The Oxford Handbook of Christmas

by Timothy Larsen (Editor)

The Oxford Handbook of Christmas provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary account of all aspects of Christmas across the globe, from the specifically religious to the purely cultural. The contributions are drawn from a distinguished group of international experts from across numerous disciplines, including literary scholars, theologians, historians, biblical scholars, sociologists, anthropologists, art historians, and legal experts. The volume provides authoritative treatments of a range of topics, from the origins of Christmas to the present; decorating trees to eating plum pudding; from the Bible to contemporary worship; from carols to cinema; from the Nativity Story to Santa Claus; from Bethlehem to Japan; from Catholics to Baptists; from secularism to consumerism.

Christmas is the biggest celebration on the planet. Every year, a significant percentage of the world's population is draw to this holiday—from Cape Cod to Cape Town, from South America to South Korea, and on and on across the globe. The Christmas season takes up a significant part of the entire year. For many countries, the holiday is a major force in their national economy. Moreover, Christmas is not just a modern holiday, but has been an important feast for most Christians since the fourth century and a dominant event in many cultures and countries for over a millennium. The Oxford Handbook of Christmas provides an invaluable reference point for anyone interested in this global phenomenon.

Genres: Christmas, History, Religion, Nonfiction

640 pages, Hardcover

Published November 30, 2020

About the author

Timothy Larsen is McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Reviews

[Jeremy]

See an interview here. I corresponded with Larsen about this book in 2019. I plan to review it for Christianity & Literature.

[Lucia Graziano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gli Oxford Handbook non si smentiscono mai, anche se a questo non mi sento di dare cinque stelle piene. Buona parte del volume è scandita su base geografica (cioè si analizza la storia del Natale in Scandinavia, poi nell'Europa mediterranea, poi negli Stati Uniti... e così via dicendo). Approccio interessante ma non sempre funzionale: in alcuni casi, perché la stessa tradizione, se presente in diverse aree del mondo, viene trattata in più di un capitolo (il che è dispersivo a dir poco); in altri casi, perché si avverte la mancanza di capitoli tematici sulle linee di "ecco la storia completa di come si arriva da san Nicola a Santa Claus"; "ecco una analisi ragionata sul perché dei mostri legati al periodo di Natale presenti nel folklore".

Gli avrei aggiunto un altro centinaio di pagine includendo anche questi temi, e/o avrei preferito una scansione su base tematica che magari analizzasse le differenze geografiche in sottoparagrafi, più che in capitoli a se stanti.

Ma a parte questo, un tesoro prezioso come tutti gli Oxford Handbook eh, capiamoci.

[Salem · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed over several chapters in this book on topics that didn't grab my attention that I'll probably come back to at some point. Overall solid scholarship that I enjoyed reading, but with no immediate use for this knowledge, my attention tended to wander.