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From Sukkot to Saturnalia: The Attack on Christmas in Sixteenth-Century Chronological Scholarship
- Journal of the History of Ideas
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Volume 72, Number 4, October 2011
- pp. 503-522
- 10.1353/jhi.2011.0028
- Article
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The article deals with the burgeoning scholarly critique of Christmas celebrations in the late sixteenth century, giving special attention to the chronological discussions of the historical birthday of Jesus Christ. A look at these discussions reveals that the basic outlines of modern debates on the “origins” of Christmas are already present in the works of Matthaeus Beroaldus, Joseph Justus Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and others.