Good Tidings made Visible

Western Christianity approached the mystery of the Incarnation as a tenet of faith worthy to be commemorated and celebrated both within and beyond the liturgical context. As it becomes evident in the heterogeneous examples analysed by the scholars participating in the present monograph, Christian communities throughout history felt the need to depict periodically the unfathomable revelation of the ‘Word made flesh’. The first section entitled ‘Foretelling and Announcing the Advent of the Messiah’ focuses on different forms of representing the exceptional circumstances preceding and surrounding the birth of Christ. The three essays assembled in the section entitled ‘Rejoicing at the Birth of the Christ-Child’ deal with performances that are reflections of mankind’s delight at witnessing the miracle of the Incarnation. The contributions included in the final section, which bears the title ‘Displaying the Collective Dimension of the Nativity’, deal with performances during the Christmas season or in the context of the feast of Corpus Christi that require a considerable communitarian effort. What all of the Nativity scenes analysed in this volume have in common is the fact that they represent a vivid expression of the commitment to the trust in Christ’s presence among men. The joy about the Good Tidings of the birth of the Emmanuel can be seen as the driving force behind all the different types of re-enactments of the Nativity dealt with in this volume.