Toward the Origins of Christmas
by S.K. Roll
Christmas exerts an enormous attraction today even apart from its Christian character as a celebration of the incarnation of God in the Person of Jesus. Even marginal or indifferent Christians crowd the churches on Christmas Eve and in highly commercialized and technologized Western societies the Christmas season is celebrated with enthousiasm. Yet Christmas entered the calendar of feasts relatively late, by 336 C.E., and the reason for its introduction and quick spread remain speculative and based on fragmentary evidence. Towards the Origins of Christmas addresses both the contemporary Western celebration of Christmas, and its deep historical roots in the church of the fourth century. The book presents a thorough investigation of the patristic texts and evidence cited by liturgical scholars in the late 19th and 20th centuries to support two main theories: the Calculation theory and the History of Religions theory. This historical research is set in the framework of the contemporary experience of Christmas; the dynamics of time and the liturgical year; the inculturation of liturgy; and underlying elements of dualism and patriarchal power paradigms which linger beneath the often commercial and sentimental character of Christmas today. Suzan K. Roll was born in Clarence Center, New York (USA) in 1952. She holds degrees in classical languages and pastoral theology, and in 1993 received a Ph. D. from the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Louvain (Leuven), Belgium, summa cum laude with the gratulations of the jury. She has thaught and published in the field of liturgy, sacraments, pastoral theology, and presently teaches at Christ the King Seminary, Buffalo, New York (USA).
- By (author) SK Roll
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La liturgie des Heures par tous les baptisés
L'expérience quotidienne du mystère pascal
Volume 23
The Presanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite
A Comparative Analysis of its Origins, Evolution, and Structural Components
Volume 21
Doing Ritual Criticism in a Network Society
Online and Offline Explorations into Pilgrimage and Sacred Place
Volume 29
Rituals in Abundance
Critical Reflections on the Place, Form and Identity of Christian Ritual in our Culture
Volume 17
Friedlicher Kreuzzug und fromme Pilger
Liturgiehistorische Studien zur Heilig-Land-Wallfahrt im Spiegel deutschsprachiger Pilgerberichte des späten 19. Jahrhunderts
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Worship in the Network Culture
Liturgical Ritual Studies. Fields and Methods, Concepts and Metaphors
Volume 28
The Embodied Space of Worship
Liturgical Signs and Liturgical Bodies in Contemporary Finnish Orthodox Lay Worship
Volume 33
Patterns and Persons
A Historiography of Liturgical Studies in the Netherlands in the Twentieth Century
Volume 25
The Sound of Worship
Liturgical Performance by Surinamese Lutherans and Ghanaian Methodists in Amsterdam
Volume 26
Bonding in Worship
A Ritual Lens on Social Capital in African Independent Churches in South Africa
Volume 30
From Fast to Feast
A Ritual-Liturgical Exploration of Reconciliation in South African Cultural Contexts
Volume 19
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