Some wise men, a stable, a few sheep, and a young virgin giving birth to the mortal son of a prefect God: Christmas is one of Christianitys holiest days, and yet it is also a major pagan festival, a secular, cultural celebration, and a commercial event of epic proportions. As consumerism runs rife, have we lost sight of its very essence? Is celebrating Christmas really a good idea? From elves and Ebenezer Scrooge, to the culture wars and virgin birth, Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone unwraps the religious and moral issues surrounding the Yuletide season, including: Should parents lie to their children about Santa Claus? What relevance does Christmas hold to atheists and pagans? What does the Bible actually say about the virgin birth? How does Santa know if we have been naughty or good is there a darker side to our festive friend? Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone offers thoughtful and humorous philosophical and cultural insights into the festive season with plenty of goodwill and just a little bah humbug.
Tormented girls writhing in agony, stern judges meting out harsh verdicts, nineteen bodies swinging on Gallows Hill. The stark immediacy of what happened in 1692 has obscured the complex web of human passion which climaxed in the Salem witch trials.
From rich and varied sources-many neglected and unknown-Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum give us a picture of the people and events more intricate and more fascinating than any other in the massive literature. It is a story of powerful and deeply divided families and of a community determined to establish an independent identity-beset by restraints and opposition from without and factional conflicts from within-and a minister whose obsessions helped to bring this volatile mix to the flash point. Not simply a dramatic and isolated event, the Salem outbreak has wider implications for our understanding of developments central to the American experience: the disintegration of Puritanism, the pressures of land and population in New England towns, the problems besetting farmer and householder, the shifting role of the church, and the powerful impact of commercial capitalism.
