Introduction 1: What is Christmas? 2: Revisiting the Religious Origins and Essence of Christmas 3: Is Christmas a 'Secular' Religion? 4: Christmas as a Site of Implicit Religion 5: Christmas Films as Repositories of the Sacred 6: Reframing Christmas and the Religion of Materialism Bibliography
Dr Christopher Deacy is Reader in Theology & Religious Studies at the University of Kent. His publications include Screening the Afterlife: Theology, Eschatology, and Film (Routledge, 2012) and Theology and Film: Challenging the Sacred/Secular Divide (Wiley Blackwell, 2007).
Deacy's book is abundantly topical and interesting-where it leaves
questions unanswered, it lays a foundation for others to build
upon. Christmas as Religion joins a growing body of scholarship on
consumerism and other supposedly "secularized" cultural practices
as religion by scholars such as Kathryn Lofton. Upper-level
students may find Christmas as Religion an illuminating read to
accompany a material example of Christmas as religion, such as one
of the films or books Deacy analyzes. * Leslie Ribovich, The
Religion Journal *
Deacy provides an innovative cultural study of Christmas. * Liam
Sutherland, The Expository Times *
We are all familiar with the complaint that Christmas has been
emptied of its religious meaning as a result of secularism and
consumerism. Christopher Deacy challenges this popular
misconception in a stimulating book that offers an important
correction to the work of Steve Bruce and others * Paul Richardson,
Church of England Newspaper *
Christopher Deacy provides an innovative cultural study of
Christmas as multi-faceted modern festival, at least as practiced
in the west. * Liam Sutherland, Expository Times *
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