. Also examined are the harshness of praire winter and Kurelek's life as an immigrant.

This article argues that around 235 CE Hippolytus of Rome placed the birth of Jesus on December 25. While this has been theorized in the past, this article brings forward hitherto unheralded evidence about Jesus' birth from Hippolytus' Canon and his Chronicon. First, the Canon marks the Passover as the ... of Jesus, a word which scholars have previously thought refers to birth. This article however uses evidence from an extensive word study to show that the term most likely refers to conception, which would then place the birth of Jesus sometime in late fall or early winter. Secondly, the article shows that in his Chronicon Hippolytus placed Jesus' birth exactly nine months after the anniversary of the world's creation. Calculations in his Chronicon and Canon indicate that Hippolytus thought the world was created on March 25, meaning that he likely believed that Jesus was born on December 25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instance of Matthew’s formula citation in Matt. 2:23 is one of the most perplexing textual puzzles in the New Testament. There is no clear scriptural text that Matthew is quoting. The present study suggests that analyzing Jesus’ birth narrative in Matthew 1-2 as an instance of a biblical type-scene gives further support for the view that Judg. 13:5, 7 is the primary text behind this cryptic reference. It further suggests that attention to the connection between the birth narratives of Jesus and Samson shows how Jesus will accomplish the salvation that Samson was meant to begin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STUDY QUESTION: Does the interdiction of sexual intercourse during Nativity and Lent fasting periods have any effect on when babies are conceived in Romania, in the 20th century? SUMMARY ANSWER: Based on date of birth records from the 20th century, Lent had a greater effect than the Nativity fast on conception within the Eastern Orthodox (ORTHD) population. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Seasonality of births (and therefore of conception) is affected by geographical factors (latitude, weather, day-length). Other demographic, economic and socio-cultural characteristics (education, ethnicity, religion) have been proved to have an influence on conception. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: The analyzed data consists of registered daily birth records for a long time series (35 429 points = 365 (days/year) x 97 years + 24 leap years), with 24 947 061 births in Romania over the period 1905-2001.The data were obtained from the 1992 and 2002 censuses. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Based on the reported birth date of each person, the estimated date of conception is computed using a standard gestation period of 280 days. The population was grouped into two categories (ORTHD and Non-Orthodox (NORTHD)) based on religious affiliation. Data analysis is performed in the same manner for both groups. Preliminary data analyses regarding seasonal variations in conception are considered first. Econometric models are applied and tested. The dependent variable in these models is the calculated date of conception, while the independent variables are: (i) religious affiliation; (ii) dates of Nativity and Lent fasts (the latter varies slightly from year to year); (iii) rural versus urban residence; (iv) length of day-light; (v) non-working days and (vi) trend. The models are tested for validity using analysis of variance while the regression coefficients are tested by the Student t-test. MAIN RESULTS AND THEROLEOFCHANCE: All models are statistically valid (P < 0.01); all regression coefficients for the ORTHD group are valid (P < 0.01, except for rurality between 1990 and 2001, with P < 0.05). The data analysis indicates smaller standard error bars on the parameters for the ORTHD group as compared with the NORTHD group. The conclusion is that religious affiliation is an important factor in date of conception. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: The data do not refer to all births during the analyzed period, but only to those persons still alive at the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The date of conception was estimated assuming 280 days for gestation, which is a medically accepted time interval but will undoubtedly vary. However, the primary independent variables (Lent and Nativity fast at 48 and 40 days, respectively) are long enough to overlap the uncertainty in the conception date following the sexual intercourse event. We also must assume that the religious affiliation of the parents is well defined, based on the information given by their offspring at census time, and is the same for both parents. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Our findings are consistent with other studies, which show differences between religious groups on date of conception, although we reach different conclusions regarding the influence of weather on fertility in Romania. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): B.V.I., M.A. and G.R. have no competing interests to declare. There is no connection to the current paper, but C.H. declares that (i) he is currently conducting a research titled 'Chronic Diseases' Direct Costs within the Romanian Health System' funded by Local American Working Group; (ii) his wife is employed to a Romanian company (A&D Pharma) that does business in the pharmaceutical sector. This paper is a part of G.R. and M.A. scientific activities in COST Action TDI2IO.Thiswork by C.H. was co-financed by the European Social Fund through project number POSDRU/I.5/S/59I84. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Feast of the Baptism of Christ has always been celebrated pompously and with great solemnity, being one of the oldest Christian Feasts together with that of the Nativity, having a period of Forefeast and one of Afterfeast. In the period of Forefeast of the Epiphany, the religious hymns of these days emphasize firstly the continuity between the two Great Feasts, the Nativity and the Baptism of Christ, but especially they emphasize the intrinsic structural relationship of the Epiphany with the Resurrection of Christ. This is the reason why the Feast of the Epiphany needs a special attention, especially regarding the content of hymnography and ritual, for the engagement of the Church in this celebration will always have a catechetical importance as well as pastoral and missionary in the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines late medieval English representations of the startling and apocryphal story of Salome, the skeptical midwife who dares to touch, or at least attempt to touch, the Virgin Mary "in sexu secreto" during a postpartum examination at the nativity. Salome's story originated in the second century, but its late medieval iterations are inflected by a culture interested in evaluating and examining sensory evidence, in both medicine and religion. The story appears in sermon collections, devotional texts, the cycle nativity plays, and John Lydgate's Life of Our Lady, and these variations demonstrate the intersection of gender and experience-based knowledge in medical and devotional contexts. Salome's story provides a unique opportunity to study late medieval interpretations of female medicine, materialism, and spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The task given to us for this article was to offer theological responses to, "Can modern biology interpret the mystery of the birth of Christ?" by Giuseppe Benagiano and Bruno Dallapiccola. We are female Protestant theologians and respond to the issues from this perspective. The Christian confession of the virgin birth of Jesus (stated within the Apostles and Nicene creeds) is a statement of faith that God became incarnate through the power of the Holy Spirit in the flesh of the human Jesus and, likewise, that God continues to become incarnate in our flesh and in the messy details of our lives. The mystery and miracle of the birth of Jesus has much more to do with the incarnation of God in human flesh and in God's spirit at work in and with Mary, than to do with Mary's gynecological or parthenogenical mechanisms. The language of mechanism and miracle, in the ways used by the authors, can reduce the mystery and power of the incarnation. Consequently, we would like to offer a theological interpretation of the birth of Jesus and the role of Mary that expresses the mystery and grace of God's incarnation not only in human nature, but also in all of nature. Our world is God's home. We cannot comprehend all the ramifications of what is happening in the sciences and technologies of reproduction and development. However, what we do know is that we cannot stop asking questions, seeking answers, and remaining open to being both critical of, and appreciative of, what the sciences are teaching us about being human and creatures of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a consideration of the reception history of the so-called "Diatessaron," Tatian's second-century gospel compilation, we can learn much about the nature of this peculiar text. Of paramount importance here is the Syriac Commentary on the Gospel attributed to Ephrem of Nisibis. In this article I argue that the ordering of pericopae in the opening section of Tatian's gospel, which interweaves Matthean and Lukan passages within a broadly Johannine inctuisio, prompts the Syriac exegete to an unexpected interpretation of these narratives. By reading these pericopae as a single, continuous narrative, he creatively combines the divine "Word" and "Light" of the Johannine prologue with the Synoptic traditions about John the Baptist as the "voice" and about the star that shone to guide the magi, presenting the star and the voice as extensions of the Son's own agency. This remarkably original interpretation of the nativity of Jesus illustrates the degree of artistry that went into the making of Tatian's text and the novel interpretations it elicited from its readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on the potential of modern reproductive biology to explain the conception and virgin birth of Jesus Christ. They suggest that the study of the birth of Christ should begin with the determination of the inner function of sexual reproduction, while the study of His conception should begin with the analysis of parthenogenic reproduction. They confirm that they could not find natural or experimental biological mechanisms that can interpret the conception and birth of Christ.

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate two passages from Tertullian's De carne Christi (4,1 and 19,3−4) that are connected to the physical nativity of Christ, by examining their medical context, since they both allude to ancient embryology. First, the obscure phrase genitalia in utero elementa (4,1) is placed within the context of Galen's theory of conception; second, Tertullian's comments on the nature of male semen and its qualities (19,3−4) are correlated to similar concepts advocated by Aristotle and Galen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]