The 19th Century in many ways looked fantastic. However, the scars of a civil war and the new order of Jim Crow was an ugly underbelly of the Gilded Age. Christmas traditions in America start to take shape through the pens of Washington Irving and Clement Moore. Santa Claus comes into his own during this time, but is the “naughty and nice” theology really harmless fun? We’ll ask that question and look at a few answers this week in An American Christmas
Revolution is a great description of America in the 18th century. The colonies were maturing to the point that they didn’t appreciate the taxes from England. For our purposes what was Christmas like in a America in the 18th century? Did the revolution touch culture the same way it did politics? Undoubtedly yes, but the effect on Christmas really isn’t all that noticeable.
An American Christmas sounds patriotic, doesn’t it? Why it’s like apple pie and mom! This year we’ll take a look at some of the traditions that we practice and see how they compare with life in America going back two to three hundred years. Alot has changed.
Politics might be the farthest thing from your mind right now? After all it’s a new year – a new church year, that is. For our final lesson in our study Politics we go down the rabbit hole how of slander, assassination, and bribery.
Politics have always been a messy business. Don’t believe me? This week we went back in time to the 5th century BC. Nehemiah, the Cup Bearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia, went back to Jerusalem to git ‘er done!
Church and state don’t really go great together. There are many things that do go great together. Husbands and wives, chocolate and peanut butter, a burger and fries are a few examples. The problem with mixing church and state is that normally one group gets in the way of the other.