The English version was written in 1855, six years before the American Civil War and eight years before the Emancipation Proclamation. O Holy Night, it turns out, was a song of political resistance and protest. Imagine Americans singing in the years leading up to the Civil War the lyrics Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease.
O Holy Night as political protest. A Christmas carol as resistance literature.
This is as it should be. Advent is a call to Christian anarchism, the proclamation of the King of kings. With the coming of the Christ Child the Principalities and Powers had been put on notice. There’s a reason the Powers tried to kill the baby.
