Road Trippin With Rachael

What is Historical Theology

Historical Theology is where we look at how our theology has developed since the inception of the Church. It’s the practical side of theology, and how that informs our beliefs – the outworkings of theology. 

Much of historical theology plays a role in how we understand the principles that we get from scripture. For example, let’s consider the sacrificial system from Exodus and Leviticus. Needless to say, we no longer live in the culture of the Old Testament, and since we are now in the era of the church, we no longer need to have the sacrificial system. However, that doesn’t mean that we need to write everything off as there are still principles to be learned. While I was in seminary I wrote a whole paper on the place of the Law in the life of the Christian – obviously, I think Exodus and Leviticus are still important. It is not important because we need to offer sacrifices throughout the year, but because it reminds us of our need for God – that we are not perfect, and that we God is still God and there is a way to approach him. If you’ve been following me the last few years on YouTube I’ve talked about how we need to have an attitude of worship – we get that from Exodus and Leviticus. 

However, we aren’t here for me to talk about the place of the Law in the life of the Christian, we’re here because this is an Advent Blog – the last one before Christmas!

Why December?

There are always naysayers who argue about the date of Christmas. Yes, yes – Jesus was probably born in some other month. However! One of the things that is fascinating about Christianity as  both a social and cultural movement has been its ability to adapt to the culture who is receiving it.  Although principles remain the same the outside traps will often change. An example would be to look at Catholicism in Ireland and then in Mexico – it’s the same outworking of the faith, but it looks different because of the cultural distinctives. 

Similarly, during the early days of Christianity before it was a legal religion in the Roman Empire, Christians adopted pagan holiday dates, and replaced them with celebrations revolving around the life of Christ. Hence, Christmas begins in December.  December 25th was a day to celebrate a pagan god’s birthday. Since it was already widely celebrated and was a part of the wider culture, choosing to replace the reasons for the celebration with one connected to Christianity. Another way to look at it is instead of replacing the symbol, early Christians replaced the meaning of the symbol.  (A more obvious example of this would be the cross. Modern Christians see it as a sign of what God has done – ancient Romans would have seen a gallows). 

Replacing a pagan celebration with the celebration of Christ’s birth caused the least social or cultural disruption.

Why Celebrate?

The other question that is posed by naysayers is: why celebrate at all? I know someone who doesn’t celebrate any holidays because they think it is all a part of companies making money – but that’s another discussion. 

Here is what I think: All Christians celebrate two important events in the life of Christ  (Christmas and Easter), and all Christians have two main sacraments/ordinances they participate in (baptism and the Lord’s Supper/Eucharist). Regarding the Lord’s Supper Jesus commands that we are to celebrate it in remembrance of him (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20; and I Corinthians 11:24-25). The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remember that Christ gave his life for all who would accept him. Now here me out: if we celebrate Christ’s victory in conjunction with remembering what he did, I think it is a natural extension to celebrate the fulfillment of the other prophecies about his birth.

On a historically cultural and social basis, the Church has now been celebrating Christmas for at least several hundred years and it is an ingrained part of the Chistianity. It might look different from culture to culture and place to place – there are different traditions, stories, and expectations (not always rooted in the faith aspect) – but widely, for those places and people groups that celebrate it is a time for rejoicing as we remember the fulfillment of what God said he was going to do. God fulfills his promises and he is faithful. No matter how we choose to celebrate or what trappings we have around the holiday, if we remember God’s faithfulness that is more than enough reason for us to be celebrating.