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The Christmas Controversy

Author: Dwight A. Pryor


CHRISTMAS CAN BE an emotionally charged time for believer! ome becaue they
are o moved by the comic ignificance of Meiah" birth! other becaue they are o
offended by eemingly #agan element in traditional celebration$
Among the firt thing Chritian learn to cherih %hen dicovering the &e%ih root of
their faith are the divinely a##ointed biblical 'eat$ Corre#ondingly! among the firt
thing they begin to vie% %ith u#icion are the traditional holiday of Chritma and
Eater$
(hy they %onder did the Church fora)e the *a##ointed time of the +ord!, o #iritually
rich and full of meianic im#lication! and intitute intead t%o holiday that eem to
connect hitorically to the diolute Roman %inter-oltice fetival of Saturnalia and to
#agan fertility rite of #ring. (hat do bedec)ed tree and bunny rabbit have to do %ith
Meiah" birth and hi reurrection.
'eeling on both ide of thi iue can be heated! even hotile$ A common charge i that
Chritma tree #arta)e of the idolatry #o)en of in &eremiah /0:/-1$ 2ne critic even
claim that %hen %e ing the traditional carol *Noel, %e actually are declaring that there
i *no 3od, 4no Elohim5$ And that *Santa, i really 6ut a diguied form of *Satan,
4%ith the letter tran#oed57
2n the other ide are the traditionalit %ho treaure the Chritma holiday 8 and all that
it mean for their family! their community! and their relationhi# to 3od 8 %ho get
highly defenive about uch criticim$ They feel that to re6ect Chritma i tantamount to
re6ecting &eu and diminihing if not outright denying hi incarnation$
Actually the iue are far more com#le9 than uually ac)no%ledged in #olemical
e9change$ So the firt te# in orting out the Chritma controvery i to become better
informed about the fact and the varying inter#retation thereof$ 2ne reource i a lecture
I gave on the ub6ect! conidered both hitorically and #iritually! available at
6ctudie$com: ChristmasHalleluyah! Praise or Bah Humbug! Paganism?.
HERE ARE ome factor to conider$
The birth date of &eu of Na:areth i not mentioned in the Bible and remain
un)no%n$ The one thing cholar agree on i that it %a not on ;< =ecember at
the beginning of the #reent era$ 4More li)ely i a date bet%een > and 1 BC$5
Ancient &e%ih tradition did not commemorate birthday! conidering it a #agan
cutom$ Indeed the only birthday mentioned in the Bible are thoe of ?haraoh
43en 10:;05 and Herod 4Mat /1:>5$
It %a nearly 100 hundred year after hi birth that the celebration of Chrit"
nativity on ;< =ecember became %ide#read in the (etern 4Roman5 Church$
The Church in &erualem remained one of the lat holdout! until the mid-i9th
century$
The Church 'ather" em#hai u#on the 'etival of the Nativity in the fourth
century %a not unrelated to their effort: /5 to counter the #ervaive and #o#ular
#aganim of the Roman Saturnalia fetivitie! and ;5 to reinforce in the #ublic"
mind the ignificance of the Incarnation of the Son of 3od! contra the %idely held
Arian herey$
=ra%ing attention to the Nativity of the Meiah i biblical 4both Matthe% and
+u)e do o5$ The festival of the Nativity i #ot-biblical 4coming centurie after
Chrit" birth5 and from the beginning ha had it detractor 4e$g$! the ?uritan5$
*?ot-biblical, doe not automatically mean *anti-biblical$, Hanu))ah i a
rabbinic! #ot-2ld Tetament fetival baed on an hitoric event in &e%ih hitory!
yet one %hich &eu himelf honored 4&ohn /0:;;-;@5$
The Bible i o##oed to idolatry but not to the ue of image$ A ?aover seder
for e9am#le i re#lete %ith memorable and #iritually meaningful image$
Symbol are im#ortant and #o%erful but they are not magical$ (e need not fear
them$ Their meaning and influence are related to the circumtance and the
intentionality of the individual or community uing them! and therefore can
change over time$
ABy all mean! Chritian hould re6oice over Meiah" birth$ And %hen it come
to the 'etival of the Nativity 4Chritma5! be re#ectful of differing vie%#oint!
and creative and cautiou in ho% you celebrate$ =on"t let a materialitic culture
dictate ho% you honor a holy and altogether 6oyou occaion: For unto you is
born this day a !avior" #ho is Christ the $ord!
B ;0/1 The Center for &udaic-Chritian Studie$
All right reerved$

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