Could Jesus have been born on 25 December? (My own question.)
A: As Christmas nears, I wanted to reconsider the matter of the date of the first Christmas. Why? A friend (Chuck Pike, of New England) urged me to examine the patristic evidence, and provided several articles for my consideration. I'm glad he did. Here are links to the articles.
Until recently, I've taught that Jesus's birthday is not only unknown, but impossible to determine. Examining the historical evidence, however, I've concluded that my case is not so strong as I thought. There is evidence supporting a 25 December birthdate. The ancient sources are divided on the issue. I knew that—but didn't realize that the traditional date of Christmas may be correct after all.
