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In Bondage to Christmas
FREDERICK J. GAISER
(see full text of essay under “Editorial”)
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So, pray with me for
the coming of the sun of righteousness—that sun whose warmth and light make
us new just as they make new our gardens every spring; yes, and that Son
whose righteousness becomes our own. Might Christmas ever again be for me
about something more than cash registers and credit cards? It seems
impossible. But when Jesus enters with healing in his wings, all things
become possible.
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Articles
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For You Today a Savior: The Lukan
Infancy Narrative
JAMES L. BOYCE
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Luke’s story of the births of John the Baptist and
Jesus presents a compelling narrative that shapes a Christmas message of the
promises of God for today and has power to awaken faith and transform hearers
into witnesses of the gospel.
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Christmas and the Reality of the Incarnation: Finitum capax infiniti
ANN MILLIKEN
PEDERSON
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Incarnation is anything but neat. In Christ and
Christmas, God embraces the messiness of flesh and world, giving us life and calling
us to passionate love of God and all that God has made.
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Advent-Christmas: The Education of Desire
JANET
SCHLICHTING
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We observe Advent and Christmas in a sinful world that offers
things we think we cannot live without. But God comes to transform our
desires, to cause us to long for God and Christ—coming to us in the surprise
of the ordinary.
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Christmas Was Not Always Like This: A Brief
History
BRUCE DAVID
FORBES
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Our longings for a more spiritual, family-centered
celebration imagine a golden age that never was. From the beginning,
Christmas has had mixed meanings and been the center of cultural and
ecclesiastical controversy.
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Has Advent Succumbed to Consumerism? Reflections
on an Embattled Season
PAUL O. MYHRE
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Preparation for Christmas in North American culture has become
dominated by the forces of consumerism. Is there another way? People of faith
can be renewed by concentrating on the traditional themes of Advent
exemplified in the biblical texts for this season.
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Observing Christmas: A Jewish Perspective
BARRY D. CYTRON
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As their place in American culture has changed, American Jews have
demonstrated different responses to the overwhelming reality of Christmas in
their world. Their task will be to find ways to respect both their neighbor’s
faith and their own.
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“All Who Seek a Christmas Treasure”: Paul
Gerhardt’s Christmas Lullaby
FREDERICK A.
GAISER
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To observe the 400th anniversary of the birth of Lutheran preacher and
hymn writer Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676), Word & World has published new translations of Gerhardt hymns
in each 2007 issue. As the last in that series we offer here Gerhardt’s
Christmas Lullaby, hitherto unavailable in English.
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Texts in Context
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The One Who Will Be Born: Preaching Isaiah’s Promises
in a Harry Potter Culture
KARL N. JACOBSON AND ROLF A. JACOBSON
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The prophetic texts for Advent are not merely historical nor merely predictive. They should be read as vital
messages to their original context, as promises fulfilled in Jesus, and as living words for hearers today.
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Christmas Preaching in a Contemporary Context
MARC KOLDEN
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The Christmas story is so well known and so embedded in the trappings of
secular culture that the preacher might find it difficult to find new ways to
bring it alive. Using unexpected texts and everyday stories might help.
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“Once in Royal David’s City”: David’s
Story in Preaching and Pastoral Care
JANET
L. RAMSEY
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Reading Jesus’ story
in the light of David’s will broaden and deepen our appreciation of
Christmas, adding new dimensions to our preaching and pastoral care.
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Face to Face:
Christmas Hymns in Advent?
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Yes, We Need to Connect with the
Culture
MARC KOLDEN
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No, We Are Not
the Chapel of the Culture
PAUL
WESTERMEYER
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Reviews
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Vítor Westhelle’s
“Scandalous God”
MARK
W. THOMSEN
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Romans in Full
Circle: A History of Interpretation, by Mark Reasoner
GLEN W. MENZIES
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Studies in Matthew,
by Ulrich Luz
WALTER E. PILGRIM
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God Is Not Great:
How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens
KARL N. JACOBSON
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Conversations with Poppi about God, by Robert W. Jenson and Solveig Lucia Gold
MELISSA D. F. KUEMMERLE
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The Pastor: A Spirituality, by Gordon W. Lathrop
TIM WESTERMEYER
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Index to Volume 27 (2007)
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