Posted on 12/20/2007 3:32:58 PM PST by shield
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 News) ― The Star of Bethlehem has befuddled scholars throughout the ages. Now, a Texas law professor claims to have scientific proof that the Star was real, and not purely biblical myth. He has another major discovery as well, which resulted from his study of the Star.
Texas A&M adjunct law professor Frederick Larson began researching the Star after putting up a nativity scene for his daughter. The lawyer in him, Larson said, required him to investigate what it was that he was putting up in his front yard. Beginning with the book of Matthew, he ended up on a decade-long odyssey into astronomy.
Larson is emphatic in saying that, although his quest was initially faith-driven, it became much more. "If I'm going to make a star hypothesis," he said, "I want to know, what did it do? Was it an angel? Was it a comet? Was it a myth?"
Although his story begins with one man's journey into the skies, it ends an unfathomable truth for some, that Larson said will change the way the world sees the Star of Bethlehem forever.
The Star of Bethlehem echoes the symphonic sounds of verses like "a star, a star, twinkles in the night" and "these three Kings of Orient are," along with oil masterpieces like 'The Adoration of the Magi.'
These pieces tell a story laid out in the Gospels. "Behold… where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We have come to worship him (Matthew: Chapter 2)." This is a quintessential verse pointed to by scholars, of the Magi being led by a star to the Christ child, the King of the Jews, as they approached King Herod for direction to His location in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago.
Based on the three laws of planetary motion by German mathematician and physicist Johannes Kepler, Larson developed a video presentation using modern-day software. This new software can pinpoint events in the sky for any day of any year.
Larson first had to approximate the death of King Herod, which, based on the writings of ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, most scholars presume to be about 4 B.C. But Larson said he found a recent discovery that states a printing error occurred in the 14th Century. The error had incorrectly printed Josephus' presumption of Herod's death. This caused scholars to look at the wrong date in researching the Star of Bethlehem. "All the oldest manuscripts, before 1544, are consistent with Herod having died in 1 B.C.," Larson said. "That opens up the possibility for us to look in the years 2 and 3 B.C. There, the sky explodes!"
Many scholars have hypothesized the conjunction of planets theory before, but Larson said that alone might not have been anything spectacular to stargazers 2,000 years ago.
Something did happen, however, that was much more profound -- a triple conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the star Regulus on April 3, 2 B.C., and a new moon. "What you had was two stars stacked on top of each other," Larson explained. "To an observer, it appeared to be the brightest star anyone had ever seen." Larson described it as an astronomical event that hasn't happened again in the 20th Century.
Larson also hedges much of his hypothesis on the existence of this Star phenomenon on nine points taken from Matthew. This includes: it rose in the east, it endured over time (eliminating that it could have been a comet or a meteor) and that it stopped over the place where the Christ child was born.
The last point has driven many people away from the idea that a Star of Bethlehem ever existed, but Larson said, although it is astronomically impossible for a star to "stop" over something, it did because of something called retrograde motion. "Wandering stars move around in a field of fixed stars, causing it to appear as though they're moving," Larson said. The Star would've appeared to move and stop.
Larson has come up against rigorous criticism from the scientific community for what they see as a religious approach to a scientific issue.
SMU adjunct professor of astronomy and physics John Cotton said Larson's approach is flawed, in part because he did not research ancient astrology. Cotton points to the work of modern-day astronomer Michael Molnar, who spent three years researching ancient astrologers to arrive at his Star hypothesis.
For starters, Cotton said, Molnar begins with the presumption of the time of Christ's birth as more plausible in 6 B.C., as the skies look much different in that year. He said that ancient astrologers and astronomers, such as what the Magi were said to have been, would have been in tune with the symbolism of the stars. Molnar puts the Star in line with Aries the Ram versus Larson's Leo theory.
Cotton said, "If it fits what you know, with the Matthew story, and it fits the ancient astrology then it's a reasonable candidate. [Larson's work] is nothing new because it was proposed years ago."
Other religious scholars said that there is no real consensus as to the exact time of birth or death of Jesus, thereby making any hypothesis on the Star of Bethlehem irrelevant.
According to biblical scholar Bruce Alan Killian, if one were to go by the astrology of the times as Cotton asserts, "Venus, called the wandering star by ancients, rose before sunrise on August 24, 2 B.C. and fulfilled prophecies in Jacob. Jesus called himself the bright morning star (Revelations 22:16)."
Looking at Larson's hypothesis of Venus rising as a conjunction with Jupiter (the King planet) and Regulus (the King star), and the fact that Jacob calls Judah a lion in Genesis 49:9-10, according to Larson, "You can choose to see what you want, but, from the symbolic perspective, I see King, King, King everywhere."
Larson admits that he is riding on the backs of many great historians, scientists and scholars with his work, but added, "You begin by unearthing everything that's already been discovered and add to it." He said he respects and appreciates many great names in science on this subject, including the work of Molnar.
On the issue of adding value to the existing research, Larson said, "I resist just being a storyteller. What is new is the poem. The poem is a new discovery and it is striking." The poem is, in theory, an arch of symbolic celestial and astronomical events, Larson said, that began with the Star and a new moon at Christ's conception or birth.
Larson's presentation does, however, bring the Star of Bethlehem to life. His project brings color and clarity to a subject often too complicated and detailed for the layman to understand. If you are interested in seeing a purely scientific approach, the Museum of Natural Science at Fair Park will have their "Mystery of the Star" exhibit beginning December 3rd and running through the 21st.
Been thinking awhile of aquiring that...my old DOS Sky Globe just isn't quite the same under Win-95, 98, & now XP. Besides these new machines don't have 5 1/4" floppy drives! LOL
Some questions, just FReeper to FReeper:
Does it really perform as advertised; and, does it compensate for the change between Gregorian & Juian calandars, when going back that far; or is that built in? Does it even matter?
Since the Jewish calandar is so different than ours either way, and so many Biblical events are based upon it or on Jewish festivals, does that toss a monkey wrench into Starry Night's works for this kind of thing?
Thanks.
Oh I get it. The other guy had Revelations not Revelation. Well that WAS stupid wasn’t it?
Two passages in Matthew’s Gospel are overlooked in studies of this subject:
“Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared” (Mt 2:7) and
“Herod ... sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men.” (Mt 2: 16).
Thus, the wise men apparently told Herod, “The star appeared two years ago.”
That means it wasn’t a conjunction of planets, because they don’t last that long.
Whatever it was, I think it was something that would make more sense to astrologers (which the Magi were) than to astronomers.
For a similar but less encouraging story try Fredric Brown’s story “Answer”
I usually include "clues" so to give clear reference to the subtle or even some not so subtle points being made.
[wink wink] =D
bookmark for later
“The Star” made a real impact on me with regard to faith.
I imagined a sequel where, upon return to Earth, the information is revealed to the world. The evidence is broadcast with pictures of children who are now incinerated. Songs are written to these people who died so a light could guide some royalty to give gifts to a baby.
Religion is condemned globally. Those who attempt to defend faith are shunned and ridiculed. Science stands triumphant over God. Of course, politicians shun faith and go so far as to amend our Consitution to actually include the elimination of faith from our nation.
Man turns his back on God, rejecting the idea of a supreme being that could allow such an act to occur.
In the end of this sequel, our sun burps, showing the first definitive signs of dying.
It is at that fateful moment that man realizes why they did not find any evidence of faith on that distant planet.
The passages in the New Testament would seem to indicate that the “star” could not have been a comet or supernova. When the magi arrived in Jerusalem and told Herod why they were there, he had to consult with his scholars and have the “star” explained to him before he understood why this was such a big deal. That seems to indicate that the “star” was actually something in plain sight in the night sky, but which looked pretty ordinary to anyone who didn’t study astrology and understand exactly what they were looking at.
That means it wasn’t a conjunction of planets, because they don’t last that long.
But a series of conjunctions could occur over a period of time -- especially when you consider the apparent "retrograde motion" of the planets at various times during their orbits around the sun (as the movement of these planets around the sun appear to change relative to the movement of the earth).
I think you're much closer to the truth here than you realize.
The Old Testament is full of the promise of Christmas.
Isaiah in particular ‘looks forward’ to the nativity - “unto us a Child is born, a King is given. And He shall be named Wonderful, Councilor, the Everlasting King”, and so on. The Jews were emphatically looking for and expecting the coming of a Messiah.
So yes, there were a great many people who were looking for the coming of some great revelation. And not all of them were Jews.
Priceless!
I've got 3 or 4 astronomy softwares. 2 commercial and 2 freeware. I pretty much always use Starry Night. I still haven't figured everything out on it and have had it for over a year now.
and, does it compensate for the change between Gregorian & Juian calandars,
Haven't fiddled with it much but you can manually enter either calander date, or switch between the two. I assume that it compensates correctly when you switch around.
Not sure it really matters as long as you know the date your looking for in either format, you'd have to ask a real astronomer probably and not my back yard hackness.
what day of the week was August 12, 3 B.C?
I suppose that technically, 1BC was probably a leap year, so maybe it was really a Thursday.
That, and there are almost daily data updates available, if you like to keep current.
Any way, if you do go historical, it will still throw up satellites, if enabled...
BC? Iridium satellites? Sure...
BC? Iridium satellites? Sure...
LOL yea I caught that last night as one of em went across my field of view. Thought to myself "now that's not right"
Yes, I recall that is in something Graham Hancock wrote. A supernova that appeared in whichever constellation the Magi identified with the Jews would make sense -- except for the verse that says, "And lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was." (Mt 2:9) I don't understand that verse, from the point-of-view of either astrology or astronomy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.