The Birth of Christ | Biblical Series: The Gospels

About this clip

This is part of the curated Thought-Provoking Content and People collection on Face of Faith, voices, interviews and teachings that helped shape one person's journey into Christianity. If something here lands with you, explore more from Jordan B Peterson or dive into bite-sized faith snippets, real testimonies and why Christianity.

Reflection

The birth of Christ sits at the centre of the Christian story precisely because of its strangeness: God entering the world not through power or spectacle but through a vulnerable infant born to an unremarkable young woman in an occupied land. Jordan Peterson's biblical lecture series has approached these ancient narratives through the lens of psychology and archetype, treating them as carrying deep human significance whether or not every listener shares his theological conclusions. Luke's account gives the announcement first to shepherds, among the lowest in social status, a detail easy to skim past but rich with meaning about where God chooses to reveal himself. Reading familiar Christmas narratives through an unfamiliar analytical lens can restore some of their original strangeness, which repetition tends to erode over the years. The incarnation remains, on any reading, one of the most audacious claims in religious history: that the infinite chose to become finite and small.

Questions to sit with

• Why might God have chosen to reveal the birth of Christ first to shepherds rather than the powerful?
• How has familiarity with the Christmas story dulled its original strangeness for you?
• What does the vulnerability of the incarnation suggest about how God chooses to act in the world?