In the style of the same provocative, engaging articles that have made the Spectator (U.K.) famous since its origin in 1828, the magazine gives us this Christmas survey of what a few interesting politicos and literati believe about the Virgin Birth of Jesus. I've only printed a portion of the answers below so I do encourage you to read through the article itself, but I have taken the liberty of adding a quick description to help those who do not readily recognize the names.Christmas is not just about shopping and flirting, eating and drinking, anger and remorse. It is also about the Incarnation. But how many people believe in the Christian story of Christmas, and how strong is their belief? To find out, The Spectator approached leading public figures in the Churches, in the arts and the media and in politics, and asked them: ‘Do you believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ?’ Here are their challenging — and sometimes surprising — answers.
Colin Wilson (prolific English writer whose novels and non-fiction alike dwell on the issues of human potential and existentialism):
No, of course I don’t, and I imagine you’ll have some difficulty finding any educated person who believes in it, or any other Christian dogma. Of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, only the third survives.
James Delingpole (British libertarian who writes on matters political and social):
Look, I’ve successfully survived 42 years as a member of the Church of England without ever having to give serious thought to the Virgin Birth and I jolly well don’t see why I should be put on the spot now just for the sake of a Speccie feature. I guess that makes me a ‘Don’t Know’, which is a terrible thing to admit given that I’m halfway towards being a pillar of my beloved Chelsea Old Church. But that’s the great thing about being C of E, isn’t it? If I were Catholic, I suppose I’d have to find the issue intensely important. Me, I care more about hymns having the right tunes, and the Prayer Book being 1662.
Ann Widdecombe (British Conservative Party politician, a prominent member of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, and author of several best-selling novels):
If Christ was also God, then he cannot have been born purely of humans, so his incarnation as a man must have been via a virgin. Thus I see no reason to doubt the testimony of scripture that Jesus was not the son of Joseph, but of God.
Christopher Howse (maverick reporter and columnist with the Daily Telegraph) (photo at left): I gladly believe Jesus was born of a virgin. The teaching is clear. It was believed in the earliest times, and was no more likely then. What tended to repel ancient pagans was God-made-man humiliatingly spending months in the womb. But that too Christians believe: he assumes our humanity, which he derives from his mother. The same person is pre-existent God and an individual little foetus. That is the great mystery which reconciles us to God and destroys sin and death. We only know about it because we were told, and we were told because, after dying on the cross, Jesus rose again and people saw him and listened to him. That is a more impressive miracle than mere parthenogenesis.
The Rev. Professor Keith Ward (theologian, professor, and ordained priest in the Church of England):
I do not believe in the Virgin Birth. The point of the Biblical account is to see Jesus as the start of a new creation, fulfilling the hopes of the ‘virgin Israel’. I do not dogmatically deny it, but think it probably legendary.
The Rev. Nicky Gumbel, Vicar, Holy Trinity, Bromptonborn (former atheist, lawyer, author, ordained Anglican priest, and the developer of the Alpha course, a basic introduction to Christianity supported by all the major Christian denominations) (photo at right):I do believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ. I believe Jesus is the unique Son of God. The Virgin Birth was a miracle. The real issue facing the world today is ‘Is there a God?’ If there is, then miracles become a real possibility. If God is God, then he created matter, reason, time, space and all scientific laws and therefore is at liberty to interfere. If there is no God, then miracles are a problem. But philosophy and science alone will not answer the crucial question. Scientific laws are not like the laws of pure mathematics that cannot be broken. Rather they are descriptive. Once I came to believe in the great miracle — that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us — I had no problem in believing in the Virgin Birth.
The Rt. Rev. Dr Michael J. Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester in the Church of England (Pakistani-born teacher and cleric):
Yes. The story is reported by both Matthew and Luke, who rely on independent traditions for their material. It is also echoed in other parts of the New Testament. There is good reason to believe that there was something very unusual about the birth of Jesus, even his enemies and detractors acknowledged this and early anti-Christian polemic had to find ways of dealing with it. Finally, there is, of course, the testimony of the Koran which relies on yet another stream of tradition! Quite a lot of evidence for the birth of a child, don’t you think?
Charles Moore (former editor of the Daily Telegraph, 1995–2003):
Jesus Christ was true God and true Man: the Virgin Birth is an obstetric statement of this fact.
Paul Johnson (British Roman Catholic journalist, historian, speechwriter, popular author, winner of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom) (shown at left):The Incarnation is the most delightful, human, visually beautiful and delicate of all Christian beliefs. The idea of God’s son coming to earth in the womb of a virgin, and being born in a manger, is beyond the power of any mortal imagination to invent and is so obviously true that anyone who denies it must have the feelings of a brute.
Three bishops were too busy to help The Spectator with its inquiries: The Rt Rev John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford; the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, Bishop of London; and the Most Rev Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. The following politicians did not respond to approaches made through their offices: the Prime Minister (who may have been too busy), Liam Fox, David Cameron, George Galloway and Tony Blair.
