A Test of Faith

By Ben Lima The Massacre of the Innocents is a test of faith. Taking place in the midst of the Christmas story, Herod the Great’s vain attempt to do away with the threat to his reign by killing all the baby ... Read More...

A Christmas Paradox

By Molly Jane Layton When St. John the Evangelist wrote the Christmas story, he left out all of the Christmas. There are no angels, no shepherds, no wise men. No Mary, no Joseph, no manger. No birth announce... Read More...

The Apple Tree and the Long New Year

By Jody Howard The ending of a year and beginning of another is a more liminal and porous transition than first imagined. We experience some certainty about the date, though different parts of the globe leav... Read More...

A Christ-Haunted Christmas Carol

By Sarah Puryear Like most English majors, I keep a running list of books I “should” read but never quite get around to reading. Several of Charles Dickens’s books feature prominently on mine; I’ve been meaning to get around to reading A Tale of Two Cities ... Read More...

Is There Really a Secular Christmas?

By Timothy P. O’Malley A virtuous grumpiness has overtaken a certain kind of Christian. At least, we imagine that it’s virtuous. While the rest of the world has been consumed by a commercialized season, we C... Read More...

What Child (Youth) Is This, Indeed?

Jesus’s first sermon in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52) By Jean McCurdy Meade The shepherds have returned to the fields and their flocks. When the child is eight days old, his parents bring him to be circumcised,... Read More...