A Not-So-Silent Night: The Unheard Story of Christmas and Why It Matters [Paperback]

Verlyn Verbrugge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 2009

Christmas is a time for peace on earth, a time for favorite carols, family dinners, and familiar traditions. It's about a beautiful story of a lovely babe in the manger. Or is it?

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Discover the unheard story of Christmas and why it matters

Christmas is a time for peace on earth, a time for favorite carols, family dinners, and familiar traditions. It's about a beautiful story of a lovely babe in the manger. Or is it?

A Not-So-Silent Night uncovers the dark side of Christmas, a side that exposes pain, humiliation, fear, and danger. Though we usually choose to ignore them, these elements--in their cultural and historical context--reveal the true meaning of Christmas where the shadow of the cross is inseparable from the manger. Author Verlyn D. Verbrugge maintains that until we see the dark side of Christmas, until we shed tears with Mary and Joseph, until we experience the fear that war is on the horizon, we will never truly understand the awesomeness of what happened in that little town of Bethlehem.

Timely and provocative, A Not-So-Silent Night steers us past holiday commercialization and drives us to the real reason for the season.

About the Author

Verlyn Verbrugge (PhD, Notre Dame) was a full-time pastor before becoming senior editor of academic and professional books at Zondervan. He has authored and contributed to several books, including Early Church History and Your Church Sign.

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Kregel Publications (July 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825439094
• ISBN-13: 978-0825439094
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,207,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Verlyn D. Verbrugge (PhD, Notre Dame) is senior editor of academic and professional books at Zondervan. He has authored several books, including Early Church History and Your Church Sign.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Shadow of a Cross Hung Over the Manger in Bethlehem, December 17, 2009

By 

Paul R. Waibel "Paul R. Waibel" (Clinton, MS) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Not-So-Silent Night: The Unheard Story of Christmas and Why It Matters (Paperback)

Christmas is the happiest time of the year, or so we choose to believe. Likewise, we tend to see Easter as a sad time of year. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the promised Messiah, the fulfillment of the promise God made at the Fall, when sin separated Adam and Eve and all their offspring from the presence of God. Thus the birth of the baby Jesus, announced by an angel of the Lord to humble shepherds in the surrounding fields and accompanied by an angelic chorus, is truly a time of joy. All of creation, not just the children of Adam and Eve, "lay . . . in sin and error pining," for that moment when the Son of God, the promised Messiah, would leave his glory in heaven to be born of a virgin, to walk among humankind in true humanity as the second Adam, in order that He might reverse the error of the first Adam. Indeed, there is reason aplenty to rejoice at Christmas. But there is more, much more.

In his new book, A Not-So-Silent Night: The Unheard Story of Christmas and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2009), Verlyn D. Verbrugge reminds us that the true significance of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is found in His crucifixion outside the gates of Jerusalem some thirty-three years later and his resurrection some three days after that. What Dr. Verbrugge wants us to remember and think about during this festive season is the war between Jesus Christ and Satan that began that night in Bethlehem and raged until that glorious moment thirty-three years later when the stone was rolled away from the tomb and the crucified and dead Jesus was raised from the dead by the Father. Satan did all he could to prevent that event. Jesus had to literally fight His way to the Cross. Those intervening years witnessed the greatest struggle in history. Everything, truly everything, hung in the balance.

In a brief hundred pages, only eleven short chapters, Dr. Verbrugge recounts this epic drama, "the greatest story ever told." The humble circumstances of Jesus' birth, His rejection by those whom He came to save, the humiliation suffered by Mary, His mother, and the courage of His adoptive, earthly father Joseph are all highlighted. Verbrugge reminds us that Mary was not an ignorant participant in this struggle. Her song in Luke 1, known to us as the Magnificat, is "primarily a song of conflict and war--and of God's power to vindicate those who are trodden down . . . [it] is about the mighty warrior God, whose sovereign plan of history will always emerge victorious."

Dr. Verbrugge wants us to hear again a second song, the song of Simeon in Luke 2. When Joseph and Mary take the baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated, they are confronted by Simeon, an old man whom the Holy Spirit promised would not die until he had seen God's promised Messiah. Simeon's response is another pronouncement of the earthly struggle between the Messiah and Satan. How Mary must have felt when she heard Simeon say, "And a sword will pierce your own soul too." He was not telling Mary something she did not already know. He was reminding her that her son was born to die, in order that God's people, of whom Mary was one, might be reconciled to God.

A Not-So-Silent Night is a welcomed reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. Short, yet well-written and full of meaning, Dr. Verbrugge's latest book will change how we view Christmas. Never again will the reader be able to look at a manger scene without seeing the Shadow of the Cross hanging over it. We should weep, as well as rejoice at Christmas, and we should rejoice as well as weep at Easter. Thanks be to God!

- Paul R. Waibel

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Gift, August 17, 2009

By 

Keith Krell (Olympia, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Not-So-Silent Night: The Unheard Story of Christmas and Why It Matters (Paperback)

If you are looking for the perfect Christmas gift, there's no need to look any further. You've just found it! However, A Not-So-Silent Night is a book that every Christian should read regardless of the season. I am personally acquainted with the author, Verlyn Verbrugge, and consider him to be one of the top Greek scholars of our generation. Yet, this doesn't keep him from writing in a clear and uncomplicated fashion. In a mere ninety-eight pages of text, Verbrugge illumines the unheard story of Christmas and why it matters.

It's been said that before one can fully appreciate the good news of God's grace, he or she must first come to grips with the bad news of sin. Verbrugge takes a similar approach. He unveils the dark side of Christmas in such a way that one will come to appreciate the glorious good news of Christmas like never before. After reading this exceptional resource, I was deeply moved. I realized that over the years I have been unknowingly influenced by Christian tradition and culture. Yet, now I will never see Christmas and the birth of Christ the same way again. My only disappointment with this book was that it was not written earlier.

If you want to save yourself some time and energy, buy multiply copies of A Not-So-Silent Night and enjoy the satisfaction of crossing off your Christmas list. This book has something for everyone: the busy housewife, the man who doesn't like to read, the bored teenager, and even the Greek scholar. Your family members and friends will thank you for sharing with them a tool that will inform and transform how they view God, the characters of the Bible, and most importantly, themselves.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Re-Thinking Christmas, December 17, 2009

By 

L. Hartness "LHartness" (Savannah, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Not-So-Silent Night: The Unheard Story of Christmas and Why It Matters (Paperback)

Sent to me as a complimentary copy from another website, A Not-So-Silent Night piqued my interest, as it presented some very interesting ideas to ponder during this Advent season. Dr. Verlyn D.Verbrugge has written a slim yet interesting treatise that urges his readers to take another look at the birth of Christ.

Traditionally, Christmas has been celebrated as a time of joy, peace and light. Verbrugge takes a different viewpoint. If you consider why Christ came into the world, His birth ushered in a new era of spiritual and physical conflict. The heralding angels should really be seen as soldiers of a heavenly army, declaring their readiness to their Commander in Chief. Essentially, "Christmas is the beginning of war." (p.74)

While I felt that Verbrugge was a bit heavy-handed with his depiction of Christ's birth as a death-scented occasion, there were a number of points made that have made me appreciate this holiday in a deeper way. His portrayal of the trials that Mary and Joseph had to endure as social and familial outcasts was very compelling. I will never look at their diversion to the animals' stable in the same way again. I also found the comparisons made between Genesis' Tree of Knowledge and Christ's cross to be very interesting.

There are many angles to the Christmas story that I have never considered before, and this concise book clearly presents them in a scriptural, deliberate way. It is certainly worth 98 pages of reading to enhance your appreciation for what God has done for us in the birth of Christ Jesus the Messiah.

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