having always lived in the north Christmas is always more like Christmas with all the snow outside....it is really beautiful in the twin cities right now.. The years we don't have snow at Christmas it's like something is missing.
Wishing everyone here at America blog a very Merry Christmas....
MikeB
· 11 months ago
The Christmas story is a composite rendering of two completely different narratives about the birth of Jesus. These come from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Mark, which forms the foundation of both Luke and Matthew, does not have a birth narrative, revealing that the "nativity" stories were add-ons later in the written tradition.
The familiar "cheche" scene takes elements of Luke's and Matthew's gospels and smashes them together to form a ridiculous tableau, in which three astrologers from the "East" give gifts of precious gold and spices to an infant in a feeding trough!
Matthew's narrative is male-centered and violent. King Herod asks the Astrologers to tell him where the "king of the Jews" lay so he can kill him. Why doesn't he just follow the star himself? Josephus, the chief Jewish historian of the period, who hated Herod and catalogued his atrocities, has no record of the supposed "slaughter of the innocents." This story was invented by Matthew on the basis of its Old Testament template, the story of the Pharaoh's killing the first-born among the Jews in captivity in Egypt.
Luke's birth narrative, on the other hand, is female-centered and pacific: the messengers visit all the people (including shepherds), and Mary is a real, breathing entity, along with her cousin Elizabeth. My scholars see the gospel of Luke as coming from a female perspective: is it possible that the gospel that was supposedly written by the companion of Paul was actually written by an anonymous female gentile scribe?
Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas
· 11 months ago
Oh hell most of the Gospels are crap...written by nerdy nomads making shit up.
MikeB
· 11 months ago
Oops. That should be "creche" and "Many scholars."
ARP
· 11 months ago
It would be a lot nicer if Daley could get the snow plowed. We collect huge amounts of taxes on everything from takeout food to bottled water (our sales tax is 10.25%) . There's no way we don't have enough for plowing. Chicagoans tolerate "the Machine" when things get done. But now that things aren't getting done and we're paying obsene taxes...
Older_Wiser
· 11 months ago
Best wishes to you and family, John. I miss Buffalo at xmas...but glad I was a kid at the time! Having lived in Miami for a few years, it was a bummer this time of year! And just imagine, south of the Equator aren't they're having summer time...which really must make this celebration seem a bit ridiculous.
So, I celebrate Winter Solstice instead. The seasons are really what make us tick as human beings.
SCLiberal
· 11 months ago
Enjoy the snow some for me, John. I really miss it. Grew up in Massachusetts, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming and North Dakota (Air Force Brat) and am now stuck in South Carolina. It hardly seems like Christmas when it is in the mid 60s. I'm dreaming of a brown Christmas Just like the ones we always have.... Happy Holidays! (I sent you an ecard and forgot to sign it)
tlsintx
· 11 months ago
Happy Holidays all-
i just read this post by Melissa Etheridge...she had never heard of Rick Warren before now...While it's admirable to give him the benefit of the doubt, I think she needs to get to know him better. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-etheridge...
wearing out my F key
· 11 months ago
merry chrismas and happy holidays everyone. and here's to 2009.
NoFriendofMine
· 11 months ago
And in the spirit of Christmas Holiday, it would be marvelous if you toned down your hate-filled rhetoric.
Merry Christmas gays and gayelles, - NFOM
tlsintx
· 11 months ago
ah Saddletroll strikes again.
it is just so very mean and hateful to demand one's equal rights all the time, isn't it?
frank
· 11 months ago
The snow and cold never bothered me during the Holiday season in Chicago but on Jan. 2 I was ready to get the heck out of there. I miss Chicago right about now.
RobertSanDimas
· 11 months ago
Let's all just lighten up for a day or two. We have our President at long last. Relax. Partner and I are staying home since all in both families are flu-ridden. We'll have a big ham and fixin's, stay in, watch movies, listen to the rain (this is So CA and we don't get to do that often). Happiness to all of you.
All Comments
having always lived in the north Christmas is always more like Christmas with all the snow outside....it is really beautiful in the twin cities right now.. The years we don't have snow at Christmas it's like something is missing.
Wishing everyone here at America blog a very Merry Christmas....
Mark, which forms the foundation of both Luke and Matthew, does not have a birth narrative, revealing that the "nativity" stories were add-ons later in the written tradition.
The familiar "cheche" scene takes elements of Luke's and Matthew's gospels and smashes them together to form a ridiculous tableau, in which three astrologers from the "East" give gifts of precious gold and spices to an infant in a feeding trough!
Matthew's narrative is male-centered and violent. King Herod asks the Astrologers to tell him where the "king of the Jews" lay so he can kill him. Why doesn't he just follow the star himself? Josephus, the chief Jewish historian of the period, who hated Herod and catalogued his atrocities, has no record of the supposed "slaughter of the innocents." This story was invented by Matthew on the basis of its Old Testament template, the story of the Pharaoh's killing the first-born among the Jews in captivity in Egypt.
Luke's birth narrative, on the other hand, is female-centered and pacific: the messengers visit all the people (including shepherds), and Mary is a real, breathing entity, along with her cousin Elizabeth. My scholars see the gospel of Luke as coming from a female perspective: is it possible that the gospel that was supposedly written by the companion of Paul was actually written by an anonymous female gentile scribe?
So, I celebrate Winter Solstice instead. The seasons are really what make us tick as human beings.
I'm dreaming of a brown Christmas
Just like the ones we always have....
Happy Holidays! (I sent you an ecard and forgot to sign it)
i just read this post by Melissa Etheridge...she had never heard of Rick Warren before now...While it's admirable to give him the benefit of the doubt, I think she needs to get to know him better.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-etheridge...
Merry Christmas gays and gayelles, - NFOM
it is just so very mean and hateful to demand one's equal rights all the time, isn't it?
Alternative Xxxmas Carol.
.