Pope Benedict XVI has finally completed his "trilogy" on the life of Jesus, publishing his "Prologue" to the other two books on Wednesday, November 21. The book got the usual misinformed media buzz that accompanies a lot of book releases, with news outlets saying that the Pope "declared there were no animals in the stable in Bethlehem and the birthday of Jesus was the result of the error of a Medieval monk."

No one who has even the vaguest notion of the history of Christianity would see any "news" in the statement that our numbering of years, the Anno Domini system, does not accurately reflect the year of Christ's birth. Different calculations have yielded various results, but based on the external situation described in the Gospels I have seen dates from 4 BC to 7 BC. Furthermore, the Pope never said that there weren't animals in Bethlehem, merely that the Gospels are silent on whether there were. He went on to say that there was symbolic meaning in having the "ox and ass" in the manger scenes and that, even if there were none present, the animals are useful symbols for Christians of the universality of Christ's message (representing Jews and Gentiles), and a possible interpretation of Habbakuk 3:2.

Having addressed the sensationalism that journalists may have attempted to whip up around the book, I can now turn to an actual review of what is an extremely short and fast read. Unlike the Pope's two main volumes on the life of Jesus, this book falls a bit flat because it contains less deep theology than the other two volumes. It does make for fun reading in the Christmas season, addressing the birth of Christ, the Star, the Magi, the Flight to Egypt and then, by way of an epilogue to this self-styled prologue, the incident where the 12-year-old Christ is found at the temple following Passover. Even so, it seems a bit hurried in its execution and ends quite abruptly, and many of the messages are, following the intent of the early chapters of the Gospel, filled with potential meaning and promise that will only find full development later in the life of Christ.

I read the German original (following my read, earlier this year, of the two main volumes), but it has been translated into English. It would probably make a decent Christmas present for religious-minded people. It is a bit short, though - it can probably be read by most people in a couple of hours.