This provocative meditation on the turn of the millennium explores the significance that a celebration of Christ's birth can have beyond the Christian community.

Writing from the perspective of Christian philosophy, David Walsh ponders the emergence of modern civilization from the medieval Christian past, concluding that Christian theology grounds the dominant ideas of modern society. He professes the importance and promise of Christianity while rejecting the Gnosticism, advocated by Harold Bloom and others, that places the divine within the self.

Affirming Christ's place at...