Historical Tour of Ireland
This summer, I will be leading a historical tour of Ireland. The tour, which will include both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, will...
Jihad and the History of Islam
Islamism in the Muslim and Christian world.
The Significance of Epiphany
Today is Epiphany, the day the Western churches celebrate the coming of the Magi to Bethlehem and the Eastern churches commemorate Christ’s baptism....
The Twelve Days of Christmas
In American culture, we think of the Christmas season as the time leading up to Christmas. Christmas celebrations frequently last only a few days,...
Christmas Paradoxes
The infinite became finite, the eternal and supratemporal entered time and became subject to its conditions, the immutable became mutable, the...
Victorian and Modern Advent and Christmas Traditions
In the previous post, I looked at two Advent and Christmas traditions with roots in the Middle Ages, crèches and caroling. There are others, of...
Medieval Advent and Christmas Traditions
Advent is my favorite season of the church year. It makes me feel connected to the past in ways that other times of the year do not. As a historian...
Where Does AI Get Its Ideas?
A few weeks ago, a 29-year-old graduate student who was using Google’s Gemini AI program for a homework assignment on “Challenges and Solutions...
Sword & Staff Multiverse: Christmas and Paganism with Glenn Sunshine
Glenn Sunshine of the Theology Pugcast and Every Square Inch Ministries joins Coleman to talk about the history of Christmas and its relationship to...
The Meaning in Cathedrals
When I got the news about the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris back in 2019, I felt much the same way I did on 9/11. I lived for a time in...