Church

Surprising Christmas Perspectives from Lewis and Bonhoeffer

by Q Ideas

C.S. Lewis (1898 - 1963) and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945) are two of the most influential Christian thinkers of the last quarter millennium. But what did they think about Christmas? The truth may surprise you.

After reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, one might expect C.S. Lewis to be a big fan of Christmas. After all, when Narnia was under the curse of the evil white witch, it was described as land where it was “always winter, but never Christmas.” But such an expectation might not be completely warranted. It seems C.S. Lewis was not very pleased with the way many who bear Christ’s name celebrate Christ’s birth:

Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here. The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn't go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a 'view' on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their own money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs. But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone's business.

I mean of course the commercial racket. The interchange of presents was a very small ingredient in the older English festivity. Mr. Pickwick took a cod with him to Dingley Dell; the reformed Scrooge ordered a turkey for his clerk; lovers sent love gifts; toys and fruit were given to children. But the idea that not only all friends but even all acquaintances should give one another presents, or at least send one another cards, is quite modern and has been forced upon us by the shopkeepers.
- From “What Christmas Means to Me” in God in the Dock

On the other hand, one might expect that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, particularly later in his life, had little to rejoice about on Christmas. He was living under the authority of one of the most evil, unjust, racist regimes since the beginning of time. How was any German citizen to interpret the “good tidings of great joy” which had supposedly arrived with the birth of Christ? Yet, Bonhoeffer saw Christmas in the opposite light: not a confusing contradiction in a word of evil but encouragement for those living under oppression. He wrote,

For the great and powerful of this world, there are only two places in which their courage fails them, of which they are afraid deep down in their souls, from which they shy away. These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ. No powerful person dares to approach the manger, and this even includes King Herod. For this is where thrones shake, the mighty fall, the prominent perish, because God is with the lowly. Here the rich come to nothing, because God is with the poor and hungry, but the rich and satisfied he sends away empty. Before Mary, the maid, before the manger of Christ, before God in lowliness, the powerful come to naught; they have no right, no hope; they are judged.
- From God Is In the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

-----
Do you know of other surprising Christmas quotes or perspectives from prominent Christian thinkers? Do either of the quotes above resonate with you?

-----
Editor's Note: The picture above is titled "Heading Home for Christmas" by Nigel Finn.

Comments

Brett

I love the C.S. Lewis' 3rd point. Sometimes I'm tempted to put on an office door: You keep yours, I'll keep mine, and we'll save some gas and stress.

Felicity

The quote by Bonhoeffer is going into rotation on my Sunday set list right before the Sons and Daughters song 'All the Poor and Powerless' - love it. And, no matter how brilliant he was, Lewis was still a grumpy old man occasionally. What can you do? : )

T H Fall

Lewis' statements should not surprise the careful reader of Narnia. When the witch's spell begins to break, one of the first signs is a visit to the children by Father Christmas (Santa Claus), but the "presents" he brings them are "tools, not toys." In fact, they are weapons of warfare not unlike those described by Paul in Ephesians 6, or instruments of healing and summoning divine help when in need.

In some ways it would be wonderful if the Western cultural Christmas disappeared. Unfortunately, the "shopkeepers" will never let this happen, though all other vestiges be banned. Having lived in a non-Christian country, we found it a blessing to be able to minimize gift giving and focus on the spiritual aspects of the holiday.

Keep doing what you're doing. We are now missionaries in our own homeland, and one of the key tasks is separating the cultural trappings of Christianity from the truly spiritual. This is not easy but I'm greatly encouraged that the new generation of leaders is succeeding in doing this, while expanding focus to include the portions of scripture that 20th century evangelicalism forgot.

Work and creativity in the physical world have high value that originates in Genesis 1, not 3. Chuck Swindoll points out that the very first thing God did with the first man was put him to work. If we can recapture this, I believe it will be genuinely attractive to the world. When you aren't the culturally dominant religion, you have to do something to make people say, "I want what they have." This is both good strategy and good Reformed theology.

Jonathan Merritt

TH Fall,

FASCINATING! I hadn't considered that. Great thinking here.

Jm

Just Jim

For more on Lewis' Christmasology and a real fun read, check out "Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus", also in God in the Dock

John Douglas

Good read - but, no surprises; both read within a resonance with their extant feelings and thoughts. Thanks.

Marc Andreas

Great quote by CS Lewis! Our pastor has led by example this year about not giving presents to his children but focusing on giving to the poor like scripture states in Matthew 25. We're teaching our kids this year that Christmas is about Jesus not presents for them, what a great lesson for all of us.

Jeff Nelson

Breaking free from the bondage of cultural conformity takes time, and is a socially complicated task, something I've been working at my whole christian life. How each of us deals with Christmas is a lot like how we as Christians grow and mature, at different times and different levels, I think this is what Mr. Lewis is referring to when he said "But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business". But when the how becomes more important than the who, then we each have a huge opportunity to tell others about Why.

Travis

Your conclusion from the above quotation that Lewis was not a "big fan of Christmas" is rather unreflective. Just because Lewis objected to the commercialization and secularization of Christmas doesn't mean he disliked Christmas itself--any more than Lewis' objection to boys stealing from an orchard would mean that he disliked apples (or even boys). Lewis in general, besides being a devout Christian, was described as very jovial and magnanimous. I'm sure Christmas with C. S. Lewis would have been a great delight.

Jonathan Merritt

Travis,

The essay does not say Lewis was not a big fan of Christmas. What it says is that one would expect him to be a big fan. Instead, we find that Lewis was quite conflicted about Christmas--and by Christmas, I mean the cultural, commercial holiday we call "Christmas" rather than a celebration of the birth of Christ.

In the full essay from which this quote was taken, Lewis goes on to give three reasons why he "condemns" the holiday. He states that it "gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure," involves a gift-giving tradition that is "almost blackmail," and entails the receipt of mostly "gaudy and useless gadgets . . . rubbish." Perhaps it would have been a festive and delightful experience to spend with Lewis a holiday, which he calls "a commercial racket" and a "nuisance," but it seems reflecting on Lewis' actual words paint a more complicated picture.

Jm

jedidiah

JM,

Lewis specifically calls the gift giving the nuisance in the essay. He was all for merry making and the religious aspect of Christmas. The condemnation was for those only participating in the commercialized aspect. You seem to be making it more complicated than necessary.

Jonathan Merritt

Jedidiah,

As recent polls show, the gift giving and commercial celebration is "Christmas" as we know it. This thing we call "Christmas" is what Lewis was conflicted about. The "religious aspect" is something different altogether and is, for the most part, disconnected from the thing we call "Christmas."

Jm

Christopher

I am not sure that I understand how these views are surprising. They both are highly influencial Christians who saw Christmas as about Christ more than about material and power. Lewis viewed the marketing of Christmas as a mockery of the true meaning of the day. He viewed cultural alteration as being rather un-Christian than Christian. Bonhoeffer's position was to focus on the coming of Christ vulnerable amongst the poor. The power of Christ is amongst the poor. The rich and the powerful (those who strive and hunger after it) cannot approach Christ, because as Archbishop Oscar Romero once said--to follow Christ is to have the heart of the poor. It appears to me that Bonhoeffer's opinion is right where it would be expected to be for one of his perspective and in the mind of Christ. He was amongst the poor and oppressed, and he himself was oppressed. Thus, he saw himself in Christ.

Lewis and Bonhoeffer both agreed on a fundamental level, that Christmas is about Christ's coming to Earth and the impact of that, not of the giving of gifts based on the shopkeepers' marketing ploys. They both would have taken issue with the rich making the holiday a sham of what it really is. Hence, why it appears neither would think the making of money and the increasing of possessions for others close to you as approaching Christmas. It does not approach Christ. To sum up, it appears they both knew how to approach Christmas properly. Lewis had disgust towards what Western society called Christmas, but appears to possibly have been fond of the celebrating with others and celebrating the Christian day of Christmas. And Bonhoeffer saw Christ as God's gift to the world, delivered amongst the poor and oppressed to show where God's heart lay. Neither were fans of 'Christmas' but both seem to be fans of the true Christmas.

Christopher

I guess I wrote a long-winded comment to say it does not seem to me surprising that one isn't a fan of the materialization of 'Christmas' and argues that it is detached from the reality of what Christmas was meant to be (Lewis) while the other is a fan of true nature of Christmas and one that presents his own unique perspective of Christ's side of the poor against the rich and power-hungry (Bonhoeffer). I believe they were both fans of the real meaning of the day for different reasons due to their unique perspectives.

Comments are now closed

ALSO BY Q IDEAS

ALSO IN CHURCH

by Enuma Okoro

by Matthew Nickoloff

by Tim Keller