Carols from Hertford College, Oxford

We have ended term in Hertford College, Oxford, with joyous song and a couple of carol services. We squeeze Advent and Christmas into the last week of term, even though it is still November. For your edification and jubilation, here is a sample recording of five modern carols performed by Hertford College Chapel Choir.

1. Gardner Tomorrow shall be my dancing day
2. Whitacre Lux aurumque
3. Allain In the bleak mid-winter (world première)
4. Sandström Det är en ros utsprungen
5. Leighton Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child

 

Christmas carols are embarrassing

Bishop Nick Baines

Advent is begun, and Christmas approaches. I’m glad to see that Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon, has a book out called Why Wish You a Merry Christmas?: What Matters (and What Doesn’t) in the Festive Season. I came across the book via a piece in our nation’s favourite jolly reactionary rag, the Current Bun. The article has attracted a few nasty comments, which mostly revolve around being incensed (!) that someone who ought to be a bastion of green-and-pleasant warm-beer England has turned-coat and attacked, shock-horror, Christmas carols.

However, the bishop is voicing quite rationally the problems of infantilised religion, a phenomenon faced most clearly every Christmas. It is only natural that those who enjoy looking at pictures of women’s breasts on page three of the Sun, also appreciate infantilised religion.