Christmas: Tradition, Truth and Total Baubles

2020-10-29 Religion

Author : Nick Page
Release : 2020-10-29
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 098/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Christmas: Tradition, Truth and Total Baubles by : Nick Page

Download or read book Christmas: Tradition, Truth and Total Baubles written by Nick Page. This book was released on 2020-10-29. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is Christmas the way it is? How did we get from the birth of Jesus to everyone pushing their credit card and their belts to their maximum extent? Starting with the events surrounding Jesus' birth, this book takes us through centuries of commemoration, celebration and over-consumption. Along the way we'll find out why we eat turkey, how an obscure Turkish saint turned into a man flying a sleigh, and why that tree in your house should really contain an apple and a snake. Combining in-depth historical research, cheerfully irreverent humour and cutting-edge guesswork, Nick Page explores what this festival really means, and how we can get back to something real and true beneath all that wrapping.

How Christmas Became Christmas

2022-10-27 Religion

Author : Nathaniel Parry
Release : 2022-10-27
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 281/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis How Christmas Became Christmas by : Nathaniel Parry

Download or read book How Christmas Became Christmas written by Nathaniel Parry. This book was released on 2022-10-27. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In some respects, the contrasts of Christmas are what make it the most delightful time of the year. It is a time of generosity, kindness and peace on earth, with broad permission to indulge in food, drink and gifts. On the other hand, Christmas has become a battleground for raging culture wars, marred by debates about how it should be celebrated and acknowledged as a uniquely Christian holiday. This text argues that much of the animosity is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the holiday's core character. By tracing Christmas's origins as a pagan celebration of the winter solstice and its development in Europe's Christianization, this history explains that the true "reason for the season" has as much to do with the earth's movement around the sun as with the birth of Christ. Chapters chronicle how Christmas's magic and misrule link to the nativity, and why the carnival side of the holiday appears so separated from traditional Christian beliefs.

Kingdom of Fools

2012-05-10 Religion

Author : Nick Page
Release : 2012-05-10
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 382/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Kingdom of Fools by : Nick Page

Download or read book Kingdom of Fools written by Nick Page. This book was released on 2012-05-10. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fools. Rebels. Ignorant peasants. That's how the Roman world saw the first Christians. Led by fishermen, tax collectors and renegade Pharisees, the first Christians shunned power and welcomed the poor and uneducated. Roman commentators mocked their upside-down values, but the apostle Paul - himself a Roman citizen, and a Pharisee to boot, affirmed that 'God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.' Its followers were persecuted and its leaders killed, yet this ragged collection of lowly tradesmen, women, slaves - and a smattering of turncoat high-born Jews - created a movement that changed the world. How did this happen? How did the kingdom of fools conquer the mighty empire that was Rome? In this fascinating new biography of the early church, Nick Page sets the biblical accounts alongside the latest historical and archaeological research, exploring how the early Christians lived and worshipped - and just why the Romans found this new branch of the Jewish faith so difficult to comprehend. THE KINGDOM OF FOOLS is a fresh, challenging, accessible portrait of a movement so radical, so dangerous, so thrillingly different that it outlasted the empire that tried to destroy it and went on to become the driving force of our cultural development - and claims more followers today than ever before in history.

Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas

2010-05-04 Religion

Author : Ace Collins
Release : 2010-05-04
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 886/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas by : Ace Collins

Download or read book Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas written by Ace Collins. This book was released on 2010-05-04. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever wonder where some of our unique and meaningful Christmas traditions come from? Why are red and green popular colors of the season? Why is exchanging gifts a family tradition? Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas reveals the people, places, and events that shaped the best-loved customs of this merriest of holidays and how they all point to Christ. Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas includes insights about: Gift giving Christmas trees Caroling Nativity scenes Yule logs Stockings Advent wreaths Mistletoe Holly, and more! This is the perfect gift to infuse your celebration with spiritual insights, true-life tales, and captivating legends to intrigue you and your family. Bring new luster and depth to your modern traditions while you celebrate Jesus' birth. The traditions of Christmas lend beauty, awe, and hope to the holiday, causing people all over the world to anticipate it with joy. Warm your heart as you rediscover the true and eternal significance of Christmas.

A Christmas Cornucopia

2016-11-03 Religion

Author : Mark Forsyth
Release : 2016-11-03
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 55X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis A Christmas Cornucopia by : Mark Forsyth

Download or read book A Christmas Cornucopia written by Mark Forsyth. This book was released on 2016-11-03. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BY THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUNKENNESS Discover the unpredictable origins and etymologies of our Christmas customs this festive season. For something that happens every year of our lives, we really don't know much about Christmas. We don't know that the date we celebrate was chosen by a madman, or that Christmas, etymologically speaking, means "Go away, Christ". We're oblivious to the fact that the advent calendar was actually invented by a Munich housewife to stop her children pestering her for a Christmas countdown. And we would never have guessed that the invention of crackers was merely a way of popularising sweet wrappers. Luckily, like a gift from Santa himself, Mark Forsyth is here to unwrap this fundamentally funny gallimaufry of traditions and oddities, making it all finally make sense - in his wonderfully entertaining wordy way. 'Witty and revelatory. Blooming brilliant' Raymond Briggs 'Everything we ever thought about Christmas is wrong! Great stuff' Matthew Parris

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Christmas: Tradition, Truth and Total Baubles

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