JC Ryle's Christmas Thoughts
Christmas, and New Year, are excellent moments to pause and reflect—as scattered families regather for the national holiday, and as the calendar turns over again, with another year gone forever. J. C. Ryle urges us—in the midst of our feasting and festivities and family reunions—to make time to consider our spiritual state and our relationship with God. How is it with our souls? What do we make of Jesus Christ? What will be our future, when all our Christmases are past? This little book contains five of Ryle’s most popular Christmas tracts, the spiritual wisdom of which is timeless. Ryle challenges us—while we enjoy the wonderful delights of mince pies and mistletoe and mulled wine and music and merriment—to make the most of every Christmas, to consider seriously the person of Jesus Christ and questions of eternal significance.
Publisher: Banner of Truth
Type: Hardback
ISBN: 9781800403147
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J. C. Ryle (1816 - 1900) was the first Bishop of Liverpool. He was one of the most authoritative churchmen of his time and his writings have been in constant demand throughout the last hundred years. His popularity was due to his clear and simple style, his longevity due to his being a profound thinker and compassionate pastor. Andrew Atherstone is Latimer research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and a member of Oxford University’s faculty of theology and religion. He has published widely on the history of evangelicalism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Andrew studied mathematics and theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge, followed by a doctorate in ecclesiastical history at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He was ordained in 2001 as curate of Christ Church, Abingdon, near Oxford, and four years later joined the Latimer Trust (an Anglican evangelical research institute) as research fellow. He returned to Wycliffe Hall to teach in 2007, and is a member of Oxford University’s Faculty of theology and Religion, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is also associate minister in Eynsham and Cassington, two villages in West Oxfordshire, where he lives with his wife, Catherine and their three children.
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‘I was introduced to JC Ryle when I was given his set of expositions on the Gospels. When I saw that this book was being offered I ordered without hesitation, if you are seeking to place Christ at His rightful position as the center of your Christmas season I would recommend reading this book. The book is a short collection of Christmas tracts written and distributed by the 19th century English pastor JC Ryle. In this volume you will feel a pastors heart pleading with his community to turn to Christ. I spent nearly two months reading and slowly digesting each page of this book, I am using it as a guide for a sermon series this December. While there are only 100-120 pages in this little book it is pack with theological truth and convicting thoughts for each and every person to consider Christ, the mortality of man and the true meaning of Christmas. As always you also get a heirloom quality hardcover binding by Banner of Truth. Do not pass up on this wonderful book from a pastors heart.’ Joshua Isaac Boyd