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<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Greetings Visionaries:<br><br>
I'm sending a copy of this to Ed Iverson. He and I were writing
columns about the Christmas story independently and we have very
different ideas about the historicity of the events recorded.
Before I sent this off to my column venues, I always like this list to be
the first to read it, if its members are so inclined.<br><br>
On another topic, I just want to say that I've sent a copy of the
exchange on Einstein and Quantum Mechanics to the UI professor who
teaches this stuff. Now that I think of it, I will also send it to
my ex brother-in-law in Denmark, a world class low temperature physicist,
from whom I've learned a lot about contemporary physics.<br><br>
For now let me just repeat my charge that Phil Nisbet is simply wrong to
state that Einsteain developed Quatum Mechanics. Contrary to what
Phil claims, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is essential to quantum
theory as it has been developed and has been verified time and time
again. To say that Einstein "developed" the theory by
trying to include it in a unified theory that did not include uncertainty
is really off the wall.<br><br>
Happy Holidays to each and all,<br><br>
Nick Gier<br>
<div align="center"><b>The Christmas Story and Other Redeeming
Myths<br><br>
</b>By Nick Gier<br><br>
A myth is a tale that tells truth--Anonymous<br><br>
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At the risk of being a Grinch who ruins Christmas, I would like to go
behind the Christmas Story and relate what scholars know about the
biblical texts involved. I hope that the result will be a more
enlightened perspective on the role of such stories in the common life of
humankind.<br><br>
In the second chapter of Matthew we read the story of wise men who came
from the East to worship the baby Jesus. These men are called
<i>magoi</i> (Greek for magicians), and scholars have identified them, if
they were there, as Zoroastrian priests from Babylon. <br><br>
There are several problems with this story. If they were following
a star in the East, they would have traveled East, not West, to
Palestine. That means that they would have been heading in the
direction of the birth of a Hindu savior, not a Jewish one. But
most likely, they would have been searching for their own savior, one
named Saosyant. <br><br>
The Jewish historian Josephus hated King Herod and chronicled his life in
great detail, but it is very odd that he never mentions the slaughter of
infants found in Matthew 2:16. Could this be an element of what I
call the “Savior Archetype,” common patterns of events that are
attributed to many of the world’s saviors? See
<a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/archetype.htm" eudora="autourl">www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/archetype.htm</a>.<br><br>
In the their various scriptures the saviors are said to have had royal
genealogies and miraculous conceptions; they worked miracles and escaped
the clutches of death. Jesus, Krishna, and Zoroaster were also
threatened in infancy by demon kings.<br><br>
Returning now to the beginning of the story, there is no record of Caesar
Augustus' decree that "all the world should be enrolled" (Luke
2:1). The Romans kept extremely detailed records of such
events. Not only is Luke's census not in these records, it goes
against all that we know of Roman economic history.<br><br>
In Josephus' account of the Roman census in 6 C.E., he writes that those
people taxed were assessed of their possessions, including lands and
livestock. But Luke has Joseph and Mary making a three-day journey,
away from their home and possessions in Nazareth, to register in their
alleged ancestral home in Bethlehem. <br>
<br>
An Egyptian papyrus recording a census in 104 C.E. states that
"since registration by household is imminent, it is necessary to
notify all who for any reason are absent from their districts to return
to their own homes that they may carry out the ordinary business of
registration." For more on Luke’s census see
</font><a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/census.htm" eudora="autourl"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/</a></u></font><a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/census.htm" eudora="autourl"><font face="Times New Roman, Times">census.htm</a>.<br><br>
Imagine a system of taxation based on people returning to their ancestral
homes, going back a thousand years in the case of Joseph. By this
time the Jews were spread out all over the known world. Can we
seriously believe that the Romans would have required them to come back
to Palestine, carrying everything they owned? <br><br>
In <i>The Rise of Christianity</i> Bishop E. W. Barnes remarks:
"The Romans were a practical race, skilled in the art of
government. It is incredible that they should have taken a census
according to such a fantastic system. If any such census had been
taken, the dislocation to which it would have led would have been
world-wide." <br><br>
We can now understand why Jesus never mentions his birth in Bethlehem;
and that, except for the birth stories, Jesus is always connected with
Nazareth. The authors of the Gospel of John apparently do not know
of Jesus' alleged birth in Bethlehem. Nathanael does not know it
(7:46), and no one answers the challenge of the crowd when they say:
"Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scriptures said
that the Christ...comes from Bethlehem?" (7:42). <br><br>
At this point some readers may be saying: “Way to go, Gier, you’ve just
spoiled Christmas more than any commercial enterprise could ever
do.” <br>
<x-tab> </x-tab><br>
Let me tell you about a wise woman in an African village whose job it was
to instruct the children in the tribe’s myths. She began each
session with the following disclaimer: “The stories that I will tell you
are not true, but they are the most important stories that you will ever
hear.”<br><br>
In India it is the grandmother’s task to teach Hindu mythology to the
children. These are fantastic tales of great heroes and heroines,
but also much violence, death, and sex. Their graphic “in your
face” style, not too different from Grimm’s <i>Fairy Tales</i> or many
Old Testament stories, has a very important socio-psychological
purpose.<br><br>
In Europe and America, where we pride ourselves (even very religious
people do) by living without myth and legend, we still pay huge sums to
psychotherapists to help us recover from unresolved experiences of
violence, death, and sex. I’ve always thought that Hindu mythology
serves as a fairly effective substitute for a mental health program that
the Indians cannot afford.<br>
<br>
This Sunday I will enjoy, and be redeemed by, the performance of Handel’s
<i>Messiah,</i> and in the choir of my Unitarian church, where most
members think they have left myths far behind, we will be singing hymns
to a miraculous child, born in the darkest time of the year, who brings
the light of hope to a broken world.<br><br>
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