Two arts companies’ creative choices in interpreting Handel’s ‘Messiah’ for our times provide an opportunity to consider future directions for classical music.
Whether you love it or hate it, Christmas music is unavoidable during the holiday season. But what makes a Christmas number one, and why is the music of yule so meaningful?
In the New Testament, there is nothing about Mary’s birth, death, appearance, or age. What we do know about the mother of Jesus is, in fact, quite surprising.
We tend to romanticise the Christmas season, that time of year when we gather with friends and family, feast and be merry. But for most of its history Christmas has been a time of sordid behaviour.
The next time there’s a scene that makes light of gendered violence, pause and ask: what is really being shown here? Is this really all that funny or is it minimizing actual violence?
Don’t expect meditation to provide Christmas miracles. But if you start learning how to meditate now, your holidays may be a bit less stressful and perhaps a little more meaningful.
Blackwood’s main claim to fame is its magnificent dark and durable timber. But let me introduce you to the tree, a stunning wattle with Christmas-green foliage.
Trees that produce resin for frankincense and myrrh – used for thousands of years in healthcare, worship and trade – are facing collapsing populations.
Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity