This is thinking in public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about

frontline theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping

them. I'm Albert Moller your host and

president of the Southern Baptist theological seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Dr. Jerry Bowler received his PhD from King's College in London and currently

teaches at the University of Manitoba.

He was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Christianity and Contemporary Culture

at Calgary's Nazarene University College.

While Dr. Bowler's research and writing interest range widely, he has written prolifically

on Christmas, including the World Encyclopedia of Christmas and Santa Claus of biography.

His most recent book is Christmas in the Crosshairs, 2,000 years of of It's an invitation into a consideration of Christmas and its importance and its history.

Dr. Bowler, welcome to Thinking in Public.

Professor Bowler, the title of your book is, well, it's an eye-catcher.

Christmas in the Crosshairs the subtitle 2,000 years of

denouncing and defending the world's most celebrated holiday. I have to tell you that's a

pretty provocative title. Why has Christmas been controversial

from the start? Well Christmas is enormously important. It is central to

the Christian message. The notion of the

incarnation of God becoming man is something that is inescapable when we think

of the Christian message and over the years it's grown

enormously as a social and commercial event, a political event in many cases, it now has a global reach.

So I guess it's not a surprise that there's been 2,000 years of argument about it.

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