Two years ago, late December 2022, I visited Bethlehem for the Christmas season. By coincidence, Over The Rhine–my favorite band for Christmas music then and now–seems particularly taken with the carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” They have included it in all three of their Christmas albums: instrumentally in The Darkest Night of the Year and with expanded lyrics in two different ways in Snow Angels and Blood Oranges in the Snow. When I listened to the albums again the... Read more
For the past hundred years, the night before Christmas has not only been the occasion for church services, last-minute gift-wrapping, and eager anticipation from children of a visit from Santa Claus, but it has also been an opportunity for US presidents to give a speech to the nation. At no other time of the year do presidents routinely present homilies that are so explicitly Christian. Presidential Christmas Eve addresses therefore offer a fascinating window into American civil religion – the... Read more
Today is December 23: the last day to get overnight delivery for presents to arrive in time for stuffing Christmas stockings, the last full work day before Christmas, and, most important, the day to celebrate what is arguably the most beloved fictional holiday—Festivus. For the unacquainted, Festivus is a holiday that entered mainstream culture through the television show Seinfeld. It is something of an anti-Christmas, featuring some of the basic elements of any holiday, like family gatherings and feasting, while... Read more
For my post this month, I wanted to revisit my Christmas post from last December. I’m still compelled by the power of this metaphor and the theologians who utilized it to draw closer to the incarnate Christ. I hope it blesses you as well! – JR In Every Heart There Is a Womb: Mary’s Pregnancy and Ours As I’ve been thinking about what to bring to my column this month in preparation for the birth of Christ, two things have... Read more
I have a literary discovery to report, and I think I can claim a first here. It involves two works. One is by a great modern-day Christian novelist, and the other by an older author who wrote a stunning work on one particular tradition of the faith. This latter is the Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg, published in 1824, and which therefore now celebrates its 200th anniversary. I am going to be a little cagey about the... Read more
The people who were making these arguments for colorblind individualism in the late 1960s and early 1970s were the same people who ten years earlier were saying that God was a segregationist. They were not making good-faith arguments about doing what was in the best interest of their fellow Black Christians. They were fashioning a new defense of segregation and calling it colorblindness. Read more
My childhood experience of Christmas morning, like most, was marked by certain traditions. My siblings and I would wake up and excitedly descend to the living room to see a mass of presents under the tree. Then, we would eat my mother’s delicious monkey bread rapidly to get to the presents as quickly as possible. Before we tore open the wrapping paper concealing those treasures though, my father would pull out his Bible and slowly read from Luke 2 (it... Read more
I am writing this post on December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a day of great rejoicing in Mexico and indeed throughout the Americas, celebrating that the Mother of God came down in the form of a Nahua to help her Nahua children. I am closer to the story this year than in years past because I am deep into the final chapters of my manuscript about Juan Diego, the 16th century indigenous visionary to whom Guadalupe... Read more
I have posted quite often here on the theme of American empire throughout history, and specifically its relationship to shaping religion. This post concerns a very useful and quite surprising way of approaching that topic. Unlike other leading Western countries, the US has been quite ambiguous about its empire, and whether in fact we can even speak of such a thing. You don’t have to go too far back in history to find claims that the US was the only... Read more
I decided to experiment a little bit this month by writing a letter addressed to my sons, highlighting the lessons I have learned this year that I would like to pass on to them. Dear L & R, Honoring the fact that we are one of those families that celebrate the Christmas season early, I decided to write a Christmas letter reflecting on what I have learned from both of you. This might come as quite a shock since the... Read more
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