Billy,
An interesting essay. You introduced influences from sources I would have never considered… Mithras, oak tree oracles at Dodona, etc. I was familiar with some of the pre-Christian customs that you mentioned. I have also heard references to winter solstice in the timing of the celebration of Christ’s birth. What do you make of that waaay-pre-Christian observance? Chris From: BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2016 4:09 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [RC] The Spirit of Christmas The Spirit of Christmas Christmas has been an historical interest of mine for many years, at least since learning about its many borrowings from non-Christian traditions from almost the beginning of the holiday itself. There is an Atheist group in Florida, for instance, that has set up billboards with the observation that December 25 was, to begin with, the date that the birth of Mithras was celebrated during the era of the Roman Empire. Of course, there is no date given in the Gospels for the time of Jesus' birth, although the interpretation is more-or-less common that shepherds watch their flocks by night primarily in early Spring so maybe he came into the world around March 21, which was celebrated in Mesopotamia as the time of the resurrection of Tammuz, in effect, his rebirth. But these pieces of information only begin to scratch the surface: Yule logs, mistletoe, wreaths, Santa Clause, magical reindeer, gift giving at the time of the Winter solstice, and much else all had their origins in pre-Christian faiths and traditions. Some Christians, of course, also know these facts and have declared war upon such customs. But it is entirely possible to see the fusion of non-Christian religious traditions onto the Gospel story of Jesus' birth as found in Matthew and Luke (but not Mark and John) as something good, to be cherished and revered. Just as Matthew, for instance, added a detail to the nativity story in which some Magi (we are not told how many even if our traditions say there were three, or maybe twelve) visit the Christ child. Which is most interesting inasmuch as "Magi" refers to Magians of what is now Kurdistan, the homeland of the Medes, hence sectarian Zoroastrians. Indeed, some Romans adopted Magian trappings, in effect, pretending to also be Zoroastrian priests, as did Simon Magus. So we are warned to look out for imposters who, needless to say, are harmful to faith, unlike actual Magians who venerate Jesus whatever else they may believe. Traditional Christmas carols may also incorporate non-Christian (Pagan) customs, as does the wassail song, and O Tannenbaum, in reference to the ancient custom of spiritualizing certain types of trees, like, for instance the oak tree oracles at Dodona. And there are angels who are "on high," who also are vestiges of the deities of ancient pantheons even if there are Biblical references to such spiritual beings as in Deuteronomy 32 and acknowledgements of "household gods" in I Samuel and Hosea. All of this has been adopted and made Christian during the 2000 years or so of Christian history. And why not?, just as the Japanese, who remain Buddhist and Shintoist, have made Christmas trees part of their own culture and, indeed, as happens today where you might least expect it, as among Iranian Shi'ite immigrants in metro Los Angeles, or Shi'ites in Baghdad who had, it seems, one of the largest Christmas trees in the world this year. None of this subtracts anything at all from observance of Jesus' birth along more "orthodox" lines. Nothing subtracts anything of value from one of the most magnificent of all Christian observances, Midnight Mass at a Catholic church or cathedral, or subtracts from nativity pageants or more modest celebrations featuring church members and little kids at Evangelical congregations almost everywhere. Indeed, a sort of religious competition helps explain why Americans celebrate the holiday the way we do. The importation of Lutheran customs in the later 18th century spurred the end of the Puritan custom of observing Christmas with dour seriousness, no tree, no gift giving, etc, just prayer all day long. And those Lutheran customs already featured synthesis with a number of Norse Pagan traditions, such as Santa himself, originally Wotan but reinterpreted as an historical holy man from Asia Minor we call Saint Nicholas. All of this says, to me anyway, that we are better for this kind of diversity and that such diversity brings blessings into our lives in many different ways. What does Christmas mean? Some philosophical thinkers have had this question on their agendas and bellow you will find three papers on the subject. The holiday is so very beautiful in so many ways, yet is also raises questions about commercialism, overindulgence, the worth or worthlessness of kitsch, the place of families in the life of the mind, how Christmas can educate people to their shared history, how philosophy itself has been shaped by thinkers who were inspired by the Christian message or, s'il vous plait, a message suffused with ideas and values from outside of Christianity but recognized as good and important to our well being. Some day there needs to be a fully developed "philosophy of Christmas." We are just at that place now where this idea has begun to gain traction. In other words, here is a golden opportunity..... Billy ============================================= from the site: Virtual Philosophy November 29, 2006 The Philosophy of Christmas: An Interview with Stephen Law, author of The Xmas Files <http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/stephen_law/profile.html> Stephen Law first came to public attention with his excellent introductory philosophy book, <http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20philosophy%20files&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738> The Philosophy Files <http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=virtualphilos-21&l=ur2&o=2> . Through skilful use of imaginative thought experiments he manages to communicate quite complex ideas to a very wide audience. His later books <http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20the%20outer%20limits&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738> The Outer Limits <http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=virtualphilos-21&l=ur2&o=2> and <http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20philosophy%20gym&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738> The Philosophy Gym <http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=virtualphilos-21&l=ur2&o=2> continued in a similar vein. More recently his polemic, <http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20war%20children%20minds&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738> The War For Children's Minds <http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=virtualphilos-21&l=ur2&o=2> , addressed fundamental questions about moral education. But it is his book <http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20xmas%20files&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738> The Xmas Files <http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=virtualphilos-21&l=ur2&o=2> that is most seasonally appropriate. In this brief interview for Virtual Philosopher, Stephen explains what it's about. Nigel: Your book The Xmas Files is, as far as I know, the first book to look at the Philosophy of Christmas. Not an obvious topic. Could you tell me a bit more about it? Stephen: It consists of 14 short chapters (some very short) each looking at a different aspect of Christmas in a philosophical way. Nigel: One of the topics you write about, sentimentality, is particularly interesting. Ive already written a post about sentimentality: <http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/virtualphilosopher/2006/11/sentimentallity.html> 'Sentimentality as a Way of Avoiding Clear Thought'. What do you think sentimentality is, and are we particularly prone to it at Christmas time? Stephen: Christmas is of course a great festival of Dickensian sentimentality - all that hearty back-slapping and good will. I won't define sentimentality, but I will suggest that it sometimes involves the disguising or hiding of reality by means of the kitsch, the Disney-esque. It often involves a form of self-deception. Christmas "round robins" are a good example. The authors are often guilty of sentimentalizing their own lives, presenting a glossy, sanitized version to both themselves and others. Not healthy, I think. And, I argue, potentially damaging. Nigel : What other topics do you cover? Stephen: There are chapters on the ethics of lying about that hideous tie Aunt Gertrude gave you, the morality of eating turkey (and meat generally), the dangers of kitsch Christmas sentimentality (attacked by e.g. C.S.Lewis), whether the Christian message of "peace" is such a good idea, whether our "thinking of others" at Xmas time actually goes anything like far enough, whether "faith" is a good idea, whether the "incarnation" of God even makes sense, whether atheists can enjoy Xmas with a clear conscience, and so on. Nigel: How has your book been received? Have you, for instance, been accused of 'unweaving the rainbow', removing some of the joy of Christmas by subjecting it to such critical analysis? Stephen: Not yet, but it is only a matter of time, I guess. Nigel: Throughout your work you put an emphasis on the improving effects of the good use of reason. How would you reply to those who maintain that this is an exhausted post-Enlightenment approach to life that is no longer tenable? Stephen: Critics of the Enlightenment like Alasdair MacIntyre and John Gray point out, correctly, that those Enlightenment philosophers who thought reason alone would answer all our moral questions (e.g. Kant) and would inevitably usher in a brave new world were mistaken on both counts. It is certainly true that we cannot simply "think" our way to being good. There is currently a great deal of attention being focused in the US on character education, which emphasizes the importance of instilling good habits (influenced by Aristotle). I agree. But of course none of this shows that the ability to think clearly and independently, and the courage to do so, aren't extremely valuable moral resources that none of us can afford to be without. In fact, those who distrust encouraging young people to think and question are usually either relativists who think there is no truth to discover, or religious authoritarians who simply want children to accept, more or less uncritically, what they are told (as an act of "faith"). This, by the way, is the central concern of my latest book, <http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20war%20children%20minds&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738> The War For Children's Minds <http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=virtualphilos-21&l=ur2&o=2> [Melissa Benn's <http://www.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,1787968,00.html> feature on The War for Children's Minds from The Guardian]. ---------------------------------------------------------------- from the site: The Philosopher's Eye Christmas and Philosophy We recently caught up with Scott C. Lowe, professor and chair in the Philosophy Department at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, and editor of <http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-144433090X.html> Christmas – Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal. He is also the author of “Ebenezer Scrooge – Man of Principle” which appeared in Think magazine in 2009. His philosophical interests are in political and legal philosophy. He hopes his students think of him as the reformed Scrooge at the end of the story, not the hard hearted Scrooge who meets the ghost of Jacob Marley. PE: Why did you decide to edit a book on Christmas and philosophy? SCL: It started with an article I published on Ebenezer Scrooge. He’s a great example of the role of character in morality which is a hot debate in ethics these days. From there it struck me that there are a lot of interesting questions about Christmas that philosophers might have something to say about. PE: What are some of the central concerns of the book, and why are they important? SCL: Christmas is the most widely celebrated holiday in the Western world, you can’t avoid it. So questions about what Christmas means to Christians and non-Christians alike seem pretty interesting and important to me. Questions like ‘should we lie to our kids about Santa?’ or ‘should we really worry about keeping Christ in Christmas’ are ones that lots of folks have thought about. PE: And what is it that draws you (personally) to this topic? SCL: The commercialization of Christmas is a really interesting, and disturbing, trend to me, even though I’m not a religious person. That Christmas has turned into an orgy of stuff really makes me think about what’s valuable in life PE: What sort of reaction do you hope it will get? SCL: There are a lot of different views about Christmas represented in the book. I hope people, of whatever stripe, will be challenged by what they read there. I’d like folks to read and think about Christmas more reflectively and not, say, just throw the book into the fireplace. PE: Did anything in particular strike you through the process with working with the contributors to the book and with the material they produced (things you learned, surprises, etc.)? SCL: The conflict between religious and secular Christmas is really old! I learned a lot about the history of Christmas celebrations from working on the book; the making merry part of Christmas has been around a long, long time. ----------------------------------------------------------------- No idea how to eliminate the drab color areas from the article but the material is interesting. Wittgenstein is not on my list of favorite philosophers, not at all. On the contrary, he is someone to debunk some time, for various reasons, not least the fact that he was homosexual and anti-Christmas. But here is a very different approach to the theme of Christmas that might be thought about to good effect, maybe in contrast to much better ways to conceive of the holiday..... from the site: Philosophy by the Way December 26, 2016 How to Celebrate celebrate Christmas: Wittgenstein There is hardly any western philosopher who writes about Christmas. It’s a bit strange, since Christmas is the most important holiday in the western world, even though for many people it’s no longer celebrated because of its religious meaning. It has turned into an important secular holiday, especially to be celebrated in the family. In this way Christmas is gradually becoming important all over the world, also in non-Christian countries. Therefore, it’s remarkable that all major (western) philosophers philosophically ignore it, although much can be said about it. Even such a devote roman-catholic like Montaigne usually kept away from writing on Christmas, probably because he didn’t want to be involved in the religious conflicts of his time. He was afraid of being accused to support the Reformation, if he would present a moderate point of view. It’s true that Sartre wrote a kind of Nativity play, when he was interned as a prisoner of war in Germany during Christmas 1940, but actually it was an act of solidarity with his fellow prisoners and a rejection of Nazism. But it is an exception and in fact only Wittgenstein devotes occasionally some words to Christmas. We know that he often celebrated it with his family – anyway before he definitively moved to England – but that he didn’t like it. However, during the First World War, so exactly hundred years ago, he was not at home, since he was a soldier. Wittgenstein wrote a diary during these years, and it would be interesting to know what he did on December 25 or 26, 1916, but alas, this part of his diary has been lost or he didn’t write about it. What we do know is what he did during Christmas two years before. These were the days that soldiers on the Western Front fraternized and celebrated Christmas together with the enemy, to the great annoyance of the generals, who succeeded to suppress this fraternization in later years. But in December 1914 Wittgenstein was in Eastern Europe and his post was behind the front line at a quiet place. So even if he would have liked to fraternize with the Russian enemy – which I doubt – he couldn’t do that. Wittgenstein tells us that on Christmas Day 1914 he takes the midday meal in the officers’ mess. Was it special Christmas dinner? I don’t know, for he doesn’t mention what he ate. And Wittgenstein tells us that “he worked a bit”. The next day, on Boxing Day, he “hardly worked”, so he writes, and in the evening he went to a coffee house with a young man whom he had met, and he had an interesting discussion with the guy. It needs some explanation what Wittgenstein means when he writes that he “worked”. He doesn’t mean that he did his tasks as a soldier, but that he worked on the manuscript of what would later become his Tractatus logico-philosophicus. We know even exactly what he wrote then: “The proposition says something” is identical with: It has a particular relation to reality, whatever this may be. And if this reality is given and also that relation, then the sense of the proposition is known, "pvq" has a different relation to reality from "p.q", etc. The possibility of the proposition is, of course, founded on the principle of signs as going proxy for objects. [Cf. 4.0312.] Thus in the proposition something has something else as its proxy. But there is also the common cement. My fundamental thought is that the logical constants are not proxies. That the logic of the fact cannot have anything as its proxy. [See 4.0312.] [from Notebooks 1914-1916] In the Tractatus (4.0312) this would become: The possibility of propositions is based upon the principle of the representation of objects by signs. My fundamental thought is that the “logical constants” do not represent. That the logic of the facts cannot be represented. So, during Christmas 1914, four months after he had voluntarily joined the army, Wittgenstein was working on the most fundamental thoughts of his early philosophy, namely that a language represents the world it depicts. This idea would become one of the basic ideas of analytical philosophy. Even though today we will not take it in a literal sense any longer, isn’t it still considered true that the words we speak represent at least our view on the world and how we want that others – the persons we are speaking to – see it? ... -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . 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