NARRATOR: Today we are going to learn about the birth of Jesus! Cut to the interior of the stable as Mary nurses baby Jesus in her arms and Joseph stands over her. OISIN: Oh look at that cute ...

The shifting Nativity narratives, for instance, suggest that rumors about Jesus’ parentage existed from the beginning. Pagels notes that the miraculous-birth stories appear relatively late.

These and many other questions will be the subject of homilies across many Christian traditions that celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the Counsellor, the Lord, the King of Kings.

How does this relate to the birth of Jesus? Fast forward a few hundred years to the writers of the Gospels in the New Testament. To confirm that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God, they referred ...