A Book Review of The Day Christ Was Born

The Day Christ Was Born by Jim Bishop has been a boon to an ever-increasing desire that resurfaces this time each year – to focus on the time of Christ’s coming, of Advent.  Each year I find myself praying yet again that God would give me a fresh vision of the story of Jesus’ birth - that I would see something anew or grasp an aspect of the account that I never had before.  I don’t want the familiar to become commonplace or to ever lose the wonder of it.

Thankfully, this book helped fan my desire this year by going at the story of Jesus’ birth a little differently.  The Day Christ Was Born is written as a narrative.  The author used the accounts of Christ’s birth from Scripture passages as the framework, of course, and then supplements with details that are known by historians about the time period.  The last layer is then added – the author’s own imaginings.  And it all meshes together to give a rich and detailed glimpse into the beautiful, humble, joyful yet bittersweet story of our Savior’s birth – the One Who was born to die.

The only thing about the book that I would have to contend with is the sub-title on the cover: The True Account of the First 24 Hours of Jesus’s Life.  The author himself states in his introduction that beyond the Scripture and historic details, the dialogue and scenes are of his own imaginings.  Yet in spite of the obvious fact that the “true” account is known only by the Author with a capital “A,” I so appreciated being given a deeper, more detailed glimpse into this account.  It caused my heart to swell still fuller with gratitude towards our gracious Father Who so willingly gave us Immanuel.