Myth of the Nativity

Myth of the Nativity: The Virgin Birth Re-examined

Lamech ‘was afraid of him and fled and … said: I have begotten a strange son; he is not like a human being, but like the children of the angels.’ (1 Enoch from the Dead Sea Scrolls)

The conception and birth of Jesus is one of the most mysterious and challenging stories in the Gospels, surrounded by many signs and miracles. Is it possible to understand the Virgin Birth in a light that is both true to its origins and meaningful in our times?

In this carefully argued study, Andrew Welburn says that we must reimagine the events of the Virgin Birth through the eyes of the Gospel writers. He explores many parallel stories and prototype characters, drawn from Jewish, Persian, Egyptian and Roman sources, which could have been known by them. Stories of unusual children with mysterious parenthood have, in fact, long inspired human beliefs and story-telling — an awareness often lost to modern orthodox Christianity.

Welburn concludes that the Virgin Birth is part of a greater story, a synthesis of many traditions, and stands for, above all, a promise of spiritual rebirth. This book is for anyone interested in the origins, and future, of the Christian faith.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Virgin Birth: What Really Happened?
1. Memoirs of Joseph and Mary?
2. The Shocking Truth
3. Jesus as Noah
4. A Near Miss and the Wrong Virgin
5. The Christmas Gospel
6. The Son of God
7. Virgin Birth: The Mystery

About the Author

Andrew Welburn taught at the University of London, has been a Fellow of the Warburg Institute and taught at New College, Oxford, until 2005. He is author of The Beginnings of Christianity, Gnosis, The Mysteries and Christianity, and Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy.