Christmas: The Impact on Christianity

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 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. 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 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.

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. 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. 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.