INTRODUCTION
1. For a satirical look at our modern culture’s two overlapping Christmas celebrations, see C. S. Lewis, “Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter in Herodotus,” in God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1970), pp. 334–38. This essay can also be found at www.khad.com/post/196009755/xmas-and-christmas-a-lost-chapter-from-herodotus.
2. Rich Juzwiak, “Christmas Is a Wonderful, Secular Holiday,” Gawker.com, December 18, 2014, gawker.com./christmas-is-a-wonderful-secular-holiday-1665427426.
3. Charles Wesley, “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” (1739). The hymn can be found at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/h/a/hhangels.htm.
CHAPTER 1—A LIGHT HAS DAWNED
1. Robert Marquand, “Václav Havel: Crisis of 'Human Spirit' Demands Spiritual Reawakening,” Christian Science Monitor, December 22, 2011, www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/World/Europe/2011/1223/Vaclav-Havel-crisis‑of‑human-spirit-demands-spiritual-reawakening.
2. Stanford University News Service, “Czech President Václav Havel’s Visit to Stanford” (news release), October 4, 1994, http://web.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/94/941004Arc4108.html.
3. From Bertrand Russell, “A Free Man’s Worship,” in Mysticism and Logic: And Other Essays (London: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1919), pp.47–48. The full essay is also available at many places on the Internet.
4. Dorothy L. Sayers, “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged,” in Creed or Chaos? And Other Essays in Popular Theology (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1940), p. 6.
5. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers (New York: Random House, 1986), p. 372.
6. C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York: Macmillan, 1947), pp. 115–16.
CHAPTER 2—THE MOTHERS OF JESUS
1. Anthony Lane, “The Hobbit Habit,” New Yorker, December 10, 2001.
2. The phrase “nature, red in tooth and claw” is from Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, Canto 56 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 80.
3. John Milton, “Let Us with a Gladsome Mind” (1623). Find this hymn at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/l/e/letuglad.htm.
4. This phrase has a long history and has many versions. I’ve chosen my favorite. Some trace it to Plutarch, but its most well-known modern version is found in Longfellow’s “Retribution,” a translation of a German poem, found in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Poetical Works of H. W. Longfellow (London and Edinburgh: T. Nelson and Sons, 1852), p. 336. The text: “Though the mills of God grind slowly: Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all.” The idea behind the verse is that God may seem to take his time but in the end he carries out his purposes with exactness.
CHAPTER 3—THE FATHERS OF JESUS
1. This verse teaches the doctrine of the virgin birth. The best single treatment of the issues surrounding this historical Christian belief continues to be J. Gresham Machen, The Virgin Birth (New York: Harper, 1930).
2. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), p. 53.
3. Ibid.
4. See http://www.dictionary.com/browse/crisis.
5. Cf. Luke 5:8.
6. Packer, Knowing God, pp. 63–64.
7. This is my own translation and rendering.
8. See Timothy Keller, The Songs of Jesus (New York: Viking, 2015), p. 1 (on Psalm 1) and pp. 304–25 (on Psalm 119).
CHAPTER 4—WHERE IS THE KING?
1. There are too many biblical texts establishing this statement to cite them all here. I explore this further in Timothy Keller, Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just (New York: Riverhead, 2012).
2. Thomas Nagel, The Last Word (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 130.
3. William Billings, “Methinks I See a Heav’nly Host,” in The Singing Master’s Assistant (1778). Available at www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/heavenly_host.htm.
4. Wall Street, written by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone, directed by Oliver Stone, 1987. The screenplay is accessible at www.imsdb.com/scripts/Wall-Street.html.
CHAPTER 5—MARY’S FAITH
1. John Newton, “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” (1774). The hymn can be found at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/l/e/letuslov.htm.
2. John Wesley, “Covenant Prayer,” in Book of Offices of the British Methodist Church (London: Methodist, 1936). The prayer can also be found online in many places, including www.beliefnet.com/columnists/prayerplainandsimple/2010/02/john-wesleys-covenant-prayer-1.html.
3. Elisabeth Elliot, The Path of Loneliness (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell and Baker Books, 2001), p. 124.
CHAPTER 6—THE SHEPHERDS’ FAITH
1. Edwin Hodder, “Thy Word Is Like a Garden, Lord” (1863). The hymn can be found at http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/h/y/thywilgl.htm.
2. C. S. Lewis, “The Seeing Eye,” in Christian Reflections (1967; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2014), pp. 206–10.
CHAPTER 7—A SWORD IN THE SOUL
1. Larry Hurtado, Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries? (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2016), pp. 73–94.
2. J. C. Ryle, Holiness (Abridged): Its Nature, Difficulties, Hindrances, and Roots (Chicago: Moody, 2010), p. 119.
3. Ibid., p. 111.
4. From John Rippon, “How Firm a Foundation” (1787). The hymn is based on Isaiah 43:2–3 and can be found at http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/h/f/hfirmafo.htm.
CHAPTER 8—THE DOCTRINE OF CHRISTMAS
1. Robert Yarbrough, 1, 2, and 3 John: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), p. 36.
2. Daniel Steele, Milestone Papers: Doctrinal, Ethical, Experimental on Christian Progress (New York: Phillips and Hunt, 1878), pp. 80 and 106, available at www.craigladams.com/Steele/page80/page106/.
3. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (1955; New York: Random House, 1986), p. 17.
4. Charles Wesley, “Let Heaven and Earth Combine” (hymn no. 5), in Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord (London: William Strahan, 1745).
5. Phillip Brooks, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” (1867). The hymn can be found at http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/l/olittle.htm.