The Very First Christmas
by Paul L. Maier
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Book Summary Information
Author: Paul L. MaierBrand: Spring Arbor/Ingram
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08-01
ISBN: 0758606168
Number of pages: 32
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
Book Reviews of The Very First Christmas
Book Review: An Outstanding Resource for Christian Families
Summary: 5 Stars
Paul Maier is a professor of Ancient History at Western Michigan University and the author of A Skeleton in God's Closet, a historical-theological thriller for adults. This book brings his formidable expertise to bear on the subject of the Nativity, presenting the story's historical validity at a grade school level.
The book opens in a bedtime scene with a mother putting her son to bed in their warm American farmhouse. He informs her that he is too old for fairy tales and wants to hear a "real" story. She opens the Bible and reads him the Christmas story, then answers his rapid-fire questions with historically verifiable supporting details. The boy drifts off to sleep reflecting that "real stories -- especially God's story -- [are] certainly better than fairy tales."
The parent-child dialogue structure is very common in books of this genre, and while the structure doesn't usually make for great stories, it does make it easy to present lots of information in manageable chunks. Maier does a good job formulating the boy's questions so that you can imagine a precocious young boy actually asking them, and his mother's answers (while occasionally academic) sound like the answers a well-researched parent might give.
If Maier's expertise were less respectable or his writing less skilled, the question-and-answer format might make this book dull and pedantic. However, his research shines through, earning this book the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's Gold Medallion Book Award in 1999. This an excellent resource for families who want to teach their children the historical validity of the Nativity story.
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