[Peace-discuss] The Christmas He Dreamed for All of Us

[John W.]

At 11:50 PM 12/22/2005, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

>I think it is, in regard to Xmas, at least in the sense that
>the early Xn movement purposely scheduled the celebration of
>Christ's birth at the time of the solstice festivals popular
>in the rather sophisticated urban culture of the first
>century. (E.g., Mithraism, popular in the Roman military, used
>sun symbols.)
>
>In the larger sense, the relation of Xy to the surrounding
>religious culture, which eventually came to be called pagan
>(lit., the religion of country-people), was much debated in
>the Xn writings of the first several centuries ('patristics'),
>In the period ca. 100-500 CE, Christianity worked its way up
>the social scale of Roman imperial civilization, which was a
>league of city-states of varying cultures. (The imperial court
>became Xn only in the course of the fourth century.)
>
>The culmination (and in some sense the conclusion, as the
>empire in the West gave way to 'barbarian' kingdoms) of this
>process came in the work of Augustine of Hippo (d. 430 CE),
>who thought that Xy should properly 'despoil the Egyptians':
>just as the Israelites had taken things of value as they
>escaped from Egypt, according to the book of Exodus, so Xy
>should take what was of value in classical culture.
>
>Xy has generally been syncretistic in that sense.  As one of
>the patristic writers put it, 'anima naturaliter christiana'
>-- human nature is naturally Christian -- and so should
>include what is best in human achievement.  It's been a
>popular sentiment: Karl Marx took as his motto a line from the
>Roman poet Terence, 'homo sum; nihil humanum alienum a me
>puto' -- 'Being human, I don't consider anything human foreign
>to me.'
>
>And Chesterton's ballad is a strange but interesting read.
>
>Merry Xmas, CGE


And there you have it.  Quid erat non disputandam.  Or something.  All 
praise to X this Xmas.



---- Original message ----
> >Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:05:41 -0600
> >From: Tracy Nectoux <tnectoux at uiuc.edu>
> >Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] The Christmas He Dreamed for All
>of Us
> >To: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> >
> >---- Original message ----
> >>Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 08:34:52 -0600
> >>From: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
> >
> >>
> >>   "...because it is only Christian men
> >>   Guard even heathen things."
> >>
> >>   --Chesterton, Ballad of the White Horse
> >
> >A beautiful quote.  But is it true?
> >
> >Peace,
> >Tracy