Christmas
Kids’ holiday books: Christ, candelabras — and critters
By Cathy Lynn Grossman — December 14, 2017
(RNS) — Some are clearly rooted in religious messages, while others focus on family, kindness and generosity in ways that may appeal to interfaith and secular families – and everyone else.
Americans see more jingle, less Jesus in Christmas celebrations
By Cathy Lynn Grossman — December 13, 2017
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The survey captures how 'too many people think Christmas is about a mall and not a manger,' said Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.
How Christmas is linked to Hanukkah
By Lauren Markoe — December 8, 2017
(RNS) — Without the Maccabees’ victory and the preservation of Jewish religious life in ancient Israel, Christianity may not have emerged 200 years later with its taproots deeply embedded within Judaism.
The RNS gift guide: The good, the bad and the weird
By Kimberly Winston — December 6, 2017
(RNS) — Our annual guide to gifts for the godly and the godless.
Trump: The grinch who stole ‘Merry Christmas’
By Brandon Ambrosino — December 1, 2017
(RNS) — How I long for the days when the War on Christmas was a fiction.
Greggs’ portrayal of Jesus as a sausage roll echoes the Gospel of John, says biblical studies expert
By M J C Warren — November 18, 2017
(The Conversation) — Not unlike the current furor over Jesus the Sausage Roll, the Gospel of John depicts uproar and offense at Jesus being compared to food.
Did early Christians believe that Mary was a teenager? It’s complicated
By Christopher A. Frilingos — November 14, 2017
(The Conversation) — There are many little-known details in early Christian storytelling about the relationship between Mary and Joseph. Listen up, Jim Zeigler.
The ’Splainer: What is Epiphany?
By Kimberly Winston — January 5, 2017
(RNS) You thought the holidays were over. Technically, no — not until Jan. 6, when Christians all over the world celebrate Epiphany.
Pope’s Christmas message urges end to war, terrorism and ‘idolatry of money’
By Josephine McKenna — December 25, 2016
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The pontiff delivered his ‘Urbi et Orbi’ (To the City and to the World) blessing before an estimated 40,000 worshippers who gathered at the Vatican.
Be honest about what you’re celebrating Dec. 25
By Jacob Lupfer — December 23, 2016
(RNS) It’s one thing to take no note of Jesus’ coming, but it seems to me an egregious dishonor to pretend that we have.
ISIS issues hit list of U.S. churches for holiday attacks
By Jerome Socolovsky — December 23, 2016
(USA Today) The Islamic State is urging its followers to attack U.S. churches and has published names and addresses of thousands of prospective targets, according to a report in the news website Vocativ.
Churches connect Christmas story to refugee crisis
By Emily McFarlan Miller — December 22, 2016
(RNS) Refugees. Genocide. Oppressive regimes. These aren't the warm, fuzzy parts of the Christmas story most churches like to focus on, but some are connecting the Holy Family's flight to Egypt at the end of that story to the modern-day refugee crisis.
It ain’t Copacabana, but Brazilians bring Christmas to the shores of Lake Tahoe
By Kimberly Winston — December 22, 2016
(RNS) Brazilians in the U.S. bring a little of their summertime Christmas to Northern California.
Juggling faith and family when Christmas is on Sunday
By Adelle M. Banks — December 22, 2016
(RNS) Christmas on a Sunday can present a conundrum as pastors try to balance parishioners' sacred religious observance at church with family time at home.
Why Christmas is radical
By John Gehring — December 22, 2016
(RNS) It’s tempting to turn Christmas into a safe holiday that asks little of us. But that would ignore the prophetic, subversive life of Jesus, writes John Gehring.
