Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 08:2 (Spring 1991)
Article: The Theology and Symbolism of the Christian Year
Author: G. Thomas Halbrooks

FM 8:2 (Spring 1991) p. 3

The Theology and Symbolism of the Christian Year

G. Thomas Halbrooks

Professor of Church History,
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Christian Year is a calendar for the annual commemoration of major events in the life of Christ. In the past decade many Baptist churches have begun celebrating additional elements of this calendar. They have found the Christian Year to be a meaningful way to keep their focus on the central aspects of the Christian faith.

Yet this is somewhat of a departure from their Baptist past. Early Baptists usually would not celebrate any element of the Christian Year, not even Christmas or Easter. One leading Baptist went so far as to say that in any church that followed the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus, church holidays, such as Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, were “non-entities.”1 Why such difference between many current Baptists and early Baptists? Which understanding is more nearly correct? What is a proper theology and symbolism of the Christian year? In order to answer these questions, we must first consider how the Christian Year developed.

Development of the Christian Year

The church began the process of developing the Christian Year in the first century,2 celebrating the resurrection on Sunday, the day of resurrection. They called it the Lord’s Day and made it the central focus for each week as Christians gathered to celebrate the resurrection of their Lord.

It was not long, however, before the church began to feel the need for a major resurrection festival in connection with the time of Passover. It is probable that the New Testament church developed the celebration of Easter as the climax of the celebration of the Christian passover, the commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ. As they had made the Lord’s Day the major weekly celebration, so they made Easter the major yearly celebration of the resurrection. They engaged in serious debate over whether Easter should be celebrated on the day of the Jewish Passover or whether it should always be on a Sunday. By the early fourth century the church decided that it was more important to celebrate the resurrection on the Lord’s day, and they settled the date as the first Sunday on or after the first full moon after the Spring equinox, March 21.

Easter soon became the major time for baptism, and the church set aside a time for the final preparation of the new converts who were to be baptized. This preparation was viewed as a parallel to Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness and as a

FM 8:2 (Spring 1991) p. 4

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