No Trace of Christmas ? : Discovering Advent in the Old Testament

by Christoph Dohmen

What is the significance of Jesus' genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew? Why do we put and ox and ass at our creches? Why did angels appear to the shepherds? In No Trace of Christmas? Christoph Dohmen explains why the answers to these and other questions regarding our understanding of Christmas are to be found not in the New but in the Old Testament. For the most part Christians regard the Old (or First) Testament as pre-history, a preparation for, or a promise of the New Testament and its proclamation of Christ. This is especially true during Advent, when the Christian liturgy directs our attention to the promise and its fulfillment. Yet Advent's status as the beginning of the Church year - as a turning point - calls us to look back in order to move forward. We read intensively from Old Testament prophecy texts with a special view toward their future meaning. Hence, Advent is the time of the year when Christians are reminded that they have one sacred Scripture in two parts, one Bible composed of the Old and New Testaments. Since it was with the aid of the Old Testament that the early Church interpreted the event at Bethlehem, many of the images and biblical texts associated with Christmas can only be understood by following their Old Testament roots. Like the Magi who followed the star, we can, with Dohmen's help, follow in the liturgy of Advent and Christmas the traces that lead us into the Old Testament. Following those traces, we can arrive at a Christmas that appears to us in a new light, that of the Old Testament. Chapters are In Search of Traces," "It All Began Before Christmas," "Addressed and Claimed," "A Gift from Heaven," "When Shepherds Become Prophets, "You Shall Make No Crib for Yourself!" "Joseph, What Are You Dreaming?" "A New Age Is Beginning," "In Order That Might Be Fulfilled . . . ," "In Our Midst," "Yad Vashem," "You, Bethlehem . . . ," and "Following the Trace."

104 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Dohmen is professor of Old Testament exegesis at the University of Osnabruck in Germany.

Reviews

[Julie]

Dohmen reads the narratives of Jesus's birth in the gospels of Matthew and Luke and the themes in the Advent liturgy in the light of his experience as a professor of Old Testament exegesis. This is not a book which lists a verse in the Old Testament simply to match it up with its fulfillment in the New Testament. It is a more nuanced approach. Many of the themes he explores are introduced by ancient Christian works of art. One example is a Bible illustration linking Moses and the burning bush, Aaron's budding staff and the nativity of Jesus. Dohmen explores the themes which relate these miracles "against nature" and the saving nearness of God. He points out interesting information about dreams and prophecies throughout the Bible. I found valuable the insights he shared concerning the organization of the Hebrew scriptures which was 'the Bible' to Jesus and all the earliest Christians.