Is progressive Christianity a “Christmas monster”?

“In 6-4 B.C., Yeshua of Nazareth was born into a humble peasant family in a tiny town in the backwater hinterlands of Palestine territory on the eastern edge of the Roman Empire. It doesn’t really matter if Jesus was born to an actual virgin or not – or even if he was born in Bethlehem for that matter. The point is moot. Either way, he grew up to be our savior. In fact, if Jesus wasn’t born to a virgin, being born as a bastard to an unmarried teenaged peasant from the sticks on the fringe of the Roman Empire would have only further highlighted God’s amazing and empowering ways. …

… Conservative Christianity  overly emphasizes Jesus’ death to the point where one would think his radical teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and his subversive political confrontations with the worldly powers don’t matter, and what matters is that he was killed in order to save us. By that logic, Jesus’ three years of ministry was wasted time. He may as well have been killed by Herod as an infant or actually pushed off that cliff in Nazareth when he started his ministry as that would’ve been far more efficient.”

from pages 109-111, “Kissing Fish: christianity for people who don’t like christianity”

Does this perspective ruin Christmas? Or does it enhance it?
Is it frank, straight talk? Or is it revisionist? … Or is it blunt truth that gets at the reality behind the revisionism of others?

You decide.

Merry Christmas everyone!

xx – Roger

Rev. Roger Wolsey is an ordained United Methodist pastor who directs the Wesley Foundation at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is author of Kissing Fish: christianity for people who don’t like christianity

Click here for the Kissing Fish Facebook page

Here are some other blogs that expound about Christmas from a progressive Christian point of view. Enjoy!
Fast Hog to Breadhouse
Rock of Ages
Jesus – an unwanted Christmas Present