Was Jesus really born in a barn? Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? Were Joseph and Mary all alone at Jesus' birth?

All of us bring assumptions and pre-understanding to our reading of Scripture and that is certainly true when it comes to the common (western) understanding of the Christmas story. The goal is not to pretend like we don't have such assumptions but to acknowledge them and try to inform and clear them up with solid research. In this episode I compare some of our common traditional understanding about the nativity story with Luke 2 in its cultural context.

And then I consider why it matters. 

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