This chapter presents the process of the Christian theological inculturation of Christmas in Latin America and the Caribbean: the celebration of the birth of Christ—of God Incarnate. To this end, selected Catholic Christmas celebrations are examined, including the liturgy of the Mass and extra-liturgical observances such as dance, that manifest the influence of three distinct cultural traditions: European—principally Spanish and Portuguese—as well as the diverse and complex Indigenous and African expressions. These observances are first contextualized with the earliest instances of the celebration of the Christmas Mass and season in the so-called New World. Discernible components in Christmas festivities are then presented to demonstrate the presence of cultural blending and the pervasiveness of cultural accommodations. This chapter highlights the diversity of the inculturated celebrations of Christmas and the feast’s liturgical manifestations, and contends that these differences are rooted in the fact that enslaved Africans came from different regions of their continent, and that the Indigenous reflected a wide range of pre-contact American hemispheric populations. Indeed, a tremendous religio-cultural-linguistic compression resulted as various groups encountered and appropriated Christianity and its celebrations in distinctive ways. This study concludes by considering the impact of globalization, pluralization, secularization, and commercialization in Latin America and the Caribbean on the celebration of Christmas—an observance of the eternal and unchanging divine message of the Incarnation that continues to capture the imagination of many in this part of the globe, as they participate in traditional expressions of the theological meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ.
{"title":"Latin America and the Caribbean","authors":"D. Orique","doi":"10.18356/0f6c2c0a-en","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18356/0f6c2c0a-en","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter presents the process of the Christian theological inculturation of Christmas in Latin America and the Caribbean: the celebration of the birth of Christ—of God Incarnate. To this end, selected Catholic Christmas celebrations are examined, including the liturgy of the Mass and extra-liturgical observances such as dance, that manifest the influence of three distinct cultural traditions: European—principally Spanish and Portuguese—as well as the diverse and complex Indigenous and African expressions. These observances are first contextualized with the earliest instances of the celebration of the Christmas Mass and season in the so-called New World. Discernible components in Christmas festivities are then presented to demonstrate the presence of cultural blending and the pervasiveness of cultural accommodations. This chapter highlights the diversity of the inculturated celebrations of Christmas and the feast’s liturgical manifestations, and contends that these differences are rooted in the fact that enslaved Africans came from different regions of their continent, and that the Indigenous reflected a wide range of pre-contact American hemispheric populations. Indeed, a tremendous religio-cultural-linguistic compression resulted as various groups encountered and appropriated Christianity and its celebrations in distinctive ways. This study concludes by considering the impact of globalization, pluralization, secularization, and commercialization in Latin America and the Caribbean on the celebration of Christmas—an observance of the eternal and unchanging divine message of the Incarnation that continues to capture the imagination of many in this part of the globe, as they participate in traditional expressions of the theological meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"356 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115468530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.1
M. Bockmuehl, Evangeline Kozitza
This chapter examines several distinct strands in the New Testament’s reflection on Jesus’ Nativity: from the mystery surrounding his origins in the earliest Gospel, Mark, to the respective infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, to John’s mystical language of the Word’s origins, and non-narrative conceptions of Jesus’ coming into the world in Paul, other letter-writers, and Revelation. It argues that the slender ancient accounts of ‘Jesus becoming Jesus’ nonetheless offer a rich tapestry of insights on the Incarnation at the heart of Christmas. Brief engagement with the early reception of these texts in theology and apologetics, literary production and art, devotion and liturgy, lend significant support to this conclusion.
{"title":"The New Testament","authors":"M. Bockmuehl, Evangeline Kozitza","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.1","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines several distinct strands in the New Testament’s reflection on Jesus’ Nativity: from the mystery surrounding his origins in the earliest Gospel, Mark, to the respective infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke, to John’s mystical language of the Word’s origins, and non-narrative conceptions of Jesus’ coming into the world in Paul, other letter-writers, and Revelation. It argues that the slender ancient accounts of ‘Jesus becoming Jesus’ nonetheless offer a rich tapestry of insights on the Incarnation at the heart of Christmas. Brief engagement with the early reception of these texts in theology and apologetics, literary production and art, devotion and liturgy, lend significant support to this conclusion.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132153049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.10
A. McGowan
Worshippers at Catholic Christmas services may come seeking festivities focused on the infant Jesus but will find in the Scriptures proclaimed and the proper texts of the Christmas liturgies all-encompassing theological claims about salvation through an adult Christ who suffered, died, and rose from the dead. The official Christmas liturgies of the Roman rite were shaped by doctrinal concerns and historical circumstances. They emphasize a ‘holy exchange’ between divinity and humanity in Christ incarnate that opens a way for redemption accomplished historically, celebrated liturgically, and fully realized eschatologically. The celebration of Christmas in Roman Catholic worshipping communities involves situating Christ’s birth in the broader context of his death and Resurrection, negotiating the placement of paraliturgical and cultural customs that nourish the piety of the people and contextualize the feast, and preaching the Gospel in ways that inspire worshippers to become witnesses for Christ in the world.
{"title":"Roman Catholicism","authors":"A. McGowan","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.10","url":null,"abstract":"Worshippers at Catholic Christmas services may come seeking festivities focused on the infant Jesus but will find in the Scriptures proclaimed and the proper texts of the Christmas liturgies all-encompassing theological claims about salvation through an adult Christ who suffered, died, and rose from the dead. The official Christmas liturgies of the Roman rite were shaped by doctrinal concerns and historical circumstances. They emphasize a ‘holy exchange’ between divinity and humanity in Christ incarnate that opens a way for redemption accomplished historically, celebrated liturgically, and fully realized eschatologically. The celebration of Christmas in Roman Catholic worshipping communities involves situating Christ’s birth in the broader context of his death and Resurrection, negotiating the placement of paraliturgical and cultural customs that nourish the piety of the people and contextualize the feast, and preaching the Gospel in ways that inspire worshippers to become witnesses for Christ in the world.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"201 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114739657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.46
G. Bowler
As the most significant annual cultural event on the planet, it is inevitable that Christmas becomes entangled with social movements, religious arguments, nationalism, constitutional wrangling, and politics. In 1905 in New York City there was opposition from Jewish families to religious ceremonies in public schools at Christmas. After the Second World War, there was a series of court battles in the United States over the First Amendment and the separation of Church and State. The Christmas Tree, or Holiday Tree, and Santa Claus have been objected to in a variety of contexts and places. Special attention is given to concerns about Christmas in Communist and Muslim countries. This chapter examines these conflicts over the last century and concludes that culture wars will likely endure.
{"title":"Culture Wars","authors":"G. Bowler","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.46","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.46","url":null,"abstract":"As the most significant annual cultural event on the planet, it is inevitable that Christmas becomes entangled with social movements, religious arguments, nationalism, constitutional wrangling, and politics. In 1905 in New York City there was opposition from Jewish families to religious ceremonies in public schools at Christmas. After the Second World War, there was a series of court battles in the United States over the First Amendment and the separation of Church and State. The Christmas Tree, or Holiday Tree, and Santa Claus have been objected to in a variety of contexts and places. Special attention is given to concerns about Christmas in Communist and Muslim countries. This chapter examines these conflicts over the last century and concludes that culture wars will likely endure.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126123000","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.35
Nadine Cretin
At Christmas, European Catholics celebrate the Nativity, Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem. For almost all Europeans, believers or not, Christmas is a family feast. It takes place over the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere that gave rise in ancient Rome to the Saturnalia marked by large, domestic banquets. This would lead to the feast of Christmas, which combines both secular and sacred customs: the Nativity scene, the Christmas tree, lights, gifts, and bounteous meals. Many Catholics, otherwise practising or not, attend Midnight Mass on the evening of 24 December. Likewise, the devout do not ignore the commercial aspects and Santa’s gifts. This chapter will discuss what happens in contemporary Catholic Europe from the start of Advent up to the feast of Christmas and through Christmastide to Epiphany, looking at how it is observed at church, at home, and in public places where a display of the Nativity scene is not always well received in France.
{"title":"Catholic Europe","authors":"Nadine Cretin","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.35","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.35","url":null,"abstract":"At Christmas, European Catholics celebrate the Nativity, Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem. For almost all Europeans, believers or not, Christmas is a family feast. It takes place over the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere that gave rise in ancient Rome to the Saturnalia marked by large, domestic banquets. This would lead to the feast of Christmas, which combines both secular and sacred customs: the Nativity scene, the Christmas tree, lights, gifts, and bounteous meals. Many Catholics, otherwise practising or not, attend Midnight Mass on the evening of 24 December. Likewise, the devout do not ignore the commercial aspects and Santa’s gifts. This chapter will discuss what happens in contemporary Catholic Europe from the start of Advent up to the feast of Christmas and through Christmastide to Epiphany, looking at how it is observed at church, at home, and in public places where a display of the Nativity scene is not always well received in France.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132750443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.7
J. Barton
This chapter surveys the passages from the Old Testament that have traditionally been used in Christian churches in the Christmas season. It argues that sometimes these passages may have generated features in the Christmas story, and that their use is a reading of the Old Testament with the hindsight provided by Christian belief: some of the ‘prophecies’ of the coming of Jesus were not regarded as messianic before Christians began to read them in the light of their own distinctive beliefs, for example passages in Isaiah and Micah. The texts used in Christmas festivals were not taken over from contemporary Jewish reading of the Old Testament Scriptures.
{"title":"The Old Testament","authors":"J. Barton","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.7","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter surveys the passages from the Old Testament that have traditionally been used in Christian churches in the Christmas season. It argues that sometimes these passages may have generated features in the Christmas story, and that their use is a reading of the Old Testament with the hindsight provided by Christian belief: some of the ‘prophecies’ of the coming of Jesus were not regarded as messianic before Christians began to read them in the light of their own distinctive beliefs, for example passages in Isaiah and Micah. The texts used in Christmas festivals were not taken over from contemporary Jewish reading of the Old Testament Scriptures.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115511018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.6
Christopher Ferguson
During the twentieth century, Christmas became a truly global holiday. The spread of the holiday, however, produced conflicts regarding Christmas’s meaning and the way it was practised by different communities. As different peoples encountered a variety of Christmas traditions at local, national, and global levels, ambivalence emerged about the changes in customary observances such encounters potentially facilitated. The identification of Christmas traditions with specific national communities placed the holiday at the centre of the century’s nationalist politics, especially those of totalitarian regimes, as well as contributing to the experiences of the two world wars and the Cold War. Christmas’s increasing commercialization likewise raised concerns about whether it was becoming too secular. The disputed character of the holiday attests to the important role Christmas continued to play annually for a large swathe of the global populace as a holiday capable of producing a range of intense emotional responses.
{"title":"The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries","authors":"Christopher Ferguson","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.6","url":null,"abstract":"During the twentieth century, Christmas became a truly global holiday. The spread of the holiday, however, produced conflicts regarding Christmas’s meaning and the way it was practised by different communities. As different peoples encountered a variety of Christmas traditions at local, national, and global levels, ambivalence emerged about the changes in customary observances such encounters potentially facilitated. The identification of Christmas traditions with specific national communities placed the holiday at the centre of the century’s nationalist politics, especially those of totalitarian regimes, as well as contributing to the experiences of the two world wars and the Cold War. Christmas’s increasing commercialization likewise raised concerns about whether it was becoming too secular. The disputed character of the holiday attests to the important role Christmas continued to play annually for a large swathe of the global populace as a holiday capable of producing a range of intense emotional responses.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124854049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.25
M. Bunge
Even though children play a central role in Christmas traditions worldwide and have been members of Christian communities since the early Church, little scholarly attention has been paid to the vast and varied interconnections between children and Christmas. This chapter examines this theme by: 1) focusing on children’s active participation and, at times, central role in Christmas traditions, such as Advent rituals in the home and Nativity plays in the congregation; 2) exploring traditions in which both children and adults seek to address the urgent needs of children locally and around the world; and 3) highlighting ways in which Christians past and present have sought to attend to the spiritual formation of children and the meaning of Christmas amidst various obstacles and distractions. By exploring these three lines of inquiry and offering examples from world Christianity, including Ethiopian Orthodox traditions, the chapter demonstrates the central yet often neglected role of children in Christmas traditions and highlights the need for further research into the intimate connections between children and many other religious traditions.
{"title":"Children and Childhood","authors":"M. Bunge","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831464.013.25","url":null,"abstract":"Even though children play a central role in Christmas traditions worldwide and have been members of Christian communities since the early Church, little scholarly attention has been paid to the vast and varied interconnections between children and Christmas. This chapter examines this theme by: 1) focusing on children’s active participation and, at times, central role in Christmas traditions, such as Advent rituals in the home and Nativity plays in the congregation; 2) exploring traditions in which both children and adults seek to address the urgent needs of children locally and around the world; and 3) highlighting ways in which Christians past and present have sought to attend to the spiritual formation of children and the meaning of Christmas amidst various obstacles and distractions. By exploring these three lines of inquiry and offering examples from world Christianity, including Ethiopian Orthodox traditions, the chapter demonstrates the central yet often neglected role of children in Christmas traditions and highlights the need for further research into the intimate connections between children and many other religious traditions.","PeriodicalId":438330,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Christmas","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132165190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1163/1877-5888_rpp_com_13288
K. Stjerna
Christmas for Lutherans is a celebration of light and the birth of Jesus, the son of Mary. A mixture of medieval practices, pre-Christian customs, and ethnic preferences, the Lutheran Christmas includes festivals of lights, Christmas trees and hymns, ethnic foods, and liturgical services that rhythm the twelve days of the season. Christmas proclamation addresses the revelation of the good news for humanity found in the infant Jesus in the arms of his mother, Mary. The miracle of God’s Incarnation is interpreted in light of the cross and humanity’s needs for redemption and divine compassion. The humility of Christ’s birth is understood as an invitation to Christian life oriented with that compassion. The tradition of exchanging gifts at Christmas has a theological foundation in the gift of life given to humanity in Christ, and the invitation it extends to follow a Christian way of life with concern for the well-being of one’s neighbour. The sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther shaped many of the traditions that characterize Lutheran Christmases around the world theologically and liturgically. They also have some cultural customs with roots in Northern European climates. Musically, Luther also left a strong legacy in Christmas hymns, and Johann Sebastian Bach brought the Lutheran Christmas theology to church and homes beyond denominational and cultural borders.
对路德教徒来说，圣诞节是庆祝光明和玛利亚之子耶稣诞生的日子。路德会的圣诞节是中世纪习俗、前基督教习俗和民族偏好的混合体，包括彩灯节、圣诞树和赞美诗、民族食品和礼拜仪式，这些仪式以12天的季节为节奏。圣诞宣言讲述了在母亲玛利亚怀抱中的婴儿耶稣为人类带来的好消息。上帝道成肉身的奇迹是根据十字架和人类对救赎和神的怜悯的需要来解释的。基督降生的谦卑被理解为一种邀请，邀请我们进入以慈悲为导向的基督徒生活。在圣诞节交换礼物的传统有一个神学基础，那就是基督赐予人类生命的礼物，并邀请人们遵循基督徒的生活方式，关心邻居的福祉。16世纪的德国改革家马丁·路德在神学和礼拜仪式上塑造了世界各地路德派圣诞节的许多传统。他们也有一些源于北欧气候的文化习俗。在音乐方面，路德也在圣诞赞美诗中留下了深厚的遗产，约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫(Johann Sebastian Bach)超越了教派和文化的界限，将路德会的圣诞神学带到教堂和家庭。
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Pub Date : 2020-10-08DOI: 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_ref110130
Frances Clemson
This chapter discusses Christmas plays and playing in theatres and courts, streets and churches. As an embodied art form, dramatic performance is able to powerfully convey the central Christian doctrine that God was born into the world as a human being, the Word made flesh. The fleshiness of the dramatic form has made performances of the Nativity controversial at times. The chapter explores dramatic treatments of Christ’s birth, before turning to the festive and playful nature of the Christmas season. Christmas playing has often involved joyous interruptions to the regular routines and order of social life, such as in the Feast of Fools. In some plays, however, an outward appearance of festivity disguises a more troubling narrative. The chapter concludes by considering Christmas plays as ‘gathering time(s)’. Christmas brings people together; it also draws together memories of past celebrations and hopes for the future. The stage offers its own modes of gathering, for characters and audiences, to discover together what Christmas means to them.
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