In an interview with Simon Mayo on BBC Five Live on Wednesday, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Williams, cleared the confusion on some key details in the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, including his birth in a manger to the Virgin Mary.
When asked by Mayo, “the baby Jesus in a manger; historically and factually true?” the Archbishop replied, “I should think so…yes, he’s born in poor circumstances, slightly out of the ordinary.”
Regarding the accuracy of Mary being a virgin, Dr Williams said, “The two gospels that tell the story have the story of the virgin birth and that’s something I’m committed to as part of what I’ve inherited.”
Earlier in the month, Spectator asked the Archbishop and other prominent Christians Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Charles Moore, Ann Widdecombe and Jonathan Aitken if they believed in the Virgin Birth.
The survey asked them ‘Do you believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ?’ to which Dr Williams replied, “Yes; I believe that the conception of Jesus was a moment when the creative action of God produced a reality as new in its way as the first moment of creation itself.”
When asked by Mayo on Five Live just how important it was as a Christian to believe in the Virgin Birth, the Archbishop said it should not be regarded “as a kind of hurdle that people have to get over before they, you know, be signed up”.
“But I think quite a few people that as time goes on, they get a sense, a deeper sense of what the virgin birth is about,” he added. “I would say that of myself. About thirty years ago I might have said I wasn't too fussed about it - now I see it much more as dovetailing with the rest of what I believe about the story and yes.”
The Archbishop also remained untroubled by doubts over the use of the term ‘virgin’ to describe Mary at the time of the conception of Jesus, saying that it need not be regarded as a mistranslation.
