Article November 1, 1900 Issue

Has the Star of Bethlehem Reappeared?

New York Herald

Has the Star of Bethlehem appeared again? This is a query that comes from the West. A few nights ago, according to the Denver Republican, Mr. Daniel E. Parks, a well-known attorney of Denver and an enthusiastic astronomer, was sweeping the heavens with his telescope, when he came upon a new clestial body for which he could not account. It appeared from its formation, to be a glowing mass of hydrogen and nitrogen, and to be heading toward the earth. It was found between the constellations of Aries and Cassiopeia—that is, in the north of the heavens—about midnight. The Star of Bethlehem is supposed to have appeared in about the position of the star described by Mr. Parks.

Now, there are two theories as regards the Star of Bethlehem. Until recent years the interpretation of this phenomenon by theologians and believers generally coincided with the obvious facts of the Biblical narrative. The Star in the East which appeared to the Magi led them to the Saviour, and which was seen by the shepherds keeping their nightly watch on the plains near Bethlehem, was apparently miraculous. The whole matter was regarded as supernatural, forming a portion of that divine pre-arrangement whereby the Father acknowledged the Son.

But with many people a very different opinion has gradually become prevalent. The star has been displaced from the category of the supernatural and miraculous and has been referred to the ordinary astronomical phenomenon of a conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn.

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