c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Miracle? Myth? Or is there a scientific explanation for the Star of Bethlehem?

For centuries, astronomers have been trying to interpret the biblical account attributed to the Apostle Matthew, searching for clues that might reveal the Christmas star as a natural phenomenon.

Was the “star” a comet, a nova or supernova, or one or more planets shining brightly in the sky? Could there have been some unknown celestial or atmospheric luminary that stood over the manger in Bethlehem, like the Goodyear blimp hovers over the Super Bowl?

Astronomer Michael Molnar began his quest for the Star of Bethlehem almost 2,000 years after the Magi of the Gospel of Matthew. But thanks to computer software, this modern-day magus also may have seen “His star in the east.”

Molnar’s new book, “The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi” (Rutgers University Press), has been hailed by Sky & Telescope magazine as “the first revolution in Star of Bethlehem research since (German astronomer Johannes) Kepler’s days” 400 years ago.

Nine years ago, Molnar was an astronomy instructor at Rutgers University and a collector of antique coins. A chance encounter at a coin show was to take him on a virtual journey two millenniums and half a world away.

“I was in a New York coin show and I saw this coin; it had very nicely portrayed Aries the Ram looking backward at a star with an inscription around it. I collect ancient coins and I particularly focus on coins that have astronomical or astrological symbols _ stars, moons _ and this one had a sign of the zodiac. Naturally it fit into my collecting theme and I had to have that coin,”he said.

“A few months later I got out the coin and I decided to try to understand why it was issued and what the significance of Aries the Ram was _ and that led me on to the Star of Bethlehem.”

The bronze coin Molnar purchased was issued in the ancient Syrian city of Antioch under the Romans in about 5 A.D.

To understand its symbolism, he turned to sources that many scientists avoid: ancient astrological texts. The arcane knowledge revealed in those texts would have been familiar to the “wise men from the East,” astrologers from the Parthian empire who watched the sky and calculated the appearance of celestial signs that would, for example, herald a newborn king.

“I didn’t make any value judgments in this. I realized that I had to understand things as they were 2,000 years ago. These beliefs were held by many people during those times, and I had to understand what their beliefs were,” he said.

What Molnar discovered surprised him. The depiction of Aries the Ram on the coin could have symbolized the region that included Antioch and Herod’s former kingdom in Judea. However, much of the modern literature uses the astrological sign of Pisces the Fish to represent the land of Jesus’ birth. This is perhaps the influence of Christian symbolism _ Jesus was a Nazarene fisherman as well as a “fisher of men” who fed the multitudes with miraculous loaves and fishes.

Realizing that much of what had been written about astrological events surrounding the time of the birth of Jesus was simply incorrect, Molnar set out to “think like the Magi” _ to try to see the sky as those astrologers did so many years ago.

Molnar concluded that such spectacular astronomical sights as comets, novas and bright conjunctions of planets, even though they may have occurred, were not important clues for the Magi. In fact, he explains, a comet was an unlikely possibility as the Star, since the ancients saw comets as evil omens. Rather, the Magi depended upon calculations, not observations, to lead them to Bethlehem.

He noted that the Jews didn’t practice astrology but the priests of the lands east of Judea did. This would explain why the Magi recognized the “Star of Bethlehem,” but the Jews did not.

And the astrological positions that would have been meaningful to the Magi in this instance would have involved the sign of Aries the Ram, not Pisces the Fish.

With the use of computer software, Molnar was able to pinpoint a specific date that the positions of the sun, moon and planets could have been interpreted by the Magi and other astrologers as being particularly auspicious for the birth of a great king of Judea: April 17 of the year 6 B.C.

Molnar approached his research as a scientist.

“We astronomers think very differently about things,” he said, “and I had to think like an astrologer of ancient times in order to understand these concepts.”

“I have honestly and earnestly remained religiously neutral in this. I don’t have an ax to grind; I’m not pro or against any particular belief. I’m just stating facts here. In the end, I can’t even prove, though, that Jesus was born on (April 17). But the evidence I tend to believe is that the early Christians did believe that, and they were relating his birth to this great event.”

What would happen if the riddle of the Star of Bethlehem were finally solved with certainty? Would it make any difference?

“Christian faith doesn’t rise or fall on whether or not there was a literal phenomenon,” said Donald Juel, professor of New Testament theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. “There are all kinds of intriguing things, none of which depend on whether or not we can prove that there actually was a star.”

“What I do get joy out of is that I’ve gotten calls from people with strong beliefs,” Molnar said, “and they say that this has reconfirmed their faith.”

IR END BENEDICT