Christmas may be a season of tinsel, mince pies, carol services and family get-togethers, but there’s a serious political message wrapped up in the Christmas story too, says Theos.

The think tank has published a new report, The Politics of Christmas, in which author Dr Stephen Holmes argues that the modern Christmas is largely a legacy of the Victorian era that bears little resemblance to the story told in the gospels.

While charity and time with the family are important aspects of the season, the St Andrews University professor says that the Christmas story is also intensely political, throwing light upon the economic exploitation, imperial oppression, social stigma and petty tyranny experienced in the world that Jesus was born into.

With these varying elements interwoven in the Christmas story, Dr Holmes argues that challenging exploitation and political oppression are as much a part of Christmas as the domestic aspects.

The report draws on research commissioned by Theos asking people what they thought Christmas was about. The vast majority (83%) said it was about spending time with family and friends.

Sixty-two per cent associated the season with being “generous to people less fortunate than ourselves”.

When it came to challenging poverty and economic injustice, however, only 34% said that this was what Christmas was about, and just one in five (19%) said it was a time to “challenge political oppression around the world”.

Elizabeth Hunter, Theos’ Director, said, “Christmas is undoubtedly a time for family and for generosity. But it should also be a moment when we hear and attend to a message of justice and freedom for all.”

“The gospel writers repeatedly emphasise the political implications of the birth of Jesus, but we fail to hear them through the clamour of jingle bells.

“However, in this year above all, in which we have seen the Arab Spring and the Occupy protests, we should turn from a sentimentalised vision of the season and listen carefully to the true political message of the Christmas story.”