Busted Halo
Loading

googling god
The Busted Halo Question Box
Ask our spiritual experts virtually anything!
This is the place where you can ask all of those burning questions that you wouldn't dare ask in person. We will post questions here (using your byline only with permission); we guarantee an answer to everyone.

Have your own question? Then pitch it to us!

Fr. Tom Ryan
Ecumenical and interfaith
Neela Kale
Culture, ethics and Catholic basics
Mike Hayes
General
Ann Naffziger, M.A., M.Div.
Scripture
Charles C. Camosy, PhD
Medical ethics
Caitlin Kennell Kim
Mary
  • (1)
Our readers asked:

What exactly are “swaddling clothes”?

Ann Naffziger Answers:

“Swaddling clothes” can also be translated as “cloth strips,” “bands of cloth” or even “rags.” It is likely Mary and Joseph used what little they had on hand at the end of an unanticipated 70 mile trip to Bethlehem that would have taken them several days to a week to walk. This is one of several details in Luke’s Gospel that suggest Mary and Joseph were poor parents bringing a child into the world in a tenuous situation. (Luke 2:1-24)

  • (1)
The Author : Ann Naffziger
Ann Naffziger is a scripture instructor and spiritual director in the San Francisco Bay area. She has has written articles on spirituality and theology for various national magazines and edited several books on the Hebrew Scriptures.
See more articles by (76).
  • Domingo

    Poor parents? Indeed. Why didn’t they have medical insurance? And, what were they doing living in such a bad area, with poor services, infrastructure and a volatile political situation! What were they thinking?
powered by the Paulists