The Bethlehem Event

by ProfDave, ©2024

(Jan. 10, 2024) —“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15)!  As a cultural and religious historian, I am overwhelmed by the almost incomprehensible impact of the Bethlehem event.  There is a reason why the world-wide “Common” calendar, as devised by an English monk (Dionysius Exiguus) in the 6^th century, pivots on this event – “Anno Domine.” OK, perhaps old Exiguus missed the exact date by a few years, but no matter – something pivotal had taken place. By his time, the theological and cultural importance of the incarnation of Christ was unquestioned throughout the Mediterranean and Western World.  “Domine” – our Lord – had already miraculously transformed Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East culturally and morally, and the lives – inner and outer – of millions.

Leaving aside the profound metaphysical and spiritual meaning of the invasion of time and space by the Eternal and Infinite (9 months earlier), I would argue that, literally, that baby in the straw changed the world.  Not all at once, mind you, and not perfectly, but pervasively. First, it introduced a new world religion, beginning in Palestine, becoming dominant in Europe, and spreading to the whole world today.  Culturally speaking, religion is the soul of a civilization.  To say that Christianity was dominant does not mean that every European became a righteous and devout believer or that even organized Christendom always exemplified Jesus.  Heavens no!  The pride of the ruling class is not dead yet.  Jesus came for sinners and the best of us need His atoning blood all too often.

The Bethlehem Event and its social and ethical consequences did not exactly come out of nowhere.  Not only was the birth of Christ foretold millennia before, but Christianity sprouted from the acorn of Judaism, spreading physically from one synagogue to another throughout the Roman world.  Its moral edifice grew out of the Hebrew scriptures (the image of God and the Ten Commandments), given fresh emphasis by Jesus and the apostolic writers.  You could say Christianity made Jewish morality viral in the Roman world and beyond – a moral revolution which is still embedded in Western civilization.

But Christianity introduced a moral and social revolution throughout the Roman Empire and wherever its influence has gone.  Certain things became wrong which had never been wrong before and certain things became right that had never been right before.  Pride became a vice; humility a virtue.  Human sacrifice became an abomination; human life a sacred value.  Prostitution a vice; chastity and monogamy virtues.  Infanticide (including abortion) abhorrent; infancy idealized.  Suicide and euthanasia condemned; common care of the sick and despairing required unconditionally.  The abuse of women and exploitation of children became taboo, replaced by equality and education.  Slavery gradually disappeared, replaced by free labor.  And much more.  There have always been outliers, but I would contend that these changes have been pervasive and distinctive of the Christian West.  Should we be reversing them?

We have become so bored (irked?) with Western Civilization in the 21^st century that we amuse ourselves by picking it apart in the name of tolerance.  Where did ‘tolerance’ come from?  Some old (therefore outmoded) sage warned, “Before you tear down a fence you should ask what it is there for.”  What is on the other side of that cultural fence?

Elitism, for example.  The ancients – globally – had no conception of the equality, autonomy, and sacredness of every human being, regardless of sex, age or race.  The only possible exception would be the Hebrews, from which Christians borrowed and Jesus enhanced.  Most societies, to this day, are hierarchical.  Greek “Democracy” applied only to a minority of privileged male citizens – the rest were women, children, slaves and aliens with no civil rights and barely human.  The Roman pyramid was topped by gods, then demi-gods, then heroes, then emperors, then patricians, then plebeians, then slaves, then women (less than human), then children (expendable).  In the classical pyramid, note that the levels are not just socio-economic classifications or hereditary offices, they were different orders of being.  Each level had the built-in right to have their own way over the lives and bodies of the lesser beings below them.  Human sacrifice, prostitution, infanticide, genocide were (are?) sanctioned by the gods (or science?).  Yes, Hamas today is outside the fence.

What else is outside the fences of “Christian” civilization?  Violence.  Certainly there has been plenty of war and violent crime in the West while Hinduism is known for its pacifism.  But Jesus does not glorify violence: “Thou shalt not kill.”  Islam is justified by its conquests.  Muhammed was a warrior.  In science it is the survival of the fittest.  Jesus blessed the weak and commanded us to love our enemies.  Christians must do ethical and rhetorical gymnastics to justify their wars and even law enforcement.  Might does not make right.  At our best we demand violence be limited by law at home and abroad.  Outside the fence, the end justifies all means necessary – no apologies.  All means includes mob violence, terrorism, rape, pillage and all forms of brutality hatred can devise (not to mention deception).  Do we want to take down that fence?

The baby in the straw ultimately struck the match to the Sexual Revolution of the 4^th century. The Greco-Roman civilization used women, so did most cultures and civilizations world-wide – to this day (notably Islam), except as penetrated by Western influence. Even the Hebrews, though they recognized the humanity of their wives, were strongly patriarchal.  The Romans had two basic uses for women – as producers of sons and as disposable sex toys.  Only the mistresses of great men were accepted into society – not their wives.  This is not to say that many Romans (and Muslims) did not love, protect and even pamper their women, but in public they were subjects – chattel – not partners.

In the Gospels we see Jesus treating women in an entirely different manner.  The church taught, that though men and women were distinct in gender, they were equal in Christ.  In contrast to the society around them, they extended the chastity and monogamy of the Jews to the values of Europe.  Women were to be protected, not exploited.  Women were not objects or commodities.  Their babies were no longer products to be inspected by their husband and discarded if they were not what he had in mind.  Infants were gifts of God, precious in His sight – even if they were girls.  Chastity and faithful monogamy became virtues for men as well as women.  Do we really want to go back to the old ways?

Another thing on the other side of the cultural fence we are trying to take down is deception. Jesus gave the name of “deceiver” to Satan, the enemy of God and of everything good and right.  He is the father of lies and lies are his mother tongue.  The pagan world was full of lies, made-up myths that may have illustrated community values but were not objectively true.  By the days of Socrates, very few actually believed in the gods much less pattern their science and their ethics on them.  Modern pagans call these myths narratives: stories that we want to make true – our subjective truth – but are not actually real.  Modern “facts” are, as often as not, wish-fulfilling lies.

The new religion, however, based reality on a Creator-God in heaven and on historical events in time and space. Science could be built on the rational dependability of a rational Creator, not “just-so” stories. Writing wrong could be known by the revealed character of that God. Objective truth could be depended upon to solve problems and disputes — modern science and democracy became possible. We trusted our leaders and teachers to at least try to get it right instead of misleading us. Do we really want to go back to myth and propaganda?

In conclusion, you do not have to understand or believe the Christian Gospel to see that the baby in the straw has had a decisive and positive impact on the West. A God of love and unselfishness has produced a different kind of society than one of pride, hatred and vengeance. It is no coincidence that modern science and democracy, movements for emancipation, liberation and equality all arose in the West. This is not to deny the richness of other cultures (Islamic, South Asian, East Asian, African, Latin, Amerindian and all the rest) and their contributions to the world – and to the West, too – but in our diversity let us not forget the foundation Europeans appropriated from West Asia and got right – so very right!

David W. Heughins (“ProfDave”) is Adjunct Professor of History at Nazarene Bible College.  He holds a BA from Eastern Nazarene College and a PhD in history from the University of Minnesota.  He is the author of Holiness in 12 Steps (2020).  He is a Vietnam veteran and is retired, living with his daughter and three grandchildren in Connecticut.