The Longing
Stuff that didn't quite make it into The Briefing
Christmas and the birth of Jesus: An interview with Dr Paul Barnett
Peter Hastie / November 2002
Why do we celebrate Christmas on the 25th December each year? Do we know the exact date of Jesus birth?
To my knowledge, the exact date when Jesus was born is unknown. While we are on increasingly firm ground for the date of his death—early April 33—there's no sure way of discovering the date of his birth.
The fact that Luke tells us that shepherds were watching their flocks at night possibly agues against a date in December. At that time of the year, it would have been freezing in the high country around Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It's