Reconsidering the Nativity Story
The version of the nativity story most people know never appears in the Bible. Of the four Gospels, only two suggest anything special about Jesus’s birth, and the stories they tell are very different. Modern readers often come to these texts with purely historical interests—what really happened—but this may not have been the main interest of early Christians. In the ancient world, stories of miraculous births were common, as the original audience of the Gospels would have known. We’ll place the nativity stories within their cultural and literary context. Analyzing these texts provides a window into the thought-world of early Christians and the development of ideas about Jesus.
Daniel Ullucci
Instructor
Dan Ullucci received his BA from Boston University and PhD from Brown University. He has taught at numerous New England colleges and is currently Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass.
Dan's teaching focuses on the development of early Christianity and the interaction between early Christian groups and traditional Mediterranean religions. His research has focused on the ritual of animal sacrifice and the process by which some early Christian groups came to reject this practice. He is currently working on a monograph on the spread of Christianity focusing on how and why Roman elites shifted their charitable giving from traditional Roman venues like animal sacrifice to Christian churches.
Dan is a native of Rhode Island and has lived in Arlington for fourteen years.
Nativity Story
Instructors:
- Daniel Ullucci
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Wed, Dec 2nd 2026 | 7:00 - 8:30 PM | Arlington High School |
| Wed, Dec 9th 2026 | 7:00 - 8:30 PM | Arlington High School |