Jesus was born in a manger, right? But what does that mean exactly? And how about that inn? Or the star hovering over the stable? How does history address our most cherished images of the birth of the King of Kings? And what did The Life Of Brian get right? Join John as he undeceives us about everything that can and can't be said about the birth of Jesus.

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Links related to this episode:

• Read John's Nativity Naivete for an account of how the 'Quirinius problem' is resolved by historians, as well as many other common misconceptions about supposed historical problems in the Christmas story.
• For a more general summary of the historical truths of the Christmas story, there's Truth In The Story Of Christmas
• For those wanting to dig deeper into the historical evidence for Jesus' existence, John also wrote this reply to an assertion that the baby in a manger wasn't a real person for ABC Religion & Ethics.
• And since it's that time of year, you might also want to have a look at John's article, Halloween Vs. Christmas, discussing the historical basis for both.

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