Reimagining the Nativity

Reimagining the Nativity PDF Author: Bethel Grove
Publisher: Bethel Grove
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Did the birth of Jesus look anything like we imagine it today? Nativity scenes are an iconic and beloved tradition of the Christmas season. However, most Christians don't realize how much the real story of Jesus' birth doesn't match up with the story we tell in our decorations and plays every year at Christmas time. Knowing this can make it hard for us to discern biblical fact from fiction. That's why in Reimagining the Nativity, you will: - Explore several fictionalized elements of the nativity story that are not mentioned in the Bible and how some don't match up with the biblical narrative at all - Examine what the Scripture tells us happened during the events surrounding Jesus' birth - Look at biblical research to see what was likely to have occurred over two thousand years ago versus what is traditionally assumed Now including a study guide for individual use or group discussion, this short biblical study will inspire you to dismiss fictional facts so you can shift your focus to the real reason we celebrate the birth of Jesus - the miracle of His incarnation. Understanding the reality of this miracle should cause us to celebrate, not just on Christmas day, but all year long.

Reimagining the Nativity

Reimagining the Nativity PDF Author: Bethel Grove
Publisher: Bethel Grove
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 48

Get Book Here

Book Description
Did the birth of Jesus look anything like we imagine it today? Nativity scenes are an iconic and beloved tradition of the Christmas season. However, most Christians don't realize how much the real story of Jesus' birth doesn't match up with the story we tell in our decorations and plays every year at Christmas time. Knowing this can make it hard for us to discern biblical fact from fiction. That's why in Reimagining the Nativity, you will: - Explore several fictionalized elements of the nativity story that are not mentioned in the Bible and how some don't match up with the biblical narrative at all - Examine what the Scripture tells us happened during the events surrounding Jesus' birth - Look at biblical research to see what was likely to have occurred over two thousand years ago versus what is traditionally assumed Now including a study guide for individual use or group discussion, this short biblical study will inspire you to dismiss fictional facts so you can shift your focus to the real reason we celebrate the birth of Jesus - the miracle of His incarnation. Understanding the reality of this miracle should cause us to celebrate, not just on Christmas day, but all year long.

Itsy Bitsy Christmas

Itsy Bitsy Christmas PDF Author: Max Lucado
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc
ISBN: 1400322626
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 18

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Book Description
You're never too little for His love Do you ever feel like you are too small or too ordinary? That's how Itsy and Bitsy feel. When these two charming little mice hear that a King is coming to Bethlehem, they run to find Him. But they can't find the King, and other animals discourage them. "Don't even try," they say. "The King doesn't care about little ones like us." Itsy and Bitsy are just about to give up when something amazing happens. Crafted by master storyteller Max Lucado, Itsy Bitsy Christmas helps children understand God's great love and know that He sent His Son, the King of kings, for all of us--little or big, young or old.

Itsy Bitsy Christmas

Itsy Bitsy Christmas PDF Author: Max Lucado
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 0529104423
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado brings the Christmas message of Jesus’ birth to young children in this Christmas story of God’s love for everyone, even the littlest of His creation. Itsy Bitsy Christmas is a true nativity story reimagined in a fictional narrative through the eyes of two mice. When Itsy and Bitsy, two charming little mice, hear that a King is coming to Bethlehem, they set off with great enthusiasm to find Him. Along the way, others discourage them saying they are too little and unimportant for any king. Just when Itsy and Bitsy begin to believe they really aren't big enough for the new King, they learn that Christ the King has indeed come for everyone. With this Advent picture book, 4 to 7-year-olds will understand God's great love know that He sent His Son for all of us, little or big, young or old learn that faith is believing before seeing see that Jesus is found in the most unlikely places Itsy Bitsy Christmas features a beautiful jacketed hardcover colorful illustrations that children will adore This encouraging book is a great faith-building Advent gift or Christmas morning surprise. Reading Max Lucado’s Itsy Bitsy will become a treasured memory your family shares every Advent season.

Myth of the Nativity

Myth of the Nativity PDF Author: Andrew J. Welburn
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780863155437
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
Lamech 'was afraid of him and fled and ... said: I have begotten a strange son; he is not like a human being, but like the children of the angels.'(1 Enoch from the Dead Sea Scrolls)The conception and birth of Jesus is one of the most mysterious and challenging stories in the Gospels, surrounded by many signs and miracles. Is it possible to understand the Virgin Birth in a light that is both true to its origins and meaningful in our times?In this carefully argued study, Andrew Welburn says that we must reimagine the events of the Virgin Birth through the eyes of the Gospel writers. He explores many parallel stories and prototype characters, drawn from Jewish, Persian, Egyptian and Roman sources, which could have been known by them. Stories of unusual children with mysterious parenthood have, in fact, long inspired human beliefs and story-telling -- an awareness often lost to modern orthodox Christianity.Welburn concludes that the Virgin Birth is part of a greater story, a synthesis of many traditions, and stands for, above all, a promise of spiritual rebirth. This book is for anyone interested in the origins, and future, of the Christian faith.

Revelation of the Magi

Revelation of the Magi PDF Author: Brent Landau
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0061947032
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Each Christmas, adults and children alike delight at the story of the kings from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to offer gifts to the newborn Christ. While this familiar tale is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, another little-known version later emerged that claimed to be the eyewitness account of the wise men. This ancient manuscript has lain hidden for centuries in the vaults of the Vatican Library, but through the determined persistence of a young scholar, Brent Landau, this astonishing discovery has been translated into English for the very first time as the Revelation of the Magi. Everything we know about the wise men is based on only a few verses from the Bible. With the Revelation of the Magi, we can now read the story from the Magi's perspective. Readers will learn of the Magi's prophecies of God's incarnation from the beginning of time, their startling visitation in the form of a star, the teachings they receive from the baby Jesus, and the wise men's joyous return to their homeland to spread the good news. This ancient version of the Christmas story is guaranteed to astonish and delight. It will also raise larger questions of the significance and meaning of Christ's birth, and the mission to spread the good news to every corner of the globe. All the drama and intrigue of the brief description of Jesus's birth in the Bible is filled out in greater, more colorful detail, offering for the first time the complete story of these beloved characters.

The First Christmas

The First Christmas PDF Author: Stephen Mitchell
Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials
ISBN: 1250790700
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
“I love The First Christmas. What a charming way Stephen Mitchell has found to tell my favorite story of all, the Nativity, character by character (I love the donkey and the ox), with wise and thrilling interludes about God, reality, truth.” –Anne Lamott In The First Christmas, Stephen Mitchell brings the Nativity story to vivid life as never before. A narrative that is only sketched out in two Gospels becomes fully realized here with nuanced characters and a setting that reflects the culture of the time. Mitchell has suffused the birth of Jesus with a sense of beauty that will delight and astonish readers. In this version, we see the world through the eyes of a Whitmanesque ox and a visionary donkey, starry-eyed shepherds and Zen-like wise men, each of them providing a unique perspective on a scene that is, in Western culture, the central symbol for good tidings of great joy. Rather than superimposing later Christian concepts onto the Annunciation and Nativity scenes, he imagines Mary and Joseph experiencing the angelic message as a young Jewish woman and man living in the year 4 bce might have experienced it, with terror, dismay, and ultimate acceptance. In this context, their yes becomes an act of great moral courage. Readers of every background will be enchanted by this startlingly beautiful reimagining of the Christmas tale.

Born in Time

Born in Time PDF Author: Mildred Cram
Publisher: Sunstone Press
ISBN: 1632931311
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
Mildred Cram, the famous American author of the long-time best selling Forever and Kingdom of Innocents applies her special magic to a re-telling of the traditional Christmas Nativity story in modern terms. In addition to her many novels and short stories, Mildred Cram was known for her work in motion picture scripts as well as radio and television scripts. Her short story “Stranger Things” was included in the O. Henry Award story collection. She is also the author of another book from Sunstone Press, Sir, a political thriller.

Christmas Reimagined

Christmas Reimagined PDF Author: Carolyn J Sweers
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1524582085
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 79

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Book Description
This book is an attempt to defamiliarize the Christmas stories found in the Bible. Familiarity can result in a diminishment of wonder at the astounding news that God was manifest as a baby in a manger and that the event was announced by angels. The Christmas story is not about something that happened once. It has profound implications for understanding our own divine origin and task. That is why letting oneself be drawn into the stories as if for the first time can work wonders. Enterand see.

Caesar's Census, God's Jubilee

Caesar's Census, God's Jubilee PDF Author: W. Scott McAndless
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781493624133
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus of Nazareth was born during a census that had been ordered by Caesar Augustus and, because of this census, his parents made a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, arriving just in time for his birth. It is a wonderful story that has inspired millions down through the ages, but it is also a story that has left some very puzzled.Questions abound for many readers of the story who have any knowledge of the history of those times. Questions like:• Did Caesar really conduct a census of the whole world at once?• When did such a census take place?• When is Luke saying that Jesus was born?• Why does Luke say that all the people registered for the census in the places where their ancestors came from?• Doesn't it make more sense to register people where they actually live?• What was the normal Roman procedure for taking censuses?This book is an attempt to work through questions like this is a way that takes the scriptural story seriously but that also deals honestly and openly with what we know about the historical situation. It does this in two ways.RethinkingThis book suggests that we have simply misunderstood some things about Luke's nativity story. This is partly because we have insisted on harmonizing his story with the nativity story in the Gospel of Matthew. It also explores how the Old Testament notion of jubilee might offer a better reason for the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.ReimaginingThe nativity story has been painted and drawn by some of the greatest artists who have ever lived, sung by some of the greatest singers and told by some of the greatest storytellers. A whole rich and well-populated world has grown up around the nativity story—a world so detailed that it seems very real even if much of it has little connection with the Biblical accounts. Because of this, it is not enough to just an attempt to correct a few misunderstandings about the Christmas story. New ideas would seem to attack that entire imaginative world that has grown up around the story over the centuries and would be resisted for that reason alone.Therefore this book also includes some retelling of the Christmas story in short vignettes (called interludes) that help us to imagine the journey of Mary and Joseph within a historical setting that Luke would recognize.Warning: if you read this book, you just might not be able to see the old familiar Christmas story in the same way ever again.

The Book of Mary

The Book of Mary PDF Author: Nicola Slee
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0819223573
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 155

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Book Description
“Of all the women in the Bible,” writes Nicola Slee, “Mary has been for me the most ambivalent, the most alien and yet, at some level, the most alluring. I’ve taken a long time to come to her—or for her to come to me. I grew up in a religious tradition—low church Methodism—in which Mary hardly featured, other than in the nativity story. Yet it is hardly possible to exist as an inhabitant of the western world, with even half an eye open to the visual and cultural heritage of Christendom, and not to have been in some way affected by this woman, the woman of the Christian tradition.” With a collection of prayers and liturgical material focused around the figure of Mary, and the themes of motherhood, sisterhood, and female faith, this book projects a strong, contemporary attitude. It is clearly feminist, affirming the significance of Mary in the faith journey of contemporary Christian (and other) women, plus it challenges and critiques traditional stereotypes of Mary. The author explores the sorrows of Mary, her defiance and resistance, sexuality, sensuality, aloneness, independence and freedom, companionship, sisterhood, friendship, ministry, priesthood, contemplation, prayer and silence, wisdom, authority, faith, risk, and daring.