Are the Origins of Christmas Really Pagan? | Office Hours, Ep. 2
In this episode of “Office Hours,” we stop by the office of Kenneth R. Calvert, professor of history at Hillsdale College. He tells us about when early Christians celebrated Christmas and dispels the myth of the holiday’s Pagan origins.
00:00:00 Early Christians' Perspectives on Christmas
00:00:42 The Myth of Christmas as a Pagan Celebration
00:01:18 The Historical Debate on December 25th as Christ's Birth Date
00:02:00 The Gospel of Luke: Zechariah and the Announcement to Mary
00:03:27 Historical Origins of December 25th as Christmas
00:04:06 Early Christian Observance of Jesus' Conception and Birth
00:05:28 The Origins of December 25th: Pagan or Christian?
00:06:08 Solar Imagery in Christian Traditions
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Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings” resulting from civil and religious liberty and “believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.” It pursues the stated object of the founders: “to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education” outstanding among American colleges “and to combine with this such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils.” As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains “by precept and example” the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.
The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law.
By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.
