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Sources for Carol Quotations

Chapter 1: “Star of Wonder”

John H. Hopkins, “We Three Kings.”

Chapter 2: “We Beheld (It Is No Fable)”

George Ratcliffe Woodward, trans. “Shepherds, in the Field Abiding.”

Chapter 3: “They Looked Up and Saw a Star”

William B. Sandys, “The First Noel.”

Chapter 4: “What Star Is This?”

John Chandler, “What Star Is This, with Beams So Bright?”

Chapter 5: “What Sudden Radiance from Afar?”

Philipp Nicolai and Johann A. Schlegel. “How Brightly Beams the Morning Star.”

Chapter 6: “A Stranger midst the Orbs of Light”

John Chandler, “What Star Is This, with Beams So Bright?”

Chapter 7: “Yon Virgin Mother and Child”

Joseph Mohr, “Silent Night, Holy Night.”

Chapter 8: “With Royal Beauty Bright”

John H. Hopkins, “We Three Kings.”

Chapter 9: “Lo, the Star Appeareth”

James A. Blaisdell, “Christians, Lo, the Star Appeareth.”

Chapter 10: “Following Yonder Star”

John H. Hopkins, “We Three Kings.”

Chapter 11: “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning”

Reginald Heber, “Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning.”

Chapter 12: “The Light
Everlasting
That Fades Not Away”

Eliza E. Hewitt, “Beautiful Star.”

Notes

Chapter 1: “Star of Wonder”

1
 “We Three Kings,” by John Henry Hopkins (1792–1868).

2
 Wikipedia, s.v. “Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,”
http://
en
.wikipedia
.org
/wiki/Bethlehem
,_Pennsylvania
#Christmas
_star
(last modified April 1, 2013).

3
 See “Star Light, Star Bright,” Palmer Lake Historical Society,
http://
palmerdividehistory
.org
/startale.html
(last modified May 7, 2011).

4
 Wikipedia, s.v. “Christmas in Poland,”
http://
en
.wikipedia
.org
/wiki/Christmas
_in
_Poland
(last modified February 20, 2013).

5
 Maria Hubert von Staufer, “Christmas in Poland,”
http://
www
.christmasarchives
.com
/wpoland.html
(last modified October 25, 2010).

6
 Ibid.; Barbara Rolek, “Polish Christmas Traditions,”
http://
easteuropeanfood
.about
.com
/od
/christmaseve
/a
/Polishxmas.htm
(last modified May 3, 2013).

7
 Rebecca Luczycki, “Starring in the Night,”
Alaska
magazine,
http://
www
.alaskamagazine
.com
/article
/77
/09/starring
_in
_the
_night
(accessed May 3, 2014).

8
 Mike Rich,
The Nativity Story
, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, produced by Wyck Godfrey, cinematic release December 1, 2006 (Los Angeles: New Line Cinema, 2007), DVD.

9
 Tony Jordan,
The Nativity
, television miniseries, directed by Coky Giedroyc, produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts, aired on the BBC, December 2010 (Ampthill, England: Red Planet Pictures, 2011), DVD.

10
 Albert Ross,
Mary, Mother of Jesus
,
television film, directed by Kevin Connor, produced by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, aired on NBC TV, November 14, 1999 (Universal City, CA: Universal Studios, 2010), DVD.

11
 Roma Downey and Mark Burnett,
The Bible
, television miniseries, produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, aired on the History Channel, March 3–31, 2013 (Beverly Hills, CA: Lightworkers Media, 2013), DVD.

12
 Mark R. Kidger,
The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's View
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), xi.

13
 Ibid., ix.

14
 Ibid., ix–x.

15
 One positive recent development on this front was the multidisciplinary colloquium on the Star of Bethlehem at the University of Groningen on October 23–24, 2014; see
http://
www
.astro
.rug
.nl
/~khan/bethlehem
(accessed July 5, 2014). A collection of papers presented at the colloquium is due to be published by Brill.

16
 R. A. Oriti, “The Star of Bethlehem,”
The Griffith Observer
39.12 (December 1975): 9.

17
 Kidger,
Star of Bethlehem
, viii.

18
 Raymond Brown,
The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
, 2nd ed. (New York: Doubleday, 1993), 612 (italics his). He goes on to state that Matthew's nativity account might be deemed essentially or partly historically accurate if we allow for poetic license and the use of symbolism.

19
 My translation.

20
 I prefer “magi” (ESV footnote) to the rendering “wise men” (ESV text) and therefore will use that term (and “the Magi”) throughout.

21
 My translation.

22
 In deference to the preposition that follows (“over” or “above”), I have translated the phrase “came and
stood
” (cf. NASB) rather than “came to rest” (cf. ESV). See Josephus,
J.W.
6.5.3 (§289) for the expression “stood over” in an astronomical context.

23
 In this context, “double-crossed” would probably be a preferable translation to “tricked.”

24
 Matthew's “two years old or under” actually means “one year old or under,” since the Jews reckoned that a baby in the first year of life was already “one year old” and in the second year of life was “two years old.” (See, for example, Robert H. Gundry,
Matthew
:
A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church under Persecution
, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd­mans, 1994], 35). “In their second year or under” is a preferable, dynamic-equivalent translation of the Greek.

25
 Cf. David W. Hughes,
The Star of Bethlehem Mystery
(London: J. M. Dent, 1979), 13.

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