Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but why Bethlehem? Why should God purpose to become man somewhere so marginal, so insignificant? This book follows the unfolding story of Bethlehem through the Bible, from the death of Rachel to the birth of Jesus, uniquely combining four perspectives: a) the Bible as one developing story, b) the Bible as a Middle Eastern book, c) insights from contemporary Palestinians from Bethlehem, and d) what this means for mission. Suffering Rachel, refugee Rahab, vulnerable Ruth, overlooked David all have a connection with Bethlehem. If Bethlehem shelters refugees, then so must we. If Bethlehem welcomes strangers, so must we. If Bethlehem weeps at injustice, and takes a stand against empire, so must we. What we see in Bethlehem’s story, we apply to our own stories. We enter into Bethlehem’s story with as much cultural and geographical colour and flavour as we can muster in order to feel the crises, taste the dust, hear the lambs bleating on the hillside. And there we find the Christ-child, son of David, the Good Shepherd, Lion of Judah, Bread of Life, Lamb of God, fulfilling all the recurring themes, taking his inevitable place as rightful king.

Chirp is a young cricket living in a manger in Bethlehem. His life changes when the mice twins, Scamp and Scurry, bring news of a new star. Now Chirp and his friends set out on an adventure to discover the star. Chirps life changes dramatically after two major events in the manger. Come along on their journey.

Also included is a brief history by Lance Metz, the historian of the National Canal Museum and the foremost authority on the history of the plant."--BOOK JACKET.

Fifteen-year-old Dyrus lives with his parents and grandparents in the Persian Empire during the time of Christ's birth, circa 4 BC. He's a shepherd boy, and his father's only dream is for his son to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately, Dyrus has other dreams. Even while doing his chores as a shepherd, Dyrus's thoughts often turn heavenward. He's impressed with the sky and full of questions about the world around him. But while on a wolf hunt with his father one night, he spots a special star that he's never seen before. Unable to convince his parents of the star's importance, Dyrus becomes frustrated. Until one of the king's wise men and a caravan of soldiers come to camp in the valley where Dyrus lives. They've come to view the star from the mountain near Dyrus's home. Despite his father's insistence that he shouldn't bother the wise man, Dyrus peppers him with questions about the star. Before he knows it Dyrus is caught up in a search to find the meaning of the star and his life is changed forever. Every child knows the nativity story, but what few know is the story behind the wise men. What motivated the wise men to form a caravan and travel hundreds of miles to Jerusalem with only the star as their guide? New author Victor Ammann brings a new twist to provide an answer to these questions in A Shepherd Boy and the Bethlehem Star.

The Moravians who settled Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1742 were committed to a society centered around missionary work. To free their missionaries from the need to earn a living, they formed a communal economic organization in which all workers gave their labor to the community in exchange for food, shelter, and clothing. To encourage each individual's religious development, family ties were deemphasized and members of the same sex, marital status, and age slept, worked, and worshipped together. After 20 years, the worldwide Moravian Church, facing a financial crisis, ordered Bethlehem to reorganize into a traditional community of nuclear families. It was hoped that, under this more conventional arrangement, Bethlehem could be expected to help pay the huge debts of the parent church. In The Transformation of Moravian Bethlehem, Beverly Prior Smaby traces the effects of this change on Bethlehem's Moravians, demonstrating how it altered even the most intimate aspects of their lives. She analyzes the unusually accurate marriage, birth, death, migration, and census records to assess the demographic response to institutional change. She traces change in cultural norms through unique technical analyses of biographies which were read at a variety of Moravian gatherings. Within 100 years, Smaby asserts, Bethlehem grew from an egalitarian communal society of symbolic Brothers and Sisters into a privatized community of socially stratified families whose cultural ideal was no longer religious service but usefulness to family and society. Scholars of American history and folk life will find this book a valuable addition to literature on community history, social change, and historical methods. Church historians will benefit from its in-depth study of secularization on a personal level, and it will be of keen interest to members of the Moravian Church.

"[Bethlehem] brings within reach 11,000 years of history, centering on the beloved town's unique place in the world. Blincoe's love of Bethlehem is compelling, even as he does not shy away from the complexities of its chronicle." -- President Jimmy Carter Bethlehem is so suffused with history and myth that it feels like an unreal city even to those who call it home. For many, Bethlehem remains the little town at the edge of the desert described in Biblical accounts. Today, the city is hemmed in by a wall and surrounded by forty-one Israeli settlements and hostile settlers and soldiers. Nicholas Blincoe tells the town's history through the visceral experience of living there, taking readers through its stone streets and desert wadis, its monasteries, aqueducts, and orchards to show the city from every angle and era. His portrait of Bethlehem sheds light on one of the world's most intractable political problems, and he maintains that if the long thread winding back to the city's ancient past is severed, the chances of an end to the Palestine-Israel conflict will be lost with it.