Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols
America Media
20 episodes
9 months ago
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The cookies, the mistletoe, the lights...oh, and the music! For Christians, Christmas carols mark a season of hope and the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Even in popular culture, these iconic jingles capture a warmth, a cheer and a nostalgia that transcends religious belonging.
But where do these beloved yuletide songs come from? What inspired the people who composed them? How did they become popular and even mainstream? And what impact do their ancient Christian messages have on an increasingly post-Christian culture?
America Media presents “Hark!” a podcast on the meaning and the making of our most beloved Christmas carols and their time-honored traditions.
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It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The cookies, the mistletoe, the lights...oh, and the music! For Christians, Christmas carols mark a season of hope and the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Even in popular culture, these iconic jingles capture a warmth, a cheer and a nostalgia that transcends religious belonging.
But where do these beloved yuletide songs come from? What inspired the people who composed them? How did they become popular and even mainstream? And what impact do their ancient Christian messages have on an increasingly post-Christian culture?
America Media presents “Hark!” a podcast on the meaning and the making of our most beloved Christmas carols and their time-honored traditions.
Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols
37 minutes
3 years ago
Adeste Fideles (O Come, All Ye Faithful)
O Come, All Ye Faithful is a rousing, controversial and some might even say, miraculous Christmas carol! And it’s believed to have a subversive Jacobite rallying call hidden in the text. To peal back the layers of history in this song, Host Maggi Van Dorn is joined by Rev. Andrew Cameron-Mowat S.J., a Jesuit priest at St. Ignatius, Stamford Hill (London), and an accomplished organist and music director. We also hear from Dr. Kim Harris, Assistant Professor of African-American Thought and Practice at Loyola Marymount University, along with a former Choir of King’s College organ scholar, Parker Ramsey.
Special thanks to the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and the Ignatian Schola for allowing us to play parts of their recordings of Adeste Fideles/O Come, All Ye Faithful.
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Hark! The stories behind our favorite Christmas carols
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The cookies, the mistletoe, the lights...oh, and the music! For Christians, Christmas carols mark a season of hope and the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Even in popular culture, these iconic jingles capture a warmth, a cheer and a nostalgia that transcends religious belonging.
But where do these beloved yuletide songs come from? What inspired the people who composed them? How did they become popular and even mainstream? And what impact do their ancient Christian messages have on an increasingly post-Christian culture?
America Media presents “Hark!” a podcast on the meaning and the making of our most beloved Christmas carols and their time-honored traditions.
