the gospel writers motives were not to document jesus life and works as history but to make them meaningful in a world of competing theologies. when matthew is going to have jesus give a sermon on the mount, he s going to model him on moses, even as he is being born. so as moses was almost killed by the evil pharaoh, jesus is going to be almost killed by the evil herod. the number-one message from roman imperial theology was that the emperor was divine and that the emperor had a divine right to rule. and reed takes note of the symbols caesar used throughout his empire and how they were seized by the new christian religion. after julius caesar died, halley s comet flew over the sky in rome, and his adopted son, augustus, proclaimed, that is, in fact, my father. julius caesar it s his soul ascending into heaven. and caesar augustus used that
star on all of his coins. and so when you say in a nativity story that the real star is, in fact, over a manger in bethlehem and a little peasant jewish boy is the savior and lord of the universe, that is a dramatic counterclaim to the message of roman imperial theology. i think these details become food for thought. i also agree with the expression the devil is in the details. reverend a.r. bernard is the pastor and founder of the christian cultural center in new york city. to me, the birth of jesus is the miracle and mystery of the incarnation of god. we re taught to question. we re taught to think things through. but we re taught to never allow these discussions to take away from the basic faith, cause that s what it is. it s a matter of faith. [ men singing ]
heaven. caesar augustus used that star on all of its coin. when you sang the nativity story the real star is in fact over a manger in healle bethlehem and little jewish boy was there. that is a dramatic counter claim to the message of roman imperial theology. i think these details become food for thought. i also agree with the expression that the devil is in the details. bernard is pastor and founder of christian cultural center in new york city. to me the birth of jesus is the miracle and mystery of the incarnation of god. we are taught to question or taught to treat things, too, but we are taught to never allow these discussions to actake awa face to face.
john dominic clawson believes the gospel writer s motives are not to write list but to make the world of theology. when matthew is going to have jesus give a sermon on the mount he is going to model him even as he has been born so moses was almost killed by the evil pharaoh jesus is going to be almost killed by the evil herod. the number one message from roman imperial theology was that the emperor was divine and the emperor had a divine right to rule. he takes note of the symbols used through out his empire and how they were received through the new christian religion. after julius caesar died haley s come met flew over the skies in rome. augustus claimed that was in fact my father julius caesar it s his soul ascending into
form the child. john dominic crossing believes the motives were nots document of jesus life and worw as history but to make him ake meaningful in the world of competing theology.. when matthew is going to have jesus give his sermon on the mount he s going to model him on moses even as he is being born, so as moses is almost killed by the evil pharaoh, jesus is going to be almost killed by the evil herod. the number one message from roman imperial theology was that the emperor was divine, and that the emperor had a divine life to rule. note of the ses symbols caesar used throughout his empire and how they were seized by the new christian religion. after julius caesar died, halley s comet flew over the skies in rome and his adopted s son augustus proclaimed that iss in fact, my father, julius cae