The Nativity scene and Christmas tree decorate St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Dec. 5. (CNS/Paul Haring)
By Daniel P. Horan
Dec 21 2022
Bumper stickers and internet memes tend to spring up this time of year, beckoning onlookers to “remember the reason for the season” or exhort readers to “keep Christ in Christmas.” While undoubtedly well-meaning in their origin, these slogans have also been coopted by conservative commentators in recent years as a kind of political cri de coeur that signals a made-up “war on Christmas.”
Even though there is no such thing as a “war on Christmas,” at least not in the United States, I do find the rallying cry “remember the reason for the season” very interesting, especially because of its inadvertently theological invitation.
The question “Why did God become human?” has been the focus of theological reflection for as long as the earliest Christian community began proclaiming that the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14). The most famous consideration of this question comes in the form of a treatise by St. Anselm of Canterbury, Cur Deus Homo? (literally: “Why the God-Man?”).
The question is one of the divine ratio — that is “reason,” “motivation” or “logic” — for the coming of Christ into the world. Anselm begins his exploration with the presumption that human sinfulness is the biggest issue at play. Subsequently, we need to be reconciled to God, something we cannot accomplish on our own. It can only, ultimately, be achieved by one who is both divine and human; hence the Incarnation.
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