>
Christmas is not about tinsel and mistletoe or even ornaments and presents, but aabout what means we will use toward the end of a peace from heaven upon our earth. Or is “peace on earth” but a Christmas ornament taken each year from attic or basement and returned there as soon as possible?
Marcus J Borg and John Dominic Crossan in The First Christmas reviewed here. Borg and Crossan underline the subversion of the Christmas stories – subverting the political cultures of Roman imperial power. Both Jesus and Caesar share many titles – among them “Lord” and “Son of God” and both have a vision for peace on earth. The difference is that one is “peace through victory” and the other is “peace through justice” – and Borg and Crossan remark (what we all know)
“the terrible truth is that our world has never established peace trhough victory. Victory establishes not peace but lull. Thereafter, violence returns once again, and always worse than before.”
Grits and Grains 