The Return of the Star of Bethlehem

by Kenneth D. Boa, William Proctor

For two millennia men have been fascinated by the story of the Wise Men who followed a star that led them to the infant Jesus. But what was the star, and where did it come from? Was it the same exploding star that Chinese astronomers reported seeing at approximately the time of Christ? Was it a comet? All these theories, and more, are discussed thoroughly in this book. Although there many different theories on the Star everyone seems to agree on at least one Nearly two thousand years ago, something incredible happened in the heavens. 205 pages, 5 3/4 x 8 1/2".

215 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Kenneth Boa is an author, a speaker, and the president of Reflections Ministries. He is the author of over fifty books, including Conformed to His Image, Faith Has Its Reasons, Face to Face, and Rewriting Your Broken Story. He is a contributing editor to the Open Bible, the Promise Keepers Men's Study Bible, and the Leadership Bible, and is the consulting editor of the Zondervan NASB Study Bible.

Boa earned a BS from Case Institute of Technology, a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary, a PhD from New York University, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford. He teaches a weekly Bible and Faith study at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where he resides with his wife.

Reviews

[Lindsay]

Where do I even start with a review of this book? I only read it because it claimed to be a scientific look at the possibilities for the star of Bethlehem. I should have known better.

I'm not hiding this review because of spoilers because I think it's important for people who might want to read this book to see it. So here's your warning:

**SPOILER ALERT**
First of all, the authors conclude that nothing "natural" could have fit the description and thus the star was really God/angel/some-other-name, and the last 3rd of the book is a sermon on how to live a "Christian" life, etc. Thus, the book is yet another religious text dressed up in badly written scientific facade.

Second, the book is full of logical fallacies and plain bad reasoning. For instance, the authors assume that because the Bible does not mention that anyone else saw the "star" then either 1) it was visible to only the wise men, i.e. supernatural, or 2) it was an obscure celestial event that normal people wouldn't have noticed. But then when trying to logically dismiss any form of celestial event, they claim that normal people would have known about celestial movements and therefore it couldn't be such a phenomenon. Which is it? In another example, they dismiss anything that could have had a negative interpretation such as comets (which were seen as bad omens) in spite of mentioning several times that such events were seen as positive. They even admit that angels and such often brought about fear (e.g. the shepherds were afraid), but that doesn't seem to pose a problem for their logic.

This book doesn't even deserve 1 star, but I can't give a zero. I would not recommend this book to anyone ever. It's not that it's out of date. It's the fact that most FICTION books use better logic and reasoning that these crappy authors. Doesn't deserve a place on anyone's bookshelf even if you're a Christian. If God created us, then that means he also created our minds and our intelligence. Thus, I conclude he meant us to use them and not throw them away on trash like this. I have to assume that the authors had good intentions but really weren't that smart. The only other option is that they had malicious intentions when writing this, in order to deceive the less intelligent. Either way, the book is a mess and you shouldn't waste your time.

[Geoff Steele]

-Meteoroids, Meteors, Meteorites. Object in space; earth’s atmosphere; and any particles that don’t get burned up and make it to the earth surface.
-King Herod probably died 4 BC.
-The star likely wasn’t a spectacular event that everyone would notice, the wise man were observing the heavens and came to the conclusion of the star being a sign from the savior
-The wise men were probably from Persia, maybe Zoroastrians, looking for the’ Sossiah’, the savoir in this particular religion. Other remote possibilities briefly discussed in the book: Indians, Arabs, Chaldeans,
-One particular scientist suggested the Star was Mars, a significant planet in Jewish culture
-Author’s explanation is that the “star” of Bethlehem was not a star, but a appearance of God, a supernatural event, like the cloud of fire that guided the children of Israel during the exodus.
-tangent into UFO’s being demons. Too much speculation, and really shows the age of this book. Written in the 1980’s when UFO sightings was a common theme being reported by the media.

[Jeff]

I like this sort of crack pot, tin-foil hat wearing stuff, UFOs as demonic manifestations and whatnot. But add to that faulty research and mis-truths. ... I set the bar low for stuff like this, but this one still fails.