The Star That Astonished the World : Star of Bethl Ernest L Martin

From the introduction:”This book seeks to identify the Star of Bethlehem mentioned in the New Testament. This is not religious book. It is a book of science and history to demonstrate what was the star that led the Wise Men to Bethlehem. The new evidence that is given will make the story of the Nativity a much more reasonable and interesting account than most historical narratives have provided up to now. …Since the introduction of computers in the study of astronomical phenomena that occurred within past history, great strides have been made in the past twenty years in determining the actual chronology of those historical events of the past. These facilities were not available to earlier historians and theologians trying to determine what the Star of Bethlehem really was. That is why this new evidence, that comes from up-to-date scientific evaluations, has made it much easier to find the “star” that led the Wise Men to the infant Jesus. The identification of the Bethlehem Star is an event that astronomy can provide. This book gives the historical and biblical evidence (along with the astronomical) that makes the identification possible.There is one thing for certain. The astronomical and historical information given in this book make the period of Jesus’ nativity come alive as never before. Whether people today wish to view these planetary/stellar events (that I present in this book) from the early Roman, Mesopotamian or a Palestinian perspective, or even from a modern secular one, we now have clean evidence that there was once (at the very beginning of our era) a unique appearance of a magnificent “Star that Astonished the World.”” (less)