Navigated to Classic: The science behind Christmas: Mark Kidger & Gillian Straine and NT Wright

Classic: The science behind Christmas: Mark Kidger & Gillian Straine and NT Wright

Dec 23, 2025
1h 22m

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Episode Description

In a replay Christmas special Justin Brierley is joined by priest and physicist Revd Gillian Straine and agnostic astronomer Mark Kidger of the European Space Agency. They discuss the scientific theories for the star of Bethlehem, who the Magi were and how scientists reconcile the miracles of Christmas with science. And… cute kids alert! We hear the Christmas story retold by 6 and 7yr olds.

Towards the end of the show Justin also asks NT Wright whether we can trust the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke as historical.

For Gillian Straine: http://www.gillianstraine.com/
For Mark Kidger’s blogs on the Star of Bethlehem: https://openspacescience.blog/2017/12/01/star-of-bethlehem-reflections/ 
For a previous show on the Star of Bethlehem: https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable/Episodes/Unbelievable-The-Star-of-Bethlehem-Fact-or-Fiction-Colin-Nicholl-Aaron-Adair-Mark-Kidger 
For the Ask NT Wright Anything podcast: http://www.askntwright.com

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