Sir! Your videos have been such a blessing to me in teaching Church History to my Senior Theology students at my Catholic High School in Sleepy Eye, MN.

Well done! I just shared it to my twitter followers. Thanks Ryan and Merry Christmas

Good video on a subject many of us have wondered about.

Thanks for this!

You do a great good on your videos... Thanks for doing them

This was quite insightful. Thank you for making such great videos, especially your Church History ones. Have a Merry and Meaningful Christmas!

on my first christmas I was given my first bible by my greatgrandmother, its was a new kings james bible and i still have it today

@RyanReevesM

7 жыл бұрын

That's an awesome story! A tradition families should think about again, I think.

The Magi (singular: magus; Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, were, in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition, a group of distinguished foreigners who visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativity celebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition. According to Matthew, the only one of the four Canonical gospels to mention the Magi, they came "from the east" to worship the "king of the Jews". Although the account does not mention the number of Magi, the three gifts has led to the widespread assumption that there were three men. In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve. Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Psalms 72:11, "May all kings fall down before him".

It just happens to fall on the day of Yule, one of eight sun worshiping high holidays.

It's reverted back to Angelo-Saxon Winter Solstice fest.

Hi Ryan! Just found your channel. When are you going to publish your next video? :)

Last night we were having family worship, we mentioned that God is everywhere, and my daughter, 3 years old, said "So is Santa"... Uggghh sigh

Is this the same Saint Nic who is immortalized in that painting where he is slapping Arius at the council of Nicea ?

@RyanReevesM

7 жыл бұрын

Yes that's the one, though not the same in a lot of ways. Follow up video on the history of Santa coming up next to cover the relationship between the two! :)

Where's the video about Nick? I'm curious now

hello dr. reeves I have a research about luther & calvin in comparison with islamic thinker . I want to help me in it especially in the economic aspect thank you with best wishes

I had no idea that gift giving and privatization was a relatively "new" thing (~200 yrs). What was the key driver that changed our culture?

@RyanReevesM

7 жыл бұрын

It was just natural in some ways. It was partly the fact that public spaces become rowdy and not 'family friendly' (as we say today). The other is a turn towards raising kids in a quiet, comfortable space. Kids were no longer seen as young labor force but innocence that needed to be protected, allowed to play, etc. One of the biggest factors, too, is the rise of the middle class. The ideal of the rich was leisure and comfort. Middle classes try to mimic this and often do so symbolically. So in this case, they privatize Christmas and other things. Great question! :)

The American St. Nick/ Sinta Klass has much different origins to the British Father Christmas although they are considered to be one and the same today.

Ok I am hooked, how does Tim Allen figure into all of this. ;)

@RyanReevesM

7 жыл бұрын

I'm more worried about where the Griswold's fit....:)

You paint such a lovely picture of the Christmases of old. You neglect the sensual, raucous, overly "festive" history of the day. The celebration was actually against the law here in the U.S. because the folks who came here were wanting to stick to the Scriptures. Funny that.

@RyanReevesM

7 жыл бұрын

No fully agree on that point. I'll be covering that in a follow up video this week dealing with why certain people rejected Christmas in colonial America. Thanks for the note! :)

@jenna2431

7 жыл бұрын

Looking forward to that one, as a Christmas non-participant. "The Battle For Christmas" by Stephen Nissanbaum is an excellent treatment, by the way.

Christmas presents is symbolic to the birth of "The First Christ" with the hope of many more Christs to come; the Christ being a gift to mankind from the Gods for the sake of peace and prosperity. The Gods are alien spirits trying to establish their own life forms on earth but failed; they wanted earth for themselves and to kill off mankind, so some have joined in union with mankind through the creation of The Christ ("The Saviour" of mankind) in the form of a baby boy who was "wrapped" in Mary's womb and "presented" itself on Christmas day. The creation of Jesus is to simulate the collective consciousness to create a real Christ from an imaginary Christ or second coming (Jesus could not have children).The second coming of Christs have not yet arrived because some Gods still have Mary in a strangle hold and Mary will not "give birth" until she is free. Alien spirits from other planets managed to conquer earth through "demonic possessions" and "alien technological-know-hows", they do not have a physical force but only a spiritual force; the pen is mightier than the sword.