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Christmas

The Magi Journeying - Tissot
Faith-in-Scholarship

Wise Men Still Seek Him

At a fresh reading, the account of the Magi visiting the Christ child in Matthew’s Gospel seems bizarre. Wise men from a faraway land observe such a significant star that they set out for Jerusalem with gifts for a prince. Urged on to Bethlehem by a quote from prophecy (Micah Read more

By Richard Gunton, 2 weeksJanuary 6, 2026 ago
Saints Anne and Mary with the Christ Child, The Master of Liesborn (1480). Image by Jim Forest 2009:, https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/3271968279.
Faith-in-Scholarship

Childlike faith?

As we enter the last few days of Advent, those with good memories may recall that this time last year my four-month-old daughter was starring in our church’s immersive Nativity scene, and I was led to reflect on the enormity of Jesus’s sacrifice in taking on the absolute powerlessness of Read more

By Mark Hutchinson, 1 yearDecember 18, 2024 ago
Nativity scene
Faith-in-Scholarship

God with us

For me, the season of Advent expectation this year comes hot on the heels of a new arrival within my own family – the birth of our own firstborn, our daughter Tehillah (‘Tilly’), in late August. Her entrance was extremely well-timed, both from my perspective as an academic (I emerged Read more

By Mark Hutchinson, 2 yearsDecember 19, 2023 ago
Christmas dinner table
Faith-in-Scholarship

On the seventh day of Christmas

I’ve always felt sad at the passing of Christmas Day: at how quickly the world moves on to Boxing-Day sales, extinguished fairy lights, discarded fir trees and raucous New-Year revelries.  Perhaps it’s partly nostalgia, but I yearn for those past times when the twelve days of Christmas were celebrated in full.  Read more

By Richard Gunton, 6 yearsDecember 31, 2019 ago
Christmas tree
Faith-in-Scholarship

Everlasting Father

One of my favourite pieces of Christmas music is ‘For unto us a Child is born’ from Georg Friderich Händel’s Messiah. I have loved it since I was a child, touched by its bouncing joy and the intricacy of its polyphonic choral writing, with lines appearing and disappearing like needles through Read more

By Georgina Bartlett, 6 yearsDecember 2, 2019 ago
Christmas branch
Faith-in-Scholarship

Home Came for Christmas

I am a confirmed lover of Christmas. I love fairy lights and frost on the ground, poinsettias and Christmas ornaments, baking and decorating the tree. I love all the frills. Even though none of these things are particularly ‘commercial’, I’ll admit that none of them are necessarily about celebrating Jesus, Read more

By Georgina Bartlett, 7 yearsDecember 17, 2018 ago
Candles
Faith-in-Scholarship

Scholars as Disciples at Advent

Reflecting on what Advent might mean for my work, I ended up looking at the connection between teaching and research. About half of this Advent wraps up my first semester of teaching (in a job I recently began), and the other half will give a little more time to pursue research tasks until Christmas is fully Read more

By Richard Gunton, 7 yearsDecember 11, 2018 ago
The presentation in the temple
Faith-in-Scholarship

Christmas reflection: Waiting for Joy

This is an adapted and abridged version of a sermon I gave at evensong in the chapel of Hertford College, last February on the feast of Candlemas. ‘Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Read more

By Alicia Smith, 8 yearsDecember 18, 2017 ago
Faith-in-Scholarship

Festive Zeal and Earthly Hope

I wonder why you praise God for sending his son at Christmas. Is it because of the forgiveness that Jesus’ later death and resurrection would afford? Is it because Jesus was the means by which we can have a restored relationship with God? Is it because we remember how the Read more

By Thom Atkinson, 10 yearsDecember 23, 2015 ago
Faith-in-Scholarship

God with us (in the lab)

It’s hard to predict how I will feel at the end of the Christmas break. Will I be refreshed and eager to get back to work? Or will the thought fill me with dread? Or both? It can be especially difficult when your day-to-day work is somewhat mind numbing. Every Read more

By Anthony Smith, 11 yearsDecember 29, 2014 ago
Recent posts
  • The Magi Journeying - TissotWise Men Still Seek Him
    By Richard Gunton
    In Faith-in-Scholarship
    January 6, 2026
  • The Story of Fred Lemon who met Jesus and Two Angels in Prison
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    November 26, 2025
  • The Inspiring Story of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    October 22, 2025
  • Diagram_Families-States-SportsClubsPhilosophy in full colour
    By Richard Gunton
    In Faith-in-Scholarship
    October 21, 2025
  • Fifteen False Prophets and Testing the Spirits
    By Mark Roques
    In RealityBites
    September 29, 2025
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Latest comments
  1. t_bowman on The Story of Fred Lemon who met Jesus and Two Angels in PrisonNovember 26, 2025

    Fred Lemon was a diamond geezer. Top banana for digging this one out. Buy that man a beer, guv'nor. Tim

  2. Tim on The Inspiring Story of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)October 30, 2025

    All prime ministers start with high ideals (alright, most, that’s you I’m thinking of, Keir Starmer) but are then overwhelmed…

  3. Kevin Keefe on The Inspiring Story of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)October 25, 2025

    Thanks again for another interesting and thought-provoking article. I knew very little about Abraham Kuyper prior to reading this.

  4. Jim Skillen on The Inspiring Story of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)October 25, 2025

    You've presented a good introduction to Kuyper and his work, Mark. Thank you. I would suggest that you might re-read…

  5. Dave Hopwood on The Inspiring Story of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)October 24, 2025

    Thanks Mark - what an incredible leader and example. I love the quote about no part of life being beyond…

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Philosophy in full colour

If you read the passages about wisdom in the Bible1 as I do, you probably have a sense of a…

Random
God's workers?

Richard Vytniorgu offers an alternative perspective on scholarly freedom. Alicia Smith’s recent blog posts on Rilke and Scholarly work under God affirm the importance of academics’…