According to conventional wisdom, Christmas had its origin in a pagan winter solstice festival, which the church co-opted to promote the new religion.
According to conventional wisdom, Christmas had its origin in a pagan winter solstice festival, which the church co-opted to promote the new religion.
In response to my column on the evidence that December 25 was not set aside as Christ’s birthday because of some pagan holiday, but for good reason, alert WORLD reader Rev. Gary Hinman sent me this article on yet another line of evidence. The calculations
[This entry from 2006, which continues the case that Christmas did NOT derive from a pagan holiday, reminds us that those of us from European, yea, Germanic stock, had pagan ancestors who were brought to faith by missionaries.] Thanks to reader SSchaper–also to commenter Puzzled–
Babies like Christmas music A study has found that Christmas music, more so than other kinds, has a calming effect on babies. Daycare workers have long noticed how babies do not cry as much when Christmas music is played in the background. Other styles they
[Another great Luther quote on Christmas, posted in 2005] The God in the Manger A major hat-tip to What You Do Do Quickly for this heart-touching Christmas meditation from Martin Luther: if you will have joy, bend yourself down to this place. There you will
HT to Paul McCain for quotes about how Luther relates vocation to Christmas: Here is another excellent and helpful lesson, namely, that after the shepherds have been enlightened and have come to a true knowledge of Christ, they do not run out into the desert-which
When veterans of the Clinton administration went into academia, a number of them were shocked to find that despite their impeccable liberal politics, their new university colleagues considered them unacceptably right wing! On many campuses the faculty has more Marxists than Republicans. This has long
The British press is reporting that the head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said in an interview that the nativity story is just a a legend. What he really said is that the Wise Men weren’t kings, that they
Confounding the anti-natalists we talked about recently, the fertility rate in the USA has reached 2.1 children per woman, which means that Americans are, at long last, replacing themselves. This is good news, as other advanced industrial nations are struggling with low fertility rates that
G. K. Chesterton said that there is no such thing as an uninteresting subject. There can only be an uninterested person. His point was that EVERYTHING in this created order is, when seen properly, amazing. A corollary that I have long noted is that ANY
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