A couple of you asked about my brief reference to an astronomical explanation for the Star of Bethlehem. The website I mentioned is here. In my opinion there are two key issues, both discussed by Rick Larson: (1) the date of death for Herod, which has usually been taken as 4 BC, but is argued at the website to be 1 AD. Another web page that independently makes the same argument can be viewed here. (2) how certain star / planet conjunctions would be viewed by ancient astrologers. That, in my opinion, is the weak point of this argument: the conjunctions postulated are not obviously significant unless they were something ancient astronomers would be particularly interested in.
As a last item from the Christmas series, I have posted the “O Little Town of Bethlehem” video on YouTube:
As always, comments welcome!
