THE ADVENT WRITING CHALLENGE DAY 9
Is “Away In a Manger” Simply A Children’s Carol — Or Does it Promote Heresy?
Digging into the oft-discussed second verse
The late 19th Century carol Away in a Manger has long been a favourite of worshippers and lovers of festive music.
In 1996, a UK Gallop poll placed it as the second most popular carol, and whilst it has faded somewhat in the intervening years, it was still in the Top 10 as recently as 2021.
I suspect that much of its popularity can be attributed to its omnipresence in school and church nativity plays — often with the children encouraged to sing on their own, to the heart-bursting joy and pride of watching parents.
Over the years, “Away in a Manger” has been the source of considerable disquiet for me — even as I would be inevitably pressured to include it in nativity services and carol concerts.😇
Being the accommodating guy that I was when working in full-time ministry, I swallowed my theological…
