Letter: Nativity scene represents hope and unity – Brattleboro Reformer

Editor of the Reformer,

I am writing in response to Vidda Crochetta’s letter (Dec. 15) casting doubt on what is known about Jesus. It is not clear what theological or religious background Crochetta’ has under his/her belt but it is clear he/she has misunderstood or significantly abbreviated Professor Fredericksen’s research. In fact, Fredericksen has spent her professional career writing books focused on the historical Jesus. She served as historical consultant for the BBC production The Lives of Jesus (1996) and for U.S. News and World Report ‘s “The Life and Times of Jesus” and was featured speaker in the Frontline documentary From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians (1998), based heavily on her book From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Jesus. It goes without saying that Dr Fredericksen believes the consideration of the historical (and by no means invisible) Jesus is worth consideration.

Crochetta’s second point, that the story is a composite, could well be said of any of our life stories and of, for example, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu or any luminary. The fragments we know about each other are as limited as those we know about Jesus. Culled from historical documents, the truths of Jesus’ life and teaching have long been a well researched fascination of scholars; consider that it was only seventy years ago that the Nag Hammadi texts were discovered. They expanded our knowledge considerably. Like archeologists, theologians extract the skeletal bones of history to give us what we might think of as a suggestion, partially legend, and partially memories of those who knew Jesus and those who “knew someone who knew” Jesus. Were we to write a biography of any one of us the same sources might be used.

Finally, it needs to be said that, for those of us who revere Jesus, the details of the historical man don’t actually matter as much as his teachings and the mystical practices he left as a legacy. It is on the level of these teachings and practices that Judaism, Islam and even Buddhism have much, if not everything in common. Furthermore, and to Crochetta’s point, they all agree that there is much to be done to bring about peace in this dark world and that our ways of treating and accepting each other can be improved. Has religious conflict been part of our history? Of course, and so has has every kind of conflict whether based on religion, race, ethnicity, class, gender or ability.

I like to think that the Christmas nativity scene, whether it ever happened or not, is a vision of hope and unity and that the birth of the Christ Child holds a symbolism we all crave these dark weeks of the year and beyond.

Rev. Dr. Lise Sparrow

Guilford Community Church, United Church of Christ

Dec. 15


If you’d like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.

Thank you
https://www.reformer.com/stories/letter-nativity-scene-represents-hope-and-unity,559296