Birth Of Christ Research Articles

La natività nei Vangeli apocrifi dell’infanzia

This article examines the story of Jesus’ birth as it is presented in some of the so-called Apocryphal Infancy Gospels that have always aroused great interest in popular culture and in the arts. These texts describe the birth of Jesus by means of an important ‘narrative expansion’: the childbirth of Mary takes place in a cave, one or more midwives as well as two animals, the ox and the donkey, are added to the scene. These narratives do not relate the preaching of Jesus, his death on the cross and his resurrection, but they present the event of his birth as a new beginning for all mankind. In doing so they reflect early Christian questions concerning Jesus’ nature. Examining some characteristic elements of this narrative development of the birth of Jesus, this article tries to show how this nativity may correspond to the construction of a myth.

The Book of Revelation and Its Interpreters: Short Studies and an Annotated Bibliography ed. by Ian Boxall and Richard Tresley

Reviewed by: The Book of Revelation and Its Interpreters: Short Studies and an Annotated Bibliography ed. by Ian Boxall and Richard Tresley Russell Morton ian boxall and richard tresley (eds.), The Book of Revelation and Its Interpreters: Short Studies and an Annotated Bibliography ( Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). Pp. xi + 282. $80. This book has a complex publication history. The bibliographic heart of the volume (pp. 125-272) was originally contracted for inclusion in the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) bibliography series. The project was delayed, and during this period ATLA no longer worked with the publishers. Nevertheless, the editors again approached the publishers, and, at the suggestion of reviewers, short essays were added. The result is the present volume (p. xi). The book concentrates on interpretation of the Apocalypse in the period before 1700. To that end, Christopher Rowland's introduction, "The Reception of Revelation: An Overview," provides the parameters for the study. Rowland notes briefly how Revelation was understood during major periods of church history. He remarks on the early popularity of the Apocalypse, as well as the growing unease with apocalypticism after the advent of Montanism. This anxiety was partially alleviated by Tychonius's reading. For the medieval period, Rowland discusses Joachim of Fiore's trinitarian understanding of history. Joachim's method, while not copied by later readers, would provide a precedent for Revelation's appropriation by marginalized groups in later centuries, such as adherents of the Radical Reformation and some of the more extreme elements in the English Civil War. In chap. 1, "Praising God in Adversity: Tyconius's Ecclesiastical Exegesis of the Celestial Liturgy (Rev. 4–5)," by Sean Michael Ryan, we learn that Tychonius creatively utilized Victorianus's recapitulation theory. Tychonius read Revelation 4–5 using "a subtle and coherent ecclesiological interpretation" (p. 38), which centered on Christ's birth and passion. Like Victorianus, Tychonius thought that the four living creatures of Rev 4:7 represented the four Gospels. Tychonius's interpretation, however, was more ecclesiastical, since each of the four living creatures also signified a different aspect of the church's character (p. 40). Francis X. Gumerlock ("Chromatius of Aquileia on John 21:22 and Rev. 10:11: Against a Legend about the Apostle John") discusses an early legend based on John 21:22 that John never died but was sleeping. John was waiting to be awakened so he could "preach again" (see Rev 10:11) in the end-times. This legend was modified by Chromatius, who asserted that John had died but died without pain. A new translation of Cromatius's sermon for the feast day of John and his introduction to the apocalypse illustrate this theme. In chap. 3, "The Figure of John of Patmos in Pre-1700 Interpretation of Revelation," Ian Boxall examines the various ways John of Patmos was understood by Christian tradition up to 1700. His purpose is to show "how this rich range of possibilities was exploited by commentators across the centuries, reflecting changed circumstances, fresh contexts, and differing hermeneutical strategies" (p. 67). Some terms applied to John were "martyr," [End Page 543] "exile," "visionary," and "prophet." In patristic tradition, John was viewed as a martyr, since he suffered for his faith. John's status as exile was established early by Tychonius and became a predominant view. Later patristic and early medieval interpreters often understood John as a visionary (see Rev 1:10). On the other hand, portrayals of John as a prophet were relatively rare. In chap. 4, "Seeing the Apocalypse: Pre-1700 Visualizations of Revelation," Natasha O'Hear explores artistic and iconographic representations of the Apocalypse from the High Middle Ages until the early sixteenth century. Anglo-Norman portrayals of the four horse-men of Revelation 6 are preserved at the libraries of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Lambeth Palace. In each, the viewer sees a sequential portrayal of the four figures. On the other hand, Hans Memling's St. John Altarpiece, dated 1474–79, provides a "simultaneous" representation of John's vision. Finally, with the advent of printing, we encounter the woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach. Dürer represents the consummate artistic visualization of Revelation. These representations were made available to a...

Hieronymus Bosch: Visions and Nightmares by Nils Büttner

Reviewed by: Hieronymus Bosch: Visions and Nightmares by Nils Büttner Pamela Merrill Brekka Nils Büttner, Hieronymus Bosch: Visions and Nightmares ( London: Reaktion Books 2016) 208 pp., ill. An international host of publications and exhibitions have marked the quincentenary of Hieronymus Bosch's death in 1516, including the release in English of Nils Büttner's Hieronymus Bosch, originally published in German in 2012. While Büttner's self-described "history" of Bosch provides few revelations, it is nonetheless a welcome addition in English to the field literature. Putting to rest forever the traditional construct of Bosch the enigmatic, heretical proto-Surrealist, Büttner firmly situates the famous painter within his historical context. Hieronymus Bosch is convincingly articulated a successful artist and well-stationed member of his community, whose paintings were favored by the most conservative Catholic nobility of Europe. To counter any lingering speculations concerning Bosch's orthodoxy, Büttner rigorously promotes the artist as a mainstream Christian painter almost to the point of redundancy. Chapter 4 of the book is titled "From Christmas to Easter" and begins with a quote from Bosch's contemporary, Albrecht Dürer, in defense of painting as a justifiable artistic practice to be used primarily "in service of the Church." Providing this primary source (one assumes) to establish the social context of Europe circa 1500, Büttner reiterates the central claim of his book, that "Christ's birth, suffering and death occupy a central role in Bosch's oeuvre" (51). Most of this chapter is devoted to Büttner's discussion of Bosch's famous Adoration of the Magi in Madrid, better known as the Prado Epiphany. Here, Büttner seamlessly synthesizes widely accepted earlier research on this triptych (most welcome in any introductory survey), thus providing a mainstream interpretation of this work as keyed to the salvific mystery and readily understood by late Medieval Christian audiences. Indisputable in its content and details, this passage is nonetheless tired and rehearsed when compared, for example, to Debra Higgs Strickland's [End Page 194] magisterial treatment of the same subject also published this year (The Epiphany of Hieronymus Bosch: Imagining Antichrist and Others from the Middle Ages to the Reformation (2016)). The reader will admire Büttner's methodological rigor, which is, as he explains, "rooted in the practice of historical writing" (5). There are fifty known primary sources directly linked to Bosch, and Büttner surely employs them all. These period sources provide the critical framework for Büttner's "history", and are scrupulously woven throughout the narrative. Chapter 2 begins with the description of a lease payment made by Bosch and his kin. This source material provides a geospatial time signature used to culturally situate Hieronymus Bosch in 's-Hertogenbosch, which is the topic of this chapter. While one respects such scholarly vigilance and devotion to method, some passages, by result, feel defensive and are exhausting to read, including Büttner's too lengthy excursus highlighting in detail the limitations of Erwin Panofsky's "disguised symbolism." No one disputes Büttner's argument here; art historians settled this issue decades ago. By contrast, when primary sources could be used to support Büttner's iconographical claims, one wishes he handled them with more precision. He refers more than once to the "thorns and thistles" of Medieval Christian life as a metaphor for temptation and sin. He uses this biblical source to explain the plethora of weird apparatuses and strange plants found in Bosch's landscapes. The reader expects an elaboration of this important primary source—first, because he mentions it more than once, and second, to counter the traditional construct of Bosch the drug-using, hallucinating eccentric. If Büttner does in fact cite Genesis 3:18 (this reviewer could not find it) he nevertheless ignores the highly unusual gourd-shaped bird habitat blooming from the thorny, thistly vine he refers to. In other words, the primary source he by implication (but not overtly) uses to support his view of the ordinariness of Bosch's landscapes does not explain the inclusion of, for example, bizarre terrestrial foliage in the likeness of pumpkin-shaped birdhouses. Such loose application of primary source material is...

Transformations of Identity and the Buddha's Infancy Narratives at Kanaganahalli

Abstract This essay proposes a chronology of sculptural embellishment at the recently excavated Buddhist stūpa at Kanaganahalli in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India. Included is the interpretation of caption inscriptions as later additions, applied during the second century ce in order to alter and update the meaning of older, preexisting imagery from the first century bce. Transforming the meaning of visual images by the addition of new descriptive inscriptions indicates a shift in interests and priorities in the Buddhist community at Kanaganahalli over the span of about 150 years. The narrative episode from the life of the Buddha Śākyamuni in which his mother presents him as a newborn to the deity of a tree-shrine is featured as a key example of this phenomenon. While the sculpted image depicts the spirit of a tree venerating the infant, the caption inscription identifies the scene as the presentation of Śākyamuni to the deity of his father's ancestral clan, described in textual sources as performed by men at a structural temple. The shift in meaning of this and other images at Kanaganahalli indicate that Buddhist narrative sources and emphases from predominantly patriarchal northern regions rose to greater prominence in the south during the second century ce. The new identities of older imagery diminish the role of vernacular women's rites, which were important in the southern regions of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where the social structure of local populations was matriarchal.

Missing Matthew's Political Messiah: A Closer Look at His Birth and Infancy Narratives

Abstract Many Christians often assume that when Matthew informs his audience that Jesus “will save his people from their sins,” the saving the Evangelist has in mind is “spiritual,” namely,the forgiveness of sins. This article contends that when Matt 1:21 is examined in its narrative and social-historical contexts, it becomes clear that Matthew envisioned a messiahwho would also save his people from the political ramifications of their sins.

Painted proskynetarion of Jerusalem by Hadzi-Ignjatije from 1845 in the Church of the Birth of Christ in Pirot

Painted proskynetarion of Jerusalem by Hadzi-Ignjatije from 1845 in the Church of the Birth of Christ in Pirot

Mary as a Paradigm of Muslim Piety

Discussing the significance of Mary in Islam in one essay is a very difficult assignment. Hence, this essay highlights a few important aspects about Mary, reviews a few qur'ānic verses about her, and briefly discusses her childhood, the miraculous birth of Jesus, her role as a bridge-builder among Christian-Muslim traditions, her image in popular Muslim culture, and the probability of her being a prophetess of God according to Islam.

Emerante de Pradines: The Birth of a Legend and the Making of a Tradition

From 2012 to 2016, spent each July at the fabled Hotel Oloffson Portau-Prince, where often sat and conversed with Madame Emerante de Pradines Morse (Emy), developing a friendship. Emy is the mother of Richard Morse, who with his wife, Lunise, fronts the popular Haitian roots band RAM and manages the Gothic gingerbread hotel. Emerante was born on September 24, 1918, to a mother of Haitian and Spanish descent and to a polio-stricken French father who had moved to Haiti with his family at the age of nine and became one of the country's most beloved singers-Ti Candio.To know Emy is to enter a kaleidoscopic world of Haitian history, performing arts, New World postcolonialism, the supernatural, Vodou, and the formation of the Haitian folkloric music and dance tradition. With each summer that passed, Emy told me more stories, and regretted recording them. So this year decided to sit down with Emy and interview ninety-eight years old, she never ceases to amaze me with her mental acuity, although couldn't help wishing had done this type of interview earlier, when perhaps it wouldn't have been as much of an effort for her to plug in (as Emy refers to harnessing her powers). In the cool shade of her sprawling home perched on a mountainside above Port-au-Prince, we talked about her childhood and young adulthood, and how she played the pioneering role, her own words, of bringing to Port-au-Prince.1Emerante was one of eight surviving children born to her parents; she was the eldest girl the family, second line after her older brother and following four other children who had died prematurely. Describing her mother as a very religious woman who disliked leaving the house, Emy tells the story of how her mother implored Notre Dame of Mount Carmel to give her a child, a girl, promising that return she would devote this child to the virgin saint. Not unlike the birth ofJesus, Emy's own birth purportedly occurred a mystical way. birth happened very strangely. Instead of being at the doctor or the midwife, [my mother] was on vacation at Riviere Froid. She went to the bucket to urinate and got out. just dropped out. She screamed. Someone from the yard came in, put her to bed, took me and cut the umbilical cord, and took me out to bathe recounts Emy. Throughout Emy's childhood, her mother told her the story of this day, saying that the midwife prophesied, This one will be something because of the way of her birth.From an early age, Emy began to have experiences with the occult, experiences that she did fully understand until a later age. At age seven, a strange thing happened to me. In Haiti, there is always a guy on a corner somewhere breaking stone, from a big stone into a little [piece of] gravel, for people to build houses. A little chip of stone flew away and hit me on the head. screamed, and [then] saw a vision of a man with a top hat. He put his finger over his mouth. He passed his hand, wiped the blood, and disappeared. That was a visit of a spirit, says Emy. While her mother thought she was crazy and her father told her not to dream for him, Emy says, Vodou started to show me. would tell them exactly what was going to happen and it would happen.Meanwhile, it was also from a young age that Emy's artistic inclinations and talents were being nurtured by both of her parents. Her mother taught her to recite poetry: I was introduced to the arts by my mother, who was an introverted person who couldn't put herself into action. Since she had me, she probably noticed was talented and she focused on me and pushed me. think used to amuse her and entertain her. And her father, Ti Candio, who composed up to five new songs a week and traveled throughout Haiti to perform for adoring fans, taught her to sing. first teacher of voice was my father. My knowledge of knowing how to sing-to please a public-that came from my father. …

Chrystologiczne τόποι (miejsca) w Ewangelii dzieciństwa według św. Mateusza

Mateusz, redagując Ewangelię dzieciństwa głoszącą orędzie o narodzeniu Mesjasza, wplótł w nią konkretne miejsca związane z ziemskim życiem Jezusa: Betlejem, Jerozolimę, Egipt, Rama i Nazaret. Te miejsca ukazują Jezusa, pozwalają głębiej i dokładniej oddać chrystologię Ewangelii. Betlejem to miejsce narodzenia i oddania pokłonu zapowiedzianemu Mesjaszowi. Mała miejscowość ze względu na narodziny Syna Boga zostaje wywyższona, w przeciwieństwie do Jerozolimy, która jest miejscem śmierci Zbawiciela i dlatego zostaje pozbawiona przynależnego jej w Starym Testamencie szacunku i rangi. Stolica uosabia ludzi zamkniętych i wrogich Jezusowi. Egipt i Rama pełnią funkcje przedmiotowe. Egipt jest punktem, do którego wędruje Święta Rodzina i z którego wychodzi, powtarzając wędrówkę Izraela, ale w sposób doskonały. Rama odsyła do żony Jakuba Racheli i jej płaczu nad narodem wybranym, który odrzuca posłanego Mesjasza. Pierwszoplanowym miastem w Ewangelii dzieciństwa według Mateusza jest Nazaret, miejscowość określa Jezusa i wskazuje na Jego godność mesjańską i poświęcenie Bogu.

Rereading the Infancy Narrative in Matthew for a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace in Asia and in the World

Rereading the Infancy Narrative in Matthew for a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace in Asia and in the World

Urbanism and Urbanization

Africa is now the least urbanized of the continents but is becoming more so at one of the fastest rates in the world. The history of urbanization in Africa predates the birth of Christ; it may have developed as early as 3500 B.C. in the flood plain of the lower Nile for control and administration of the Nile Valley by the Pharaohs, though most of the ancient and pre-colonial African urban centers are now insignificant towns and some have become extinct. Between 1500 B.C. and 500 A.D., the Mediterranean coast of North Africa saw the creation of many cities, which flourished because of trade between the Phoenicians and Carthaginians.

Ankstyviausi žirgų palaikai laidojimo objektuose Lietuvoje

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama žirgo laidojimo papročio formavimosi ankstyvuoju metalų laikotarpiu dabartinėje Lietuvos teritorijoje pradžia. Pristatomi surinkti duomenys apie ankstyviausius žirgų palaikus žmonių laidojimo vietose. Šių gyvūnų kaulų iki šiol rasta tik vakarinėje Lietuvos dalyje – Kurmaičių, Kvecių ir Ėgliškių pilkapynuose, įrengtuose nedidelėje teritorijoje Akmenos, Tenžės ir Danės upių pakrantėse. Pilkapiuose, kuriuose vyrauja degintiniai žmonių kapai, aptikta atskirų, nedegintų žirgų kūno dalių. Šie laidojimo objektai datuojami vėlyvojo žalvario amžiaus pabaiga–ankstyvuoju geležies amžiumi. Toks laidosenos pokytis siejamas su išskirtinės žirgo padėties formavimosi pradžia Baltijos regione II ir I tūkstm. pr. Kr.

SEARCHING FOR THE SOURCES OF 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY LATGALIAN RELIGIOUS SONGS

<p><em>Latgalian </em><em>„</em><em>svātuos dzīsmis”</em><em> (‘sacred songs’) were not only sung in the church in the 18<sup>th</sup> and 19<sup>th</sup> centuries. These songs became integral and necessary components of both home and spiritual life.</em></p><p><em>Some publications of spiritual song and prayer books written by the Latvians of Latgale have been preserved until today: </em><em>„</em><em>Nabożeństwo” (1771, 1786, etc.) and </em><em>„</em><em>Dzismies Swatas” (1801, etc.). Of these are both first editions and reissues. These compilations represent the basic core of 19<sup>th</sup> century spiritual songs in conjunction with the book </em><em>„</em><em>Piļneigajā gruomotā lyugšonu” (“The Complete Book of Prayers”) published in the latter half of the century. Psalms which were written well before the birth of Christ are among the oldest religious songs. Psalms of penance and prayers for the dead were first published in Latgalian in the 1786 edition of </em><em>„</em><em>Nabożeństwo”.</em></p><p><em>The diversity of genres of songs is surprising: songs using scriptural texts, hymns of the Fathers of the Church, sequences and antiphonies. The progress of the liturgical year was supported by additional processionary hymns, hour songs (godzinkas), descriptions of the lives of saints set to music, catechism songs and prayers which are written as prose but given a melody in order to be sung. Directly arrhythmic language and certain metrical text used for worship in prayers made it unclear exactly how many texts were in fact songs.</em></p><em>It is not possible to determine the authors of all songs. Text recognition is also hampered by the lack of a printed Polish source – the work that the Jesuits translated to create the hymnals has not been found. Thus, for comparison of these texts it is necessary to find them in various books or consult the wider body of 19<sup>th</sup> century songs, wherein the content of songs is usually altered. The “sacred songs” examined and analyzed in this article were selected at random. The majority of songs so far sourced are from „Nabożeństwo”, but identification work continues at present.</em>

Discovering Matthew: Content, Interpretation, Reception by Ian Boxall

Reviewed by: Discovering Matthew: Content, Interpretation, Reception by Ian Boxall James Cuénod Boxall, Ian. 2014. Discovering Matthew: Content, Interpretation, Reception. London: SPCK. Paperback. ISBN 978-0802872388. Pp. 206. $22. For centuries, Matthew was truly the first gospel. It is the only Synoptic to claim apostolic authorship and it was long held to have been the first written. Of the four gospels, Matthew’s is preferred by the patristics for citation; harmonisations most commonly defer to the Matthean witness; and the Gospel of Matthew was seen as the source used by both Mark and Luke. This priority has all but disintegrated in the past century as Marcan priority has largely won the day. Even as the tide of contemporary scholarship has shifted to labelling Matthew the second gospel, its significance to the church through history remains unquestionable. Ian [End Page 454] Boxall’s recent (2014) monograph is both a recognition of this significance and an attempt to probe the contribution that interpretive communities through history have made to our understanding of Matthew today. The subtitle of Boxall’s work, “Content, Interpretation, Reception,” reflects his overarching interests. One may ask, what is the content without interpretation? And, in turn, what is interpretation but reception? And Boxall here has the opportunity to put the latter into practice. His is largely a reception-critical overview of Matthew. Reception criticism or reception theory, one of Boxall’s fields of interest, is one of the literary approaches that have sprung up in the last 50 years. It looks at how texts have been received through history and falls under the umbrella of reader-response criticism. “In the following chapters,” Boxall explains, “different ways readers across the centuries have interpreted Matthew will be explored in support of the proposal that a multipronged approach—combining literary, historical and theological interest, and attending to text, authorial context and communities of readers—is required for a rounded understanding of the Gospel” (13). Indeed, chapter by chapter Boxall unfolds this multipronged approach. Boxall takes a while to get into the actual content of Matthew (his sixth chapter “Beginnings: The Infancy Narratives” begins on p. 76 of his ±180 page work). His introductory chapter orients the reader to Matthean studies. Chapter 2 provides Boxall’s overview of interpretive history of the book. In chapter 3 he presents some broad concerns (such as dating and structure). Chapters 4 and 5 present historical and literary concerns respectively. Chapter 4 concerns Matthew’s audience and social setting and chapter 5 moves to characters and the narrative significance of Matthew’s use of geography. The remainder of the book moves through issues in Matthew following a roughly chronological order (though chs. 7–10 are not readily chronologically disentangled) starting with the “infancy narrative” and ending with the resurrection. Boxall intends to cover the breadth of the content of Matthew without reaching too far into its depth. It is not uncommon to find a reference to a cathedral, painting or work of the arts (a major feature of the text’s pre-critical reception) illustrating a concept’s reception but specifics are more sparse. Particular texts demanding special attention arise on occasion, such as 16:8 in his chapter on the church. Boxall is certainly more at home, however, dealing with generalities of the text and its broad [End Page 455] sweep, as seen in his chapter on “Jesus as Teacher” where the sermon on the mount (three chapters) and Jesus use of parables in general (not limited to ch. 13) each receive 2.5 pages of discussion. This survey approach allows Boxall to move seamlessly through centuries of interpretive history following threads pertaining more to theological issues raised by the text rather than getting bogged down in exegetical questions about specifics of any text. The book is not without its weaknesses. While Boxall gives a nod toward historical concerns declaring, “a rounded interpretation of Matthew invites an interweaving of historical, literary and theological questions” (29), he clearly privileges the literary-critical approach. Kingsbury’s work (Matthew as Story, which specifically focuses on narrative criticism), for example, features frequently throughout the text to the point, I would argue, that it begins to weaken his argument that...

La estrella de Belén, presagio y símbolo de la realeza de Cristo

This paper focuses on analyzing the meaning of the appearance of the star at the birth of Christ from the ideological point of view of the ancient citizen. Romans understood this phenomenon as an omen of royalty or future power for the newborn; the Fathers of the Church interpreted it in different ways and attempted to explain it both to Christians as well as to Jews and Pagans.

Sexual Serpents and Perpetual Virginity: Marian Rejectionism in the Babylonian Talmud

This article explores a midrash in the Babylonian Talmud that features the trope of the hind, an animal referred to multiple times in rabbinic literature as being noteworthy for its vaginal narrowness. The author argues that the midrash reveals significant awareness of Christian tropes about Mary the mother of Jesus—and in particular, tropes with especial currency in Christian circles in eastern Syria and the western reaches of the Sasanian Empire—and subtly subverts them. The effect of this deployment and subversion is a sustained polemic against the notion of Mary’s virginity, not only prior to, but even subsequent to the birth of Jesus. This case is then contextualized as part of a broader phenomenon of mariological critique in the Babylonian Talmud, a phenomenon that is in turn considered in light of the even broader historical trend in which Jewish communities develop awareness of and respond to increased Marian devotion among local Christian populations. This final point of comparison suggests that, in addition to polemic, we are likely to find examples of rabbinic appropriation of Marian themes in the Babylonian Talmud. One possible example is considered, but this remains a likely rich avenue for further research.

When Christmas comes around

The government has asked early years settings to promote British values; these lend themselves to various activities based on teaching children about the nativity story.

Preserving misconceptions or a call for action? – A hermeneutic re-reading of the Nativity story

BackgroundBehaviour is guided by perceptions and traditions. As such, understanding culture and religion is important in order to understand healthcare behaviour. Religious perceptions shape a person's understanding of the world and are maintained through texts and tradition. One such important religious text in relation to sexual and reproductive health is the Nativity story. This account of the conception and birth of Jesus is well known in the Christian cultural sphere and beyond, and it has for generations shaped perceptions of childbirth.MethodsThis paper attempts a re-reading of the Nativity story using a hermeneutic approach.Results and ConclusionThis reveals a dual understanding of the Nativity, not just as an account of immaculate transcendence and a rosy Christmas tale, but as a source of identification for pregnant women and mothers and a call to action for improved maternal and child healthcare.

Saint Luke: chronicler of the first Christmas and most published of any doctor.

The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are attributed to a first-century physician known to us now simply as Saint Luke. Forming over a quarter of the New Testament they are the most widely published of the writings of any doctor, now translated into over 400 languages. They make intriguing reading. Without Luke’s Gospel our knowledge of the first Christmas would be halved: no journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem; no ‘shepherds abiding in the fields’; no inn; no manger. The Nativity Story as told by Luke starts the theme that runs through his writing: vulnerability. …

Paolo Sarpi, Caesar Baronius, and the Political Possibilities of Ecclesiastical History

Two of the most famous Catholic histories written during the early modern period were the Annales ecclesiastici of Caesar Baronius (d. 1607), a year-by-year chronicle of the Catholic Church from the birth of Christ to the twelfth century, and the Istoria del concilio tridentino of Paolo Sarpi (d. 1623), a scathing critique of the Council of Trent that argued the famous council had only made religious problems worse. Rather than comparing either of these works with similar histories written by protestants—thereby investigating inter-confessional Reformation debates—this article sets Baronius's Annales and Sarpi's Istoria side by side to explore disputes within Catholicism itself. By analyzing how the authors examine four topics in their histories (Peter and the papal primacy, the relationship between the local and universal church, the history of ecumenical councils, and the relationship between secular and ecclesiastical authorities), as well as considering both historians' actions during the Venetian interdict crisis of 1606, this essay argues that Sarpi and Baronius fundamentally disagreed about the origins and exercise of both secular and ecclesiastical authority. These two modes of Catholic history-writing reveal how Sarpi and Baronius drew from contemporary political models, such that “ecclesiastical history” could have significant political ramifications.