Loading...The Twelve Days of Christmas! I’d like to honor the tradition by giving twelve of my favorite Christmas-themed posts over lo these many years the blog has been in existence. I am not ranking them in any particular way as a countdown to my #1 favorite, much as the famous English Christmas Carol itself. Speaking personally, I’d prefer “five golden rings” both to what came earlier (say, “three French hens) and to what came later (what am I going to do with “ten lords a leaping”?). They are just the twelve.
And here’s the first, from 2012.
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Right now I have the Christmas on my mind — as makes sense this time of year. But I have some other reasons. First, I have agreed to write a brief (2000-word) article for Newsweek this week [December 2012], to be published in a couple of weeks, about the birth of Jesus, and this has made me think about the other Gospels (from outside the New Testament) that tell alternative accounts of Jesus’ birth and young life.
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Do you think Revelation 12 is meant to indicate certain astrological events that happened around Jesus’s birth?
Similarly, do you think it’s possible that in Isaiah 7, when the Lord tells king Ahaz to ask for a sign as high as heaven for when they will be delivered from their enemies, and the Lord tells him that the sign will be a virgin/maiden pregnant and will give birth to “God with Us” that perhaps this was referring to something like Jupiter passing through the constellation of Virgo which will be followed by the “birth” of Libra (the scales of Justice)- and perhaps that’s what the Magi were looking for?
And if so, and if all these astrological events really did align with the birth of Jesus, just maybe we could identify around the time of his birth?
I don’t think the author of Revelation was interested in the birth of Jesus as a historical event; at least nothing in the text suggests so to me. He was interested in cosmic and incarnational issues. And no, I don’t see any indicaitons in Isaiah 7 of astronomical interests. If it did have those interests, it would not help us know anything about thd date of someone’s birth 700 years later, in my view.
,,and you’re right,,,,,,,, in a way. Still, I can’t help to be able to fall in sleep with the feeling , to let this story (stories) stand—reshape it perhaps—not as a historical account but as a powerful symbol. For me I can still see it as a symbol of hope, renewal, and the emergence of light in darkness. Stories like this, rich in symbolic meaning, flourished during that time, and even in the Greek philosophical narratives. So,, why not let it inspire us as the birth of something divine, maybe even a spark of conssciousness within us? The star becomes a beacon of higher guidance, and even Herod, in his resistance, can reflect the inner struggle we face against awakening to something greater.
Beyond its historical concept,,, this story have the capasity to convey a concept, a metaphor for the potential of change, even the humbel and simplistic and problematic beginning, and the promise of light. Despite its, yeah,, “mythical” elements and the inconsistencies in the narratives, I can still can if I wish, find meaning—perhaps even a glimpse into the author’s mind—and embrace it as a sorce of insparation and understanding.
,,,,,,,,,,,when I wake up,,perhaps I will be puzzeled,,,,,
I want to suggest that the virgin birth wasn’t originally in Matthew, i.e. that Matt 1:18-25 is a later addition to Matthew (and perhaps also the references to the women in the genealogy). After all, if Jesus was God’s biological son and not Joseph’s, then why do Joseph’s genealogy and Davidian ancestry matter? It makes much more sense if Jesus was Joseph’s biological son, and God’s son in sense of being king and beloved by God, etc. I don’t buy the idea that Jesus was adopted by Joseph, for this must diminish the significance of the ancestry and the genealogy a lot.
I believe that either Matthew himself or some later person added the virgin birth verses. If it was Matthew himself, he might have heard of the virgin birth after he wrote his original version, and wanted to incorporate that in a new version. If it was somebody else, that person heard about the virgin birth and wanted to incorporate that in Matthew, added the verses and tried to imitate Matthew’s style, knowing of his habit to quote scripture, etc. It couldn’t have been so hard.
I’m surprised to see you repeate the story of the 25th being chosen because of Saturnalia. My understanding is that, though the 25th was chosen for historically poor reasons, the story about Saturnalia had been pretty well discredited. Do you still subscribe to that explanation?
It’s not a hill I’m willing to die on. But it seems reasonably compelling to me, as much as the alternatives. It does seem to explain a lot of things.
I have no problem saying that midwinter (December though early January), as a season, had a long history of being a time of merry-making and festivity–the Holiday Season as we might say (in Rome, this period would have included not only Saturnalia but also the Kalends, and depending on the time and place, other feasts besides). I suppose it seems a bit reductive.
I also have no issue thinking that the winter solstice was seen, both by pagans and Christians of the 3rd and 4th centuries, as having a cosmic significance.
And I see no problem in thinking that these factors together played into the selection of Dec. 25th as the date of Christmas.
I do, however, struggle to see how Saturnalia taken alone explains why the Christians selected the 25th specifically, if for no other reason than that Saturnalia–so far as I have been able to find–never extended as late as the 25th (on the Julian calendar, it started on the 17th and, at its longest, lasted 7 days ending on the 23rd).
Per your suggestion, I bought Angel’s Envy Bourbon. It’s quite good. Thanks for your suggestion.
Glad to be of help!