The Forge 12.28.2011

If you have any money left over from Christmas, then here's a book suggestion.  Fr. Andrew Damick's Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy.  It's an excellent summary of the every conceivable variation of Christianity and other world religions in comparison with Orthodoxy.  It is well-written and you don't need a seminary education to understand. I would easily recommend this book to any high-school or college student trying to understand their faith.  


Have you heard the theory about the date of Christmas?  That Christians co-opted a pagan festival for their own purposes.  Here's a great article questioning that popular notion:  Calculating Christmas


Even if we did adopt a pagan celebration, this article artistically says "So What", and proclaims that "Christmas means that the unconquerable god of the Romans just got conquered. A pagan Roman holiday just got stuffed with more Christianity than a December Turkey stuffed with spiced bread crumbs."


And since we are only a couple days into the feast of Christmas, here's a final article reminding us of when and how long this celebration is:  When is Christmas Anyways?

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