Advent Reflection - 1: Why Biblical Scholars Love Christmas!

“Christmas is coming,” the children cry out jubilantly. School is out and Santa is coming!

Which, in Australia, means it is time to sweep the deck on the back patio, get all the spiders off the outdoor furniture, clean out the BBQ, get the Futon out of the garage, because the “rellies” (i.e., relatives) are coming to town. Well, it is summer down under in December. This is why Americans in Australia tell me that an Aussie Christmas feels like 4th of July back home.

But Christmas time is here! Fun, feasting, festivities, and family frivolities are about to break upon us.

For me, this is when I love watching Colin Buchanan Christmas songs with a Christian and Aussie perspective. Here’s my favourite one: Christmas Scene Investigation!

But biblical scholars enjoy Christmas for several reasons, mainly because we get to explain to people the following:

• The very, very complicated Herodian dynasty.

• Roman taxation policy and absentee landlords in Galilee and Judea.

• The Greek word katalyma means “guest room” not “inn.”

• Latin words like Magnificat and Benedictus.

• The philosophy of Heraclitus about the Logos.

• The similarities between John 1:14-18 and Sirach 24.

• The meaning of the Hebrew word almah in Isa 7:14 and its Septuagintal translation as parthenos.

• The differences between prophecy, typology and allegory in Matthean intertextuality.

• Jesus was a refugee fleeing to Egypt like some contemporary people in Palestine right now!

• The nature of biblical prophecy and messianism in second temple Judaism.

• Greco-Roman stories about the births of Alexander the Great, Augustus, and Perseus.

• The differences between Wolfhart Pannenberg and Karl Barth on the birth of Jesus.

• Why Mary is called Theotokos and not simply Christotokos.

• How “Xmas” doesn’t take “Christ” out of “Christmas” but is basically a form of nomina sacra used in Christian scribal practices.

So, yeah, at Christmas, I feel like I earn my keep as a biblical scholar!

Advent greetings to everyone.