The Nativity Story is only sketched out in two Gospels, but in the hands of translator Stephen Mitchell, it becomes fully realized with nuanced characters and a setting that reflects the culture of the time. Here are Mary and Joseph receiving the angelic message as a young Jewish woman and man living in the year 4 BC might have experienced it, with their ultimate acceptance becoming an act of great moral courage.

"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