The science behind Christmas: Mark Kidger & Gillian Straine (+ NT Wright)

Unbelievable?

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Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2018

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In a Christmas special Justin is joined by priest and physicist Revd Gillian Straine and agnostic astronomer Mark Kidger of the European Space Agency. They discuss the scientific theories for the star of Bethlehem, who the Magi were and how scientists reconcile the miracles of Christmas with science. And… cute kids alert! We hear the Christmas story retold by 6 and 7yr olds. Towards the end of the show Justin also asks NT Wright whether we can trust the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke as historical. For Gillian Straine: http://www.gillianstraine.com/ For Mark Kidger’s blogs on the Star of Bethlehem https://openspacescience.blog/2017/12/01/star-of-bethlehem-reflections/ For a previous show on the Star of Bethlehem https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable/Episodes/Unbelievable-The-Star-of-Bethlehem-Fact-or-Fiction-Colin-Nicholl-Aaron-Adair-Mark-Kidger For the Ask NT Wright Anything podcast: http://www.askntwright.com Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to our special festive edition of Unbelievably with me Justin
0:12.2	Brieley. This is the show that gets Christians and non-Christians talking, brings you conversations
0:16.8	that matter every week here on Premiere Christian Radio and listen to around the world as the
0:21.0	unbelievable podcast. Looking forward to bringing you this very special Christmas edition of
0:25.7	the show as I'm joined by two guests to look at the science behind the Christmas story. If
0:32.1	you're not already subscribed to the podcast, can I encourage you to go and do that? Share it
0:36.1	with friends, let others know. PremiereChristianRadio.com slash unbelievable and that's also the
0:41.8	place where you can find lots of resources, the unbelievable app, the newsletter, DVDs,
0:47.5	videos, articles and much more besides just go there and you'll find everything you need
0:53.1	to explore the unbelievable universe. PremiereChristianRadio.com slash unbelievable. And later on in today's show,
1:00.6	I've got a special guest for you alongside the two who I've got in discussion today.
1:04.3	NT Wright will be joining me towards the end of the program. I recently launched a special
1:08.9	new podcast, the Ask NT Wright Anything podcast with one of the world's most renowned biblical
1:14.0	scholars really. So one of the questions I asked him on a recent edition of it was whether we can
1:18.7	trust the narratives, the birth narratives from Matthew and Luke, Shepard's wise men, angels
1:24.2	and so on. You'll hear his answer towards the end of today's program. Look forward to hearing
1:28.8	what you had to say in response to recent shows as well. We'll be hearing some of your feedback
1:33.4	to towards the end of today's program. So happy Christmas and welcome to today's show.
1:39.4	Well, we're talking about a very scientific Christmas on unbelievable as we approach Christmas
1:51.0	just a couple of days away. We're asking about the theories behind the start of Bethlehem,
1:55.3	who were the major. And can a scientist believe in the miracles of Christmas, angelic
2:00.8	visitations, the virgin birth and so on. My two guests on the show today are Mark Kydger and
	...

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