"The origins of Christmas lie in an Egyptian festival on 6 January, which spread to much of the Christian world as a celebration of the birth and/or baptism of Christ and known as the Epiphany or Theophany. The church at Rome did not adopt this festival but later instituted a celebration of the nativity of Christ on 25 December, which gradually supplanted its observance on 6 January in other churches, leaving this latter occasion as a commemoration of Christ's baptism alone, or of the visit of the Magi in those churches like Rome that had not observed that date previously. This essay traces that evolution and examines the merits of the two competing scholarly theories that have sought to explain the original choice of these particular dates"--

When your family gets together at Christmastime, this book will prove to be the most treasured gift, bringing together children and parents, young and old. All the great stories of the holidays, along with some wonderful surprises, are waiting to be read aloud around the tree. This superb treasury of 30 seasonal tales, 10 of which were specially commissioned for this collection, brings together all the traditional Christmas characters and customs that children of all ages know and love -- Grandfather Frost, Mr. Pickwick, the Snowman, carol-singing, and the birth of Jesus. Some of the stories -- by authors such as Charles Dickens, Shirley Jackson, and Sue Townsend -- will be familiar to young readers and their parents. Others -- by modern writers including Robert Swindells, Philippa Pearche, and Sue Townsend -- will quickly become newly-discovered favorites.

This beautifully designed book contains well over 100 Christmas poems--old and new, traditional and modern--and features four sections, starting in winter, moving through Advent, and arriving at the Nativity and the heart of the Christmas season. Illustrations, many in color.

The Oxford Handbook of Charles Dickens is a comprehensive and up-to-date collection on Dickens's life and works. It includes original chapters on all of Dickens's writing and new considerations of his contexts, from the social, political, and economic to the scientific, commercial, and religious. The contributions speak in new ways about his depictions of families, environmental degradation, and improvements of the industrial age, as well as the law, charity, and communications. His treatment of gender, his mastery of prose in all its varieties and genres, and his range of affects and dramatization all come under stimulating reconsideration. His understanding of British history, of empire and colonization, of his own nation and foreign ones, and of selfhood and otherness, like all the other topics, is explained in terms easy to comprehend and profoundly relevant to global modernity.

Whether regarded as a perplexing object, a morally captivating force, an ineffable entity beyond language, or an inescapably embodied human practice, music has captured philosophically inclined minds since time immemorial. In turn, musicians of all stripes have called on philosophy as a source of inspiration and encouragement, and scholars of music through the ages have turned to philosophy for insight into music and into the worlds that sustain it. In this Handbook, contributors build on this legacy to conceptualize the rich interactions of Western music and philosophy as a series of meeting points between two vital spheres of human activity. They draw together key debates at the intersection of music studies and philosophy, offering a field-defining overview while also forging new paths. Chapters cover a wide range of musics and philosophies, including concert, popular, jazz, and electronic musics, and both analytic and continental philosophy.

Study of church and state in the United States is incredibly complex. Scholars working in this area have backgrounds in law, religious studies, history, theology, and politics, among other fields. Historically, they have focused on particular angles or dimensions of the church-state relationship, because the field is so vast. The results have mostly been monographs that focus only on narrow cross-sections of the field, and the few works that do aim to give larger perspectives are reference works of factual compendia, which offer little or no analysis. The Oxford Handbook of Church and State in the United States fills this gap, presenting an extensive, multidimensional overview of the field. Twenty-one essays offer a scholarly look at the intricacies and past and current debates that frame the American system of church and state, within five main areas: history, law, theology/philosophy, politics, and sociology. These essays provide factual accounts, but also address issues, problems, debates, controversies, and, where appropriate, suggest resolutions. They also offer analysis of the range of interpretations of the subject offered by various American scholars. This Handbook is an invaluable resource for the study of church-state relations in the United States.

This collection evokes the magic and joy of the Christmas celebrations, both religious and secular. It is a storybook that will surprise and delight all young children at Christmas.

All the great stories of the holidays, along with some wonderful surprises, are collected in this treasury to be read around the tree. Includes 30 seasonal tales by such authors as Charles Dickens, Shirley Jackson, and Sue Townsend. Illustrations, many in color.