A Christmas Plug

Last updated on: April 5, 2018 at 11:51 am by Ben Spackman

A Christmas Plug 2018-04-05T11:51:23-05:00 Ben Spackman

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Real St. Nicholas

One of the best ways for laypeople to learn about the history, text, interpretation, archaeology, and lands of the Bible is through reading Biblical Archaeology Review. In spite of the name, it’s not just about archaeology. It used to have a sister magazine called Bible Review which was more focused on text and interpretation, but they’ve been combined. BAR (the frequent acronym) contains writings by scholars (Jewish, Christian, LDS, nothing particular) written for laypeople, so it’s meant to be accessible and up-to-date. It also means that you’ll see things that challenge, things written from different worldviews or religious presuppositions, and, often, rejoinders by other scholars who disagree. So you’ll also learn to recognize good scholarship and quality argument.

I’ve pulled out three Christmas-y articles to show the kind of thing they do. First, Hebrew Bible scholar William H.C. Propp writes a tongue-in-cheek piece about relating Christmas and Santa Clause to asherah, the ancient mother goddess/tree/grove that Israel sometimes worshipped. The title riffs off an ancient inscription which some read as “Jahweh and his asherah.”

As it turns out, Propp was also “principal bassoonist of the North Coast Symphony Orchestra of Southern California and conductor of the La Jolla Renaissance Singers.” His musical life (and Jewish upbringing) contributed to another Christmas piece, with some history and critique of Handel’s use and abuse of the Hebrew Bible in writing The Messiah. This is article two.

Article three focuses on the how December 25th came to be celebrated as Christmas.

All three can be downloaded from here. Check out BAR. And if you’re interested in St. Nicholas, read this post.

As always, you can help me pay my tuition here . You can also get updates by email whenever a post goes up (subscription box on the right). If you friend me on Facebook, please drop me a note telling me you’re a reader. I tend not to accept friend requests from people I’m not acquainted with.

Previous Post

December 20, 2017

Reading the Early Chapters of Genesis- Podcast and Followup

Next Post

December 27, 2017 Old Testament Resources Part 4: History and Culture

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category ancient languages Announcements Book of Mormon books D&C evolution Genesis Gospel Doctrine Gospel Doctrine Resources history LDS Church History New Testament Old Testament prophets science and religion scripture study Seminary teaching temple Uncategorized

Select a Month August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 January 2010 December 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was struck dead instantly for lying about money they gave to the church?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Aquila and Priscilla Judas Iscariot and Mary Magdalene Ananias and Sapphira Simon the Sorcerer and Demas