Wikipedia:Main Page history/2013 December 25

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From today's featured article

Jesus (7–2 BC to 30–33 AD) is the central figure of Christianity, whom the teachings of most Christian denominations hold to be the Son of God and the awaited Messiah of the Old Testament. Virtually all modern scholars of antiquity agree that a historical Jesus existed, although there is little agreement on the reliability of the gospel narratives and how closely the biblical Jesus reflects the historical Jesus. Most scholars agree that Jesus was a Jewish preacher from Galilee, was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate. Christians generally believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, performed miracles, founded the Church, died by crucifixion as a sacrifice to achieve atonement, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, from which he will return. The great majority of Christians worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, the second of three Persons of a Divine Trinity. A few Christian groups reject Trinitarianism, wholly or partly, as non-scriptural. In Islam, Jesus is considered one of God's important prophets and the Messiah. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the world's largest gingerbread house (example pictured) had edible walls and measured 2,520 square feet (234 m²)?
... that Andrew Lusk Shields tried to persuade Major General Christopher Maltby to surrender Hong Kong, but he fought on until "Black Christmas" 1941?
... that arctic or snowy wood-rush has been described as one of the most ecologically important of all arctic plants?
... that Sondre Bratland's Christmas album Rosa frå Betlehem was recorded in the Church of the Nativity?
... that in 1670, agents of Cosimo III tried to buy the Adoration of the Magi by Veronese by bribing every member of the Venetian confraternity that had commissioned it?
... that composer Heinrich Schütz published only the recitatives of his Christmas Story and offered the other music for sale on request?
... that the Laura Seddon Greeting Card Collection includes Britain's first commercially produced Christmas card?

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In the news

Pioneering British computer scientist and code breaker Alan Turing, convicted of gross indecency for homosexual activity in 1952, is granted a posthumous royal pardon.
After the pardoning of businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky (pictured), an amnesty law in Russia leads to the release of thousands of prisoners, including two members of Pussy Riot, and the dropping of charges against participants in a Greenpeace protest.
In handball, the World Women's Championship concludes with Brazil defeating Serbia in the final.
Amidst fears of civil war, the South Sudan Liberation Army captures Bor.
ESA's Gaia space observatory is launched to compile a catalogue of astronomical objects.
A new species of tapir, Tapirus kabomani, is identified in the Amazon.

Recent deaths: Mikhail Kalashnikov – David Coleman – Ronnie Biggs

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On this day...

December 25: Christmas Day (Gregorian calendar); Quaid-e-Azam Day (Pakistan)

1066 – Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, although he still faced rebellions over the following years and was not secure on his throne until after 1072.
1809 – American physician Ephraim McDowell performed the world's first removal of an ovarian tumor.
1927 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought Vietnamese independence from French colonial rule, was formed in Hanoi.
1991 – In a nationally televised speech, Mikhail Gorbachev (pictured) resigned as President of the Soviet Union.
2009 – The 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral in Longford, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands, was destroyed by fire.

More anniversaries: December 24 – December 25 – December 26

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It is now December 25, 2013 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

"The Lamb" is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence and of Experience in 1789. In the first stanza, the speaker asks the lamb – considered a pure and gentle creature – who his creator is. In the second stanza, comparisons are made between the lamb and the infant Jesus, as well as between the lamb and the speaker's soul. In the last two lines the speaker identifies the lamb's creator as God.

Illustration: William Blake; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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