Opal
Premium Member
Another theory! There have been other astronomers that have claimed this, alas, none of them agree with each other’s findings!
Thanks Tikana!
Can astronomy explain the biblical Star of Bethlehem?
- Thread starter katydid
- Start date
Another theory! There have been other astronomers that have claimed this, alas, none of them agree with each other’s findings!
Thanks Tikana!
Opal
Premium Member
I agree, they all watched the stars, as do we, I have an app for that too! I don’t think they would have mistaken a conjunction for a single star either.
But, I have also read that it was a crime to cast a chart for Jesus birth. There are a myriad of theories, I haven’t been thoroughly convinced by any. Even ones that I have thought at one time to hold water.
I guess, for me, the myths tell repetitive stories, with different names. I think the truth is hidden in myth, and the constellations.
Such is.
waybread
Well-known member
Good points, Osamenor. Unless we read the Gospels separately, the Christmas stories tend to get conflated and combined with local traditions-- probably thanks to endless school Christmas pageants.
I see no need to have naturalistic/scientific explanations for Bible narratives in order to derive profound meaning from them. The quest for realistic explanations really gets thorny when we get to the miracles (walking on water, loaves and fishes, water into wine, &c.) (Jokes about stepping stones in the water aside.)
If we set the NT into context, the Jews were surrounded by other cultures of the Roman empire that had all of these anthropomorphic gods, for whom ordinary belief had to be suspended. Roman emperors became deified, as was the pharaoh of Egypt. In order to make a convincing case for the divinity of Jesus, the Gospel authors probably had to come up with their own miraculous narratives, because nobody in the first century CE would otherwise believe in the divinity an itinerant preacher who was a mere carpenter's son. Ditto for Jesus' kingship.
It was precisely in the non-naturalistic attitude towards the life of Jesus in which miraculous activities could be seen as evidence for Jesus' divinity.
I just double-checked and confirmed that in the Eastern Orthodox traditions (Greek, Russian, &c) the star of Bethlehem is understood as metaphorical or esoteric.
"In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Star of Bethlehem is not interpreted as an astronomical event, but rather as a supernatural occurrence, whereby an angel was sent by God to lead the Magi to the Christ Child."
https://www.orthodoxpath.org/catechisms-and-articles/star-of-bethlehem/
This link gives some additional interesting insights into the problem of identifying the Magi and the Christmas star.
I see no need to have naturalistic/scientific explanations for Bible narratives in order to derive profound meaning from them. The quest for realistic explanations really gets thorny when we get to the miracles (walking on water, loaves and fishes, water into wine, &c.) (Jokes about stepping stones in the water aside.)
If we set the NT into context, the Jews were surrounded by other cultures of the Roman empire that had all of these anthropomorphic gods, for whom ordinary belief had to be suspended. Roman emperors became deified, as was the pharaoh of Egypt. In order to make a convincing case for the divinity of Jesus, the Gospel authors probably had to come up with their own miraculous narratives, because nobody in the first century CE would otherwise believe in the divinity an itinerant preacher who was a mere carpenter's son. Ditto for Jesus' kingship.
It was precisely in the non-naturalistic attitude towards the life of Jesus in which miraculous activities could be seen as evidence for Jesus' divinity.
I just double-checked and confirmed that in the Eastern Orthodox traditions (Greek, Russian, &c) the star of Bethlehem is understood as metaphorical or esoteric.
"In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Star of Bethlehem is not interpreted as an astronomical event, but rather as a supernatural occurrence, whereby an angel was sent by God to lead the Magi to the Christ Child."
https://www.orthodoxpath.org/catechisms-and-articles/star-of-bethlehem/
This link gives some additional interesting insights into the problem of identifying the Magi and the Christmas star.
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david starling
Well-known member
Osamenor
Staff member
But flying objects don't look like stars. A manmade satellite might be taken for one at first, but there weren't any back then.
I've seen a UFO (as in, could've been an alien spacecraft for all I know) and it was much too close to the ground, too big, and too bright to be mistaken for a star. Besides, it appeared in broad daylight. On an overcast day, but still daylight.
Osamenor
Staff member
And countless nativity scenes that conflate the two stories, and the practice in churches of reading both at Christmas services. I heard that narrative every Christmas, straight from the Bible, all my life, and it didn't dawn on me that they were two completely different stories until I was well into adulthood. I had even read the whole Bible on my own by then, probably more than once, and yet I still thought of the nativity as just one story that had both shepherds and wise men in it.
It was about the same time that I also realized there was no Lucifer in the Bible either. That whole story about Satan being a fallen angel isn't Biblical at all, and he doesn't appear in the Garden of Eden. As a child, the first adaptation I heard of the Adam and Eve story said the snake was the devil in disguise, and I went along with that... until suddenly, on a reread, it hit me that the Bible never says the snake is anything but a snake.
tikana
Well-known member
i wasnt there therefore I am just passing the findings.
there is a planetary software astronomers use, they experimented with rotating the stars back to see what could it be the only logical explanation i can think of is they witnessed supernova exploding
Opal
Premium Member
I wasn’t there either Tikana. I am just pointing out, because I like many of us have looked into the Bethlehem star, and found so many theories that state the are fact based on their astronomical findings.
Recently, the Jupiter Saturn conjunction, has even been called into play for the start of the age of Aquarius.
I am not sure, that if anyone actually came up with the correct astral configuration, anyone would believe because of the vast amount of theories.