Much as I admire the Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians, I believe they erred when they stripped the church calendar to an annual cycle of fifty-two Sundays. They reduced the rich melody of the earlier calendar to a repetitive ticking of the clock.
But the problem actually goes deeper.
Israel’s festive calendar was fixed by Torah. Passover, Pentecost, Atonement, Booths, and other festive days puctuated the year. Over the course of Israel’s history, however, other feast days were added. Purim marked the deliverance of Israel from Haman, and Jews celebrate the success of the Maccabean revolt at Hanukuah. The founding moments of Israel’s history were celebrated from the beginning, but history didn’t stop at Sinai.
The church continued the tradition, with relish. To the great commemorations of Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost the church eventually added feast days for saints, special observances of the Mass, fasts and carnivals. Doubtless this was overdone, but it stood as permanent testimony that God continued His redemptive work throughout the Christian era.
In this context, the Puritan scouring of the church calendar begins to look like an effort to produce a permanent, unalterable calendar. It appears to be an unintentially gnostic effort to stop time in its tracks. It appears an unconscious declaration that nothing worth remembering will ever again happen in Christian history. To that extent, it represents a failure of faith in the God who is Omega and well as Alpha.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
