People often celebrate Christmas in different ways, but there are some common traditions that have developed over time.  Where do these traditions come from, and how have they changed?  Prof. Tara Moore, a part-time instructor of English at Penn State University – York, takes us on a joyous exploration of Christmas past and present, revealing little tidbits of historical information that she dug up doing research on her two books, Christmas: The Sacred to Santa and Victorian Christmas in Print (see below for links).  This is definitely a podcast that you will want to listen to so as to impress your family, friends, and colleagues during the annual Christmas celebrations.

Our investigation begins with Prof. Moore herself, finding out how she came to write about Christmas.  Faced with the choice in graduate school of writing a dissertation about Victorian-era nuns or Victorian-era Christmas, the nun route looked pretty grim and so she chose to write on the merry holiday of Christmas.  Tara also notes that her historical studies have led her to celebrate Christmas in a more “low electricity” 19th century style and, at times, to feel the need to correct some folks regarding their misunderstandings of traditions including a play written about her church’s first pastor celebrating Christmas in 1774.  Given her Presbyterian background, and her historical training, Tara noted that Presbyterians would not have been celebrating Christmas in that era, but she nonetheless performed in the play.

We then turn the first Christmas with Tony noting how lucky it was that Jesus was born on that day.  Dr. Moore quickly sets Tony right and we enter into an interesting discussion about the birth of Jesus, thinking about when the birth actually did occur (which would more likely have been springtime).  Tara reviews how we have settled on a late December date for Jesus’s birth, being a symbolic choice for nine months after the assumed date of the Annunciation.  She further notes that Christmas was not a major holiday in the early centuries of the Church and only becomes an official holiday in 336 A.D., and not becoming more universally celebrated until 350 A.D.  Tara provides other interesting observations about the birth narrative of Jesus, discussing the role of shepherds and wise men, and also pointing out that while Romans celebrated birthdays, Judeans typically did not.

The early medieval celebrations of Christmas tended to be periods of fasting, particularly within the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  The celebration of the holiday in Western Europe started in Rome and gradually spread to other parts of Europe by the 9th century.  Early gift giving during this time was centered around food and the noted 12 days of Christmas (which ran past the December 25th date in early celebrations) was all about preparing feats.  A tradition also developed early on with respect to reversing social roles.  At first, the rich would provide food to the poor, but eventually it became a “topsy turvy” part of the calendar when peasants would dress as royalty, and choir boys would get to play the role of bishops.  At one point, the upending of social roles and customs became so raucous that King Henry VIII ended the practice of role reversals.  All of this leads to a discussion of the raucous nature of the holiday, and Tara recounts that in many ways it was a rather adult holiday with drunken carousing (giving way eventually to more tame caroling) and all sorts of fascinating local practices.  She notes that in Haverford, England, local residents celebrate by putting a cake on the horn of an ox, and at other times splash animals with beer!  As print media began to spread throughout Europe, many traditions became more standardized, though local idiosyncrasies persist until today.

This then prompts Tony to ask about a number of the more popular traditions and characters associated with the season.  We start with the Christmas tree, and Dr. Moore explains that the origin of this tradition is hard to trace.  While Romans were known to decorate trees in imperial days, and trees did figure into miracle plays, it wasn’t until the 1700s that trees became a centerpiece of Christmas celebrations.  (Interestingly, the use of trees led to some problems of deforestation and the Salzburg town government had to ban the removal of trees from local forests.)  We talk about the origins of ornaments a bit, noting that they started as cookies and in some places Christmas trees were hung from the ceiling upside down to prevent rodents from going after the baked goods dangling from the limbs.  Of course, we discuss the origins and development of Santa Claus, with Tara recounting the historical details of St. Nicholas of Myra, how he was one of the most popular saints in the 1500s, and then how the Santa arose from this.  While not directly related to St. Nicholas, Santa Claus comes from a variety of sources and tended to start out as a “wild man” of Europe that only became tamed in the mid-19th century with the painting of him done by Thomas Nast and the famous poem by Clement Moore.   This invariably leads to Krampus and the Scandinavian Nisse (woe be unto farmers, we find out).

Our conversation ends with discussion on when and why Christmas was banned at various times and places, as well as some of Tara’s thoughts on commercialization and how Christ has come back into Christmas in recent times.  Prof. Moore shares a few of her favorite family holiday traditions to close us out.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!  Recorded: December 8, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Christmas: The Sacred to Santa, by Tara Moore.

Victorian Christmas in Print, by Tara Moore.

RELATED PODCASTS

John Mark Reynolds on Dickens and “A Christmas Carol.”

Adam English on the Real Santa Claus.

Jon Sweeney on “Its a Wonderful Life.”

J. Wallace Warner on Cold-Case Christianity and Christmas.

Pamela Edwards on Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Michael Foley on Religion and Booze.

As Tony can never resist the opportunity to explore where scholars develop their ideas from, he starts the discussion with an exploration of Nathanael’s background and how he came to blend public choice theory with economics.  Nathanael reveals that he was inspired to follow the path of economic study while serving as a missionary serving inner city youth and teaching economics.  This developed into a pursuit for a Ph.D. at George Mason University where student are encouraged to explore unique and non-traditional topics as economic graduate students.  His marriage of public choice theory to the study of religious organizations was prompted by a quip made by one of his professors during a graduate seminar, and that becomes the focus of our discussion today.  Public choice theory is then explained as a subfield of economics that applies the analytical tools of micro-economics to the world of politics, imposing the assumptions of methodological individualism, analytical egalitarianism, and self-interest onto the actions and decisions of people in the political realm.  As religious individuals are also people with political preferences that seek to get those goals realized in public policy, Nathanael reasoned that this theoretical perspective would be an ideal one for examining the changing nature of the Evangelical Coalition.

Following that introduction to public choice theory, we turn to the religious world and Mr. Snow notes that it is very difficult to find a specific definition for what it means to be an evangelical.  This ambiguity in definition is important because it provides a hint at the changing and chaotic nature of the “evangelical voting bloc” that so many politicians seek to capture.  This leads to a discussion of median voter theory wherein politicians will seek to capture the “voter in the middle” of some multi-dimensional voting space, and that interest groups will often try to navigate their coalitions to fit the median voter.  Given that not all evangelicals agree about everything, this leads to “voting chaos” within the coalition over time as different groups vie to be deemed the median voter and have their policies favored by elected officials.   Nathanael explains that as the electoral franchise has expanded over time, religious organizations lose their direct legitimizing influence over the state and must compete for the attention of parliaments and other legislatures.  Adam Smith becomes the topic of conversation as Mr. Snow makes a very insightful connection between what Smith wrote about religious organizations in Book V of The Wealth of Nations and his observation early in that work that members of a profession seldom meet for diversion before the conversation turns in a conspiratorial manner to raise prices.  Tony thinks this is a brilliant insight and is upset that he never saw that direct linkage in his own work.  Nathanael explains that it isn’t necessarily a “price” the way we think about it when it comes to religious activity in the public sphere, but getting one’s objectives codified into law.

Our interview then finishes with Nathanael’s review of the history of the Evangelical Coalition dating back to the early and mid-19th century in the United States.  We cover the involvement that evangelicals had in organizing around the abolitionist movement and then see how a new split between progressives and fundamentalists arises in the early 20th century, redefining how this religious coalition views such issues as science, Darwinism, and contraception.  As politics can make strange bedfellows, the interesting dynamics of this coalition can be seen when Southern evangelicals vote with Catholics for Al Smith in the 1928 presidential election and against Herbert Hoover.  The first half of the 20th century becomes a period of schism and churning within the Evangelical Coalition that eventually settles down by the 1950s, which Nathanael declares a period of “peak Christendom.”  It is at this time that the likes of Billy Graham can draw support from a wide spectrum of religious denominations and political viewpoints.  We see the emergence of more voting chaos in the 1970s as progressive evangelicalism (e.g., the Sojourners) distance themselves from what becomes the Christian Right.  Nathanael discusses the election of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, and declares the period of George W Bush the era of “peak evangelicalism.”  Upon Tony’s prompting, Nathanael jumps into the world of speculation with respect to the upcoming 2016 presidential election, and also reflects on how his views about religion and politics have changed over the course of his research.  Recorded: February 25, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Department of Economics at George Mason University.

RELATED PODCASTS

Jon Shields on Democratic Virtues and the Christian Right.

Hunter Baker on the Past and Future of the Christian Right.

David Dixon on Religious Rhetoric and the Civil Rights Movement.

James Patterson on MLK, Fulton Sheen, and Jerry Falwell.

James Wellman on Evangelicals versus Liberal Christians.

Gerald de Maio on the Electoral Religious Gap.

Kevin den Dulk on Religion, Education, and Civic Engagement.

John Wilsey on American Exceptionalism & Civil Religion

Sean Scott on Religious Rhetoric in the US Civil War.

]]> http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/nathanael-snow-on-the-evangelical-coalition-and-public-choice/feed 1 http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/tara-moore-on-christmas-traditions http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/tara-moore-on-christmas-traditions#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2015 09:00:53 +0000 http://www.researchonreligion.org/?p=4240 People often celebrate Christmas in different ways, but there are some common traditions that have developed over time.  Where do these traditions come from, and how have they changed?  Prof. Tara Moore, a part-time instructor of English at Penn State University – York, takes us on a joyous exploration of Christmas past and present, revealing little tidbits of historical information that she dug up doing research on her two books, Christmas: The Sacred to Santa and Victorian Christmas in Print (see below for links).  This is definitely a podcast that you will want to listen to so as to impress your family, friends, and colleagues during the annual Christmas celebrations.

Our investigation begins with Prof. Moore herself, finding out how she came to write about Christmas.  Faced with the choice in graduate school of writing a dissertation about Victorian-era nuns or Victorian-era Christmas, the nun route looked pretty grim and so she chose to write on the merry holiday of Christmas.  Tara also notes that her historical studies have led her to celebrate Christmas in a more “low electricity” 19th century style and, at times, to feel the need to correct some folks regarding their misunderstandings of traditions including a play written about her church’s first pastor celebrating Christmas in 1774.  Given her Presbyterian background, and her historical training, Tara noted that Presbyterians would not have been celebrating Christmas in that era, but she nonetheless performed in the play.

We then turn the first Christmas with Tony noting how lucky it was that Jesus was born on that day.  Dr. Moore quickly sets Tony right and we enter into an interesting discussion about the birth of Jesus, thinking about when the birth actually did occur (which would more likely have been springtime).  Tara reviews how we have settled on a late December date for Jesus’s birth, being a symbolic choice for nine months after the assumed date of the Annunciation.  She further notes that Christmas was not a major holiday in the early centuries of the Church and only becomes an official holiday in 336 A.D., and not becoming more universally celebrated until 350 A.D.  Tara provides other interesting observations about the birth narrative of Jesus, discussing the role of shepherds and wise men, and also pointing out that while Romans celebrated birthdays, Judeans typically did not.

The early medieval celebrations of Christmas tended to be periods of fasting, particularly within the Eastern Orthodox tradition.  The celebration of the holiday in Western Europe started in Rome and gradually spread to other parts of Europe by the 9th century.  Early gift giving during this time was centered around food and the noted 12 days of Christmas (which ran past the December 25th date in early celebrations) was all about preparing feats.  A tradition also developed early on with respect to reversing social roles.  At first, the rich would provide food to the poor, but eventually it became a “topsy turvy” part of the calendar when peasants would dress as royalty, and choir boys would get to play the role of bishops.  At one point, the upending of social roles and customs became so raucous that King Henry VIII ended the practice of role reversals.  All of this leads to a discussion of the raucous nature of the holiday, and Tara recounts that in many ways it was a rather adult holiday with drunken carousing (giving way eventually to more tame caroling) and all sorts of fascinating local practices.  She notes that in Haverford, England, local residents celebrate by putting a cake on the horn of an ox, and at other times splash animals with beer!  As print media began to spread throughout Europe, many traditions became more standardized, though local idiosyncrasies persist until today.

This then prompts Tony to ask about a number of the more popular traditions and characters associated with the season.  We start with the Christmas tree, and Dr. Moore explains that the origin of this tradition is hard to trace.  While Romans were known to decorate trees in imperial days, and trees did figure into miracle plays, it wasn’t until the 1700s that trees became a centerpiece of Christmas celebrations.  (Interestingly, the use of trees led to some problems of deforestation and the Salzburg town government had to ban the removal of trees from local forests.)  We talk about the origins of ornaments a bit, noting that they started as cookies and in some places Christmas trees were hung from the ceiling upside down to prevent rodents from going after the baked goods dangling from the limbs.  Of course, we discuss the origins and development of Santa Claus, with Tara recounting the historical details of St. Nicholas of Myra, how he was one of the most popular saints in the 1500s, and then how the Santa arose from this.  While not directly related to St. Nicholas, Santa Claus comes from a variety of sources and tended to start out as a “wild man” of Europe that only became tamed in the mid-19th century with the painting of him done by Thomas Nast and the famous poem by Clement Moore.   This invariably leads to Krampus and the Scandinavian Nisse (woe be unto farmers, we find out).

Our conversation ends with discussion on when and why Christmas was banned at various times and places, as well as some of Tara’s thoughts on commercialization and how Christ has come back into Christmas in recent times.  Prof. Moore shares a few of her favorite family holiday traditions to close us out.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!  Recorded: December 8, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Christmas: The Sacred to Santa, by Tara Moore.

Victorian Christmas in Print, by Tara Moore.

RELATED PODCASTS

John Mark Reynolds on Dickens and “A Christmas Carol.”

Adam English on the Real Santa Claus.

Jon Sweeney on “Its a Wonderful Life.”

J. Wallace Warner on Cold-Case Christianity and Christmas.

Pamela Edwards on Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Michael Foley on Religion and Booze.

]]> http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/tara-moore-on-christmas-traditions/feed 2 http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/scott-carroll-on-biblical-manuscripts-the-king-james-bible http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/scott-carroll-on-biblical-manuscripts-the-king-james-bible#comments Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:00:09 +0000 http://www.researchonreligion.org/?p=709 This year (2011) marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James version of the Holy Bible.  To celebrate this momentous event, Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion is sponsoring a three-day conference (April 7 – 9, 2011) with some of the world’s most pre-eminent scholars.  Our podcast warly welcomes Scott Carroll, director of the Green Collection, principal investigator for the Green Scholar’s Initiative, and former professor of ancient history at Cornerstone University.  Dr. Carroll’s work takes him around the globe collecting biblical manuscripts and ancient artifacts that will be on display in the Green Collection, one of the world’s largest private collection of such antiquities (sponsored by the Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby).  We begin our podcast with a brief overview of this collection, the scholarly work connected to the collection, and plans for a future museum.  (Listeners wishing to get directly to the substantive discussion can fast foward to minute 18:00).  We then engage in a broad conversation covering the diffusion and dissemination of ancient manuscripts, the various translation of the Old and New Testaments, and how such translations were viewed throughout history.  This brings us up to the history behind the King James version.  Dr. Carroll takes us through the tumultuous era of Tudor England, with the various machinations of monarchs such as Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth.  With the ascencion of the House of Stuart, we then discuss how King James’s authorized translation was heavily influenced by William Tyndale and how the result of a decade-long process had a greater impact on the English language than Shakespeare (who was fond of quoting from the Geneva Bible).  Not only do we examine how religious dissenters such as the Puritans viewed, and eventually adopted, the King James Version (particularly in the American colonies), but we assess the overall impact of the KJV Bible up to present day.  Recorded: March 18, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

Dr. Scott Carroll’s webpage at Baylor’s ISR.

The King James Bible and the World that it Made, a conference sponsored by Baylor’s ISR (April 7-9, 2011).

The Green Scholar’s Initiative (including information about the Green Collection and opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research).