Books for Advent

Advent, by Jean Danielou, is divided in 5 sections. The Introduction "History and Drama", is a 16-page discussion of the relationship between Christianity and other religions and how the Gospel can inform those relationships. Part 1 deals with Old Testament precursers, Part 2 covers The Advent/Christmas story in the New Testament and Part 3 focuses on missions. The conclusion "Christ as Prophet" holds up Christ as priest in fulfillment of Old Testament priests, as king in fulfillment of messianic figures and, the focus of this chapter, as prophet. He spends some time defining "prophet" before he describes how Jesus fills this prophetic role.

From Advent to Zion _A Is For Advent_ by Charles W. Ferguson devotes a chapter to each letter of the alphabet. Baptism, Ecumenical, Vestments and Yahweh each get a chapter. This book is a treasure, easily read one chapter a day during Advent and into Christmastide, shedding light on areas I hadn't thought of as having anything to do with Advent.

The excellent baker in The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale, by Aaron Shepard and illustrated by Wendy Edelson, gets a lesson in generosity when he brooks no foolishness from the old woman who insists a dozen is thirteen. He learns a new way to count.

St. Nicholas and the Tub by Brian Burland tells a story lightly based on the early paintings of St. Nicholas standing in a tub with three children.

St. Nicholas and his assistant Ruprecht run out of presents before they get to Cecile's house in A Gift From Saint Nicholas, adapted by Carole Kismaric and illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak. I think the whole town ends up involved in getting Cecile a present.