Culture Clash
An Ancient Festival's Enduring Lessons
Back when I was still young and strong enough to pastor a congregation, I made sure, each year, that our folks did at least something—usually a Vespers service—to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. After all, I reasoned, Jesus observed it (cf. John 10:22). In our popular culture, I fear, the lessons of Hanukkah are rather general and abstract. One suspects that few Americans think of the festival as the anniversary of an "event." Much less, perhaps, do they suspect which event.
Well, the event was the purification and rededication of the Second Temple (on December 14, 164 b.c.) after its defilement by Hellenic pagans three years earlier. The hero most notably responsible for that salutary enterprise, -Judas Maccabaeus, decreed an annual feast of eight days to commemorate it. One wishes that history were better known among us now.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor emeritus of All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the author of numerous books, including, most recently, Out of Step with God: Orthodox Christian Reflections on the Book of Numbers (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2019).
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on Christianity from the online archives
30.2—March/April 2017
Our Path to Holiness Runs Straight Through Calvary by Robin Phillips
more from the online archives
29.5—Sept/Oct 2016
on Past & Present Atheism & the Invention of Happiness by Jordan Bissell
19.4—May 2006
The Culture War Is Between Religious Believers on Both Sides by Howard P. Kainz
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
