Christmas in the Crosshairs

August 8, 2016
This accessible survey offers a chronological and thematic overview of the contested cultural, political, and religious meanings of Christmas since its first appearance in the historical record in the fourth century to the present day. In seven chapters, historian Bowler offers a tour of the origins and suppression of Christmas festivities during the early centuries of Christianity, their 19th-century revival as a commercialized family holiday, the use of Christmas by special-interest groups, the opinions of modern-day Christmas haters, and current disputes over the place of Christmas in a multicultural, global society. Ambitious in scope, the book is strongest in its documentation of Anglo-American traditions in the early modern period through the 19th century. Christmas outside of Europe and North America remains underexplored. The chapters on late 20th-century Christmas culture are rushed and thin on historical analysis, tending instead toward the polemic. The author’s conclusion that Christmas occupies an unjustly embattled place within modern society is undercut by his own historical narrative. Since the fifth century, Christmas has been critiqued by Christians and non-Christians as a holiday both too sacred and too profane, too bawdy and too domesticated—a tradition at once crushingly normative and radically threatening to established power. Despite the somewhat sketchy conclusions, this rich cultural history will be a perfect scholarly stocking stuffer for any history buffs on holiday shoppers’ lists.

July 1, 2016
Is there a war on Christmas? Yes, and there always has been.Canadian historian Bowler (Santa Claus: A Biography, 2005, etc.) takes a seemingly modern topic--the vilification of Christmas--and shows it to have a centuries-old history. His survey of the issue covers everything from the deadly serious to the absurd, and it will leave readers amazed at the holiday's ability to not only persist, but to thrive worldwide. The author begins by discussing the origins of Christmas, a well-worn path among modern academics. However, he sides with modern scholarship trends that Christmas is not an appropriation of pagan holidays but rather a result of traditional early Christian teachings about the nativity of Christ. Throughout the centuries of Christendom, the holiday faced uphill battles as reformers tried to squelch it, especially due to its connections with excesses in greed, gluttony, and violence. Entering the modern period, Christmas changed to a home-centered holiday and a particularly important part of the Christian and secular year. "Christmas in its ideal form is normality," writes Bowler. This very fact led to its attempted subversion in recent centuries by French revolutionaries, German Nazis, communist regimes, and others. The "normality" of Christmas has also led to its appropriation by the fringes of society. The author concludes with the modern attacks on Christmas by everyone from the New Atheists to Wiccans, often using cheeky language to poke fun at would-be Christmas-stoppers: "It must take a heart of stone not to be moved by a Christmas display containing fifteen pink flamingos with Santa hats, but [the plaintiff] found it within herself...to object." Though Bowler does not advance a particular religious view, it is obvious that he sees many of Christmas' modern detractors to be little more than killjoys. The book ranges broadly from the tragic to the silly, and some readers may be left bewildered by the pendulum swings. Ultimately enlightening and entertaining.

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