Making the MexiRican City
To commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month, this week's review analyzes the community-building and activist practices Mexican and Puerto Rican migrants employed in 20th-century Michigan.
Posted on in Review of the Week
The Oxford Handbook of Christmas
Happy Holidays! This week's review takes an in-depth historical, theological, and cultural look at Christmas.
Posted on December 20, 2021 in Review of the Week
The Oxford Handbook of Christmas
ed. by Timothy Larsen Oxford, 2020
656p index, 9780198831464 $145.00, 9780191869167
This beautiful, comprehensive handbook thoroughly covers the religious and cultural significance of the Christian festival of Christmas. Larsen (Christian thought, Wheaton College, Illinois) assembled an international team of contributors, and he divides their 45 essays into eight topical parts. “History” covers the history of Christmas in Christianity from the beginning to the present; “Theology” and “Worshipping Communities” deal with, respectively, the biblical and theological aspects of Christmas and how the holiday is observed within the various Christian communities; and “The Nativity Story” examines different aspects of the traditional Christmas narrative. The remaining four sections cover Christmas traditions, Christmas in the arts, Christmas around the world, and Christmas in state and society. Though the beauty of the book and its illustrations could lead one to think otherwise, this is a serious work of scholarship, as evidenced by the extensive bibliographies at the end of each essay.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals; general readers.
Reviewer: M. A. Granquist, Luther Seminary
Subject: Humanities – Religion
Choice Issue: Jun 2021
Enjoy this week’s review? Check out more reviews of related titles:
- A History of Judaism
- Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition
- Luminous Art: Hanukkah Menorahs of the Jewish Museum
- Hanukkah in America: A History
- Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations
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