Christmas: The Impact on Christianity - Essay Example

152027 Christmas: The Impact on Christianity Introduction The Early Church and why it did not celebrate Christmas Surviving persecution and spreading the faith The affect of becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire Differences between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox The affect of the Reformation Modern day celebrations and secularisation Personal opinions / beliefs Conclusions Bibliography The following will debate and evaluate what Christmas means to Christians in today’s world. The Early Church ‘did not keep Christmas, but by the fourth century it was celebrated’.1 Christmas is one of the main Christian festivals and celebrations, which has been afforded varying degrees of importance by Christians throughout the centuries since Jesus Christ’s birth. Different Christian denominations have had different ideas as to the importance and the significance of Christmas; these ideas will be discussed and evaluated below. The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches have similarities and differences in their theology and rites concerning the celebration of Christmas.2 Those differences date back to the Reformation and even earlier, and possibly as far back as the Early Church itself. Differences in opinion over other theological matters have arguably had an influence over the beliefs that surround the celebration of Christmas and the things that are believed about the birth of Jesus Christ. Opinions of the importance of Christmas can vary between each and every Christian. Those that merely believe that Christmas is simply about the singing of Christmas carols and the giving of presents to friends and relatives are missing some of the most potent theological messages presented by the majority of Christian denominations as part of the Christmas celebrations. The over all objective of this piece of work is to present the impact that studying the celebration of Christmas upon Christianity has had on my own personal beliefs about Christmas and what it means to me. The best way to access the impact of Christmas on Christianity is to start with the evolution of the Early Church. All Christians logically believe or argue that Jesus Christ’s birth was highly important without necessarily agreeing about the degree of importance or significance of the Christmas celebration itself. The Early Church stressed the importance of Pentecost and Easter. The birth and childhood of Jesus Christ were just incidental to his death and resurrection, those showed his personal and religious significance for Christians and all the potential recruits to Christianity more than the nativity did.3 The Christmas story that has come down to the present day is heavily drawn from the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Luke, and Mark, with the gospel of John not mentioning the nativity at all. The synoptic gospels highlight ‘vital aspects of Jesus’s character’. Arguably character and the way in which Jesus died were originally regarded as being more important than how he was born.4 The nativity story was as far as the Early Church was concerned an important means of conveying the messages of Christianity to potential converts, especially amongst non-Jewish populations that had not been influenced by Jesus Christ’s teachings whilst he had been alive. The Early Church was particularly concerned about gaining Greek and Roman converts. The Early Church was interested in reaching Rome due its political importance and it being at the hub of a vast empire. Conversely the Early Church was also keen on forming theological concepts that would be accepted by Greek speakers as that was the language spoken and was culturally dominant in many areas of the eastern half of the Roman Empire.5 The Early Church believed that the nativity accounts in the gospels were useful in making the Christian faith attractive for potential converts. The beliefs that Jesus Christ was the Messiah not only for the Jews yet also for the gentiles were an essential part of Christian theology. The concept of the Virgin birth made Jesus Christ seen even more special, especially to those with a Hellenistic religious or philosophical outlook. The Hellenistic concepts of religion stated that the physical world was impure, with only the spiritual world being pure.6 The celebration of Christmas was not important for the members of the Early Church, celebrating the Eucharist and Easter took priority, as they were a means of maintaining morale during periods of persecution. The Early Church was subject to bouts of severe repression and persecution from the Roman authorities from the reign of Nero.7 Nero had found the Christians to be the perfect scapegoats when his own popularity had started to wane. Early Christians often did not have high income levels or important jobs so the best gifts they could offer each other at Christmas was their own company and the sharing of things between themselves.8 The custom of giving gifts started during this period yet a lack of wealth and the clandestine nature of the Early Church meant that the celebrations were out of necessity small in scale and muted in nature.9 Although Christians did not at first celebrate Christmas they did from an early stage donate gifts or money to the poor whenever they could do so. They did not always give gifts to their family and their friends, as only gifts to the poor ‘could earn their donor spiritual treasure in heaven’.10 Christmas was not intended to be an occasion for Christians publicly presenting expensive gifts to each other. Instead Christians were supposed to demonstrate humility that ‘belonged to something else, with the need for redemption as humans created by God’. 11 Being adopted as an official religion of the Roman Empire affected the ways in which Christmas was celebrated. In the Western part of the Roman Empire the date of the festival was moved from the 6 January to 25 December. That move was helpful in persuading people to convert to Christianity as it coincided with the pagan festival of Novum Invicti.12 However 6 January and 25 December were the two main days that were considered to be the date of the nativity, although there was no conclusive evidence of the exact day of the year that Jesus was born on. Evidence suggests that 25 December may have ‘already been identified by some in the third century, the first hard evidence for its use dates to the church of Rome in the 330s’.13 Some members of the Early Church set Christmas as 25 December as that fitted in with their opinion that Jesus had been ‘conceived and died on the same day of the year’. They believed that day was 25 March, or in other words exactly nine months before 25 December.14 The state of being an official religion greatly expanded the number of people that joined the Christian Church, bringing out festivals such as Christmas and Easter out into the open. The Early Church had managed to grow quickly when it was still a banned religion so its expansion after becoming an official religion was not a surprise. Christians caught during periods of persecution faced public trials in which the death sentence was invariably passed impressed many Romans even if they had not liked Christianity. Christians seemed immune to the threat of persecution.15 The Church also became wealthy as many of the rich and powerful joined and gave it funding to build churches and expand the priesthood. Losing the fear of persecution allowed the church to discuss its theological beliefs and doctrines in greater depth, though that was not necessarily a good thing for the unity of the church itself.16 Four councils settled theological issues within a century or so of Christianity becoming the official Roman religion even as the empire in the west crumbled. As well as producing the Nicene and Apostles creeds the Christmas festival was also refined during that period.17 Having different dates for celebrating Christmas was not a major cause of the theological disagreements between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches who have more in common over the way in which Christmas is celebrated. In both Churches Christmas meant that believers gave gifts and celebrated mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas day itself. The emphasis at these services was that Jesus Christ was God s gift to the world, including a mass in the service demonstrated that Jesus’ death was theologically more important than his birth. Rather the schism between Roman Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox churches was caused by the arguments of the priesthood and whether the Papacy held supremacy over all the Christian churches.18 The way in which Christmas was celebrated was changed by the consequences of the Reformation. Whilst the more moderate Protestant churches such as the Church of England and the Lutheran church did not greatly alter the festival more radical reformers sought to strip Christmas of its ceremony and remove the worst cases of Catholic idolatry as they viewed it. In some cases Catholic churches were stripped of their statues and images on Christmas Day itself, as happened in Danzig in 1525.19 Th Protestant Churches that emerged from the Reformation celebrated Christmas in different ways; some such as the Quakers did not even celebrate Christmas as a festival at all, although it is left to individual to decide if they mark the ceremony.20 The Republican regime that controlled Britain after the English Civil Wars even banned celebrating Christmas altogether as it considered some of the customs that were part of the celebrations were too sinful! However the banning of Christmas proved to be as short-lived as the abolition of the monarchy and the Church of England.21 It was the Protestant Churches that started the practice of singing Christmas carols. Martin Luther for instance was particularly keen about hymns being part of all church services, and also as a means of teaching congregations parts of the Bible by including passages in those hymns.22 The way that Christmas is celebrated now can be traced back to the nineteenth century, when the sending of cards, Christmas trees and decorations became popular. Such features as these were intended to make Christmas a special event for families and all Christian communities as a whole.23 All these ways of celebrating still maintain the religious significance of Christmas, that Jesus Christ was born to save humanity from its sinful nature and lead people towards salvation and peace upon earth. Although Christmas traditions have been maintained, for far too many people the true religious meaning of Christmas has been lost through increasing levels of commercialization and secularization. Whilst Christmas is seen as a time for families to get together it is about how much is spent on presents rather than the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth that is the most important thing for people to consider.24 Learning more about the celebrations and theological issues surrounding Christmas and its impact upon Christianity has helped develop my understanding of Christian faith. I believe that the many diverse opinions within Christianity should be welcomed and openly embraced. Christmas allows myself and every other Christian the opportunity to declare that Jesus Christ and his teachings are as relevant in today’s world as they were 2,000 years ago in the Holy Land. Christmas is the chance to celebrate God’s love for us as well as allowing us to share the peace of the Lord with Christians and non-Christians alike. The theological meanings linked with Christmas should be remembered throughout the festivities. Telling everybody about the love of God, and reminding them of the great things that Jesus did is as much a part of Christmas as cards, decorations, and Christmas trees. The singing of Christmas carols is a favourite aspect of Christmas for me personally, there a few better ways of spreading the Christian message at Christmas. Christmas is also special as you can show your appreciation of family, friends, fellow students, or work colleagues. Christmas is all about sharing the joys of life and making the world a better place. Perhaps the secularisation and commercialism of Western societies has deprived of the ability to immediately grasp the full message of Christmas yet it remains as an effective message as it ever was. In theological terms Christmas is still the third most important festival within Christianity behind Easter and Pentecost. In terms of impact it is probably the most well known and popular of the Christian festivals even in Christian countries whose societies have been heavily influenced by commercialization and secularization. Christmas is still widely regarded as being an opportunity to express friendship and good will to everybody whether they are Christians or not. Christmas is a chance to share the ideas that Jesus taught, such as love, respect, charity, and goodwill to all people across the world. Christmas is a time to celebrate Jesus’ birth and to begin to work towards making the world a better place. Bibliography Davidson I J The Monarch History of the Church – The Birth of the Church, from Jesus to Constantine AD 30-312 volume one, Monarch Books, Oxford and Michigan (2005) Fernandez-Arnesto, F & Wilson D, Reformation - Christianity and the World 1500-2000, Bantam Press, London, New York, Toronto, Sydney, and Auckland (1996) Lane Fox R, The Classical World – An Epic History of Greece and Rome, Penguin, London and New York (2005) MacCulloch D, Reformation – Europe’s House Divided, Penguin Books, London and New York (2004) Vale B, A History of the Church of England 1529 – 1662, only available online from authorsonline.co.uk (2006) Walsh M, Roman Catholicism – the basics, Routledge, London and New York Warrier S & Walse J G, (2001) Dates and Meaning of Religious and other Multi- Ethnic Festivals, Foulsham educational, London, New York, Toronto, and Sydney (2005) Read More