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Title details for The First Christmas by Stephen Mitchell - Available

The First Christmas

by Stephen Mitchell
Stephen Mitchell
Audiobook
Listen to a sample Listen to a sample

"I love The First Christmas. What a charming way Stephen Mitchell has found to tell my favorite story of all, the Nativity, character by character (I love the donkey and the ox), with wise and thrilling interludes about God, reality, truth." –Anne Lamott

In The First Christmas, Stephen Mitchell brings the Nativity story to vivid life as never before. A narrative that is only sketched out in two Gospels becomes fully realized here with nuanced characters and a setting that reflects the culture of the time. Mitchell has suffused the birth of Jesus with a sense of beauty that will delight and astonish listeners.
In this version, we see the world through the eyes of a Whitmanesque ox and a visionary donkey, starry-eyed shepherds and Zen-like wise men, each of them providing a unique perspective on a scene that is, in Western culture, the central symbol for good tidings of great joy. Rather than superimposing later Christian concepts onto the Annunciation and Nativity scenes, he imagines Mary and Joseph experiencing the angelic message as a young Jewish woman and man living in the year 4 BCE might have experienced it, with terror, dismay, and ultimate acceptance. In this context, their yes becomes an act of great moral courage.
Listeners of every background will be enchanted by this startlingly beautiful reimagining of the Christmas tale.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Essentials

Expand title description text
Publisher: Macmillan Audio Edition: Unabridged

OverDrive Listen audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781250820778
  • File size: 114175 KB
  • Release date: November 9, 2021
  • Duration: 03:57:51

MP3 audiobook

  • ISBN: 9781250820778
  • File size: 114190 KB
  • Release date: November 9, 2021
  • Duration: 04:00:50
  • Number of parts: 4

Formats

OverDrive Listen audiobook
MP3 audiobook

subjects

Fiction Literature Christian Fiction

Languages

English

"I love The First Christmas. What a charming way Stephen Mitchell has found to tell my favorite story of all, the Nativity, character by character (I love the donkey and the ox), with wise and thrilling interludes about God, reality, truth." –Anne Lamott

In The First Christmas, Stephen Mitchell brings the Nativity story to vivid life as never before. A narrative that is only sketched out in two Gospels becomes fully realized here with nuanced characters and a setting that reflects the culture of the time. Mitchell has suffused the birth of Jesus with a sense of beauty that will delight and astonish listeners.
In this version, we see the world through the eyes of a Whitmanesque ox and a visionary donkey, starry-eyed shepherds and Zen-like wise men, each of them providing a unique perspective on a scene that is, in Western culture, the central symbol for good tidings of great joy. Rather than superimposing later Christian concepts onto the Annunciation and Nativity scenes, he imagines Mary and Joseph experiencing the angelic message as a young Jewish woman and man living in the year 4 BCE might have experienced it, with terror, dismay, and ultimate acceptance. In this context, their yes becomes an act of great moral courage.
Listeners of every background will be enchanted by this startlingly beautiful reimagining of the Christmas tale.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Essentials

Expand title description text
Fiction Literature Christian Fiction
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