The Scholars on Christmas
Compiled by Minister Abdul Muhammad


The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge pg. 47
There is no historical evidence that our (Savior’s) birthday was celebrated during (the time of the 12 apostles)…

The American Book of Days p. 658 by George Douglas says
The day was not one of the early feasts of the Christian church. In fact the observance of birthdays was condemned as a heathen custom repugnant to Christians.

Encyclopedia Briticanna 11th Ed. Vol. 24 p. 231
Christmas is a contraction of “Christ Mass” a Roman Catholic observance designed as a compromise with the heathen Roman feast Saturnalia.

The World Book Encyclopedia (1962) “Christmas” p. 416
In 354, Bishop Liberius of Rome ordered the people to celebrate December 25th. He probably chose this date because the people of Rome already observed it as the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birthday of the sun.

About.com
“Mithras, the sun-god, was born of a virgin in a cave on December 25, and worshipped on Sunday, the day of the conquering sun.

The Complete Book of American Holidays
Luke's account "suggests that Jesus may have been born in summer or early fall. Since December is cold and rainy in Judea, it is likely the shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks at night" (p. 309).

The Companion Bible, 1974, Appendix 179, p. 200
Since Elizabeth (John's mother) was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Jesus was conceived (Luke 1:24-36), we can determine the approximate time of year Jesus was born if we know when John was born. John's father, Zacharias, was a priest serving in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5). Historical calculations indicate this course of service corresponded to June 13-19 in that year.

On pgs. 190-191 of The Mysteries of Mithra by Franz Cumont translated by Thomas J. McCormack, he states,
“Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of December, the same day on which Christmas has been celebrated, since the fourth century at least.”

Frederick H. Cramer in Astrology in Roman Law and Politics on pg. 4 states;
A star cult, sun worship, became (in the third century A.D.) the dominant official creed, paving the road for the ultimate triumph of Judaeo-Christian monotheism. So strong was the belief in the Invincible Sun (Sol Invictus) that for example Constantine I (d.337), himself at first a devotee of the sun cult, found it, indeed perfectly compatible with his pro-Christian sympathies to authorize his own portrayal of Helios. And in 354 the ascendant Christian church in the reign of his pious by unsavory son, Constantius II, found it prudent to change the celebration of the birth of Jesus from the traditional date (January 6) to December 25, in order to combat the pagan Sun god’s popularity-his “birthday” being December 25.

Walter Woodburn Hyde writes in Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire on pg. 60 states
Remains of the struggle are found in two institutions adopted from its rival by Christianity in the fourth century, the two Mithraic sacred days, December twenty-fifth, dies natilis solis [birthday of the sun], as the birthday of Jesus, and Sunday, “the venerable day of the Sun,” as Constantine called it in his edict of 321.

Adam Clarke’s Bible Commentary states in reference to Luke 2:8
…as the shepherds had not yet bought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, which cast considerable light upon this disputed point.

Appendix 179 of The Companion Bible says,
Shepherds and their flocks would not be found “abiding” (Gr. Agrauleo) in the open fields at night in December (tebeth), for the paramount reason that there would be no pasturage at that time. It was the custom then (as now) to withdraw the flocks during the month Marchesven (Oct.-Nov.) from the open districts and house them for the winter.

In reference to the census being taken on December 25 Geikie Cunningham in his book Christmas at Bethlehem Holy-days and Holidays states
…could hardly have been at that season [December 25], however, for such a time would surely not have been chosen by the authorities for a public enrollment, which necessitated the population’s traveling from all parts to their natal districts, storms and rain making journeys both unsafe and unpleasant in winter, except in specially favorable years.

According to the Encyclopedia Americana 1944 edition
“Christmas…was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the Christian church, as the Christians usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth…”

The 1908 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 3 pg. 724 states,
In the Scriptures, no on is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world.”

The 1983 edition of the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church on pg. 280 states in reference to the birth of Jesus,
“Though speculation as to the time of year of Christ’s birth dates from the early 3rd century, Clement of Alexandria suggesting the 20th of May, the celebration of the anniversary does not appear to have been general till the later 4th century. The earliest mention of the observance on Dec. 25th is in the Philocalian Calendar, representing Roman practice of the year 336. This date was prabably chosen to oppose the feast of the Natalis Solis Invicti [nativity of the unconquerable sun] by the celebration of the birth of the ‘Sun of Righteousness’ and its observance in the West, seems to have spread from Rome.”

Roman Catholic writer Mario Righetti in Manual of Liturgical History 1955 vol. 2 pg. 67 states
“…to facilitate the acceptance of the faith by the pagan masses, the Church of Rome found it convenient to institute the 25th of December as the feast of the birth of Christ to divert the from the pagan feast, celebrated on the same day in honor of the ‘Invincible Sun’ Mithras, the conqueror of darkness.”

Henry Chadwick in his book The Early Church published in 1967 on pg126 says concerning Christmas being on December 25th
“Moreover, early in the fourth century there begins in the West (where first and by whom is not known) the celebration of December 25th, the birthday of the Sun-god at the winter solstice, as the date for the nativity of Christ. How easy it was for Christianity and solar religion to become entangled at the popular level is strikingly illustrated by a mid-fifth century sermon of Pope Leo the Great, rebuking his over-cautious flock for paying reverence to the Sun on the steps of St. Peter’s before turing their back on it to worship inside the westward-facing basilica.”

In Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent writes about Constantine
His primary, indeed obsessive, objective was unity – unity in politics, in religion and in territory. A cult or state religion that included all other cults within it obviously help to achieve this objective…In the interest of unity, Constantine deliberately chose to blur the distinctions among Christianity, Mithraism, and Sol Invictus…”

2000 Edition Encyclopedia Britannica Vol. 11 p. 390
The feast of Sol and Victus on December 25th was celebrated with great joy, and eventually this date was taken over by the Christians as Chirstmas, the birthday of Christ.

On pg. 192 of Survivals of Roman Religion by Gordon J. Laing says,
“Cults of the sun, as we know from many sources, had attained the great vogue during the second, third and fourth centuries. Sun-worshippers indeed formed one of the big groups in that religious world in which Christianity was fighting for a place. Many of them became converts to Christianity and in all probability carried into their new religion some remnants of their old beliefs. The complaint of Pope Leo in the fifth century was that worshippers turned away from the altar and faced the door so that they could adore the rising sun is not without its significance in regard to the number of Christians who at one time had been adherents of some form of sun-worship. It is of course impossible to say precisely in what way their influence manifested itself. We do know, however, of analogues between Christ and the sun: he was designated the Sun of Righteousness; and our Christmas falls on the date of the festival of a popular sun-god in Rome.”