“Ridiculous romantic fiction,” said the student who calls herself “Martini” because she wants to sound “sophisticated”, in response to our lesson on Christmas, a national holiday in USA.
“Many people agree with you,” I said, and left it at that.
As I pondered the remark though, I wonder what really is romantic about the story? Thousands of people are ordered by the occupying foreign government to make a journey to an ancestral town. How romantic. Taxes: romantic. The town is full of people there for the census and taxation, so there are no open lodgings, hotels, inns, houses of relatives. No place to stay after walking 60 miles. How romantic. A young couple is given shelter in a barn with the animals. Warm, yes, dry, yes, shelter, yes, but romantic? Days and days go by, the young woman is ready to give birth. No midwife available, no doctor, no nurse, no clean place. How romantic. Was the birth easy? No one knows, but most women would not use the adjective “easy” for giving birth, nor would they call it a romantic event. After a few hours perhaps, while the young mother wanted to rest, a group of shepherds came in from the fields where they had been camping out for days and wanted to see the new baby. How very romantic.
I suppose our student was referring to the idea of the virgin birth. I agree it is an amazing part of the story, but romantic? Perhaps she referred to the angels mentioned in the story? In the Bible, whenever angels are mentioned as appearing, the first words they speak are “Fear NOT,” and the people are almost always terrified. So I would not call that element “romantic” either. I think our student does not understand the word “romantic” in either a common or a literary sense.
As to the word “fiction” there is no question that a man named Jesus, of Nazareth, was born, lived and was tortured and brutally executed in Israel, at a certain time in history. In fact, there is more attestation for his life, than there is for Julius Caesar, according to the scholars who count such things. (Josh McDowell: Evidence That Demands a Verdict)
History has been divided by his life, BC: before Christ, and AD: Anno Domini, In the year of our Lord. Western civilization has been built on the teachings of this particular man. Art, music, and literature have all been influenced by his life.
The significance of his life; whether he was who he said he was; whether he physically rose from the dead; these ideas are open to debate, have been debated for millennia, and will be debated until the end of time. These students who plan to enter the “Western world” for their higher education need to be at least acquainted with the parameters of the debate. In the universities of the United States or Europe this student will be “right at home” with her attitudes. But I hope she will find the intellectual honesty to enter the debate with full research.