Nativity of Jesus

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The Nativity or birth of Jesus is found in the biblical gospels of Matthew and Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, that his mother, Mary, was engaged to a man named Joseph, who was descended from King David and was not his biological father, and that his birth was caused by divine intervention. Many contemporary scholars do not see the Nativity stories as historically factual, regarding them as laced with theology and presenting two different accounts and genealogies, though they are considered to contain some useful biographical information concerning Jesus's birth during the reign of Augustus and his father's name. Some traditional scholars have maintained the historicity of the narratives. Matthew's account of the appearance of an angel to Joseph, the wise men from the East, the massacre of the innocents, and the flight to Egypt, do not appear in Luke, which instead describes the appearance of an angel to Mary, the census; the birth in a manger, and...

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