Assumption College Theology Professor Virginia Kimball will deliver a talk Dec. 15 titled “The Mystery and History of the Christmas Crèche,” as part of the Continuing & Career Education Division’s new “Deepen Your Faith” series of ecumenical workshops. The talk will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Testa Science Center’s Fuller Auditorium. Admission is $25, and light refreshments will be served.
Kimball will explore the history of the image of the Christmas crèche from the earliest Christian period until the folk art of contemporary times. This journey through imagery will begin with the art of the catacombs, continue with the themes developed in the early iconography, trace the transition into the middle ages, Renaissance and Baroque art periods, and finally tell the story of St. Francis and the idea of a living manger scene which has inspired countries around the world and their love for the Christmas crèche. Along the way, it will be seen that the themes and symbols of Christian liturgical art found in these images reveal inspiring spiritual reflection and the sense of God’s mystery and the incarnation of Christ into our human world.
Kimball specializes in Marian Theology, and holds a master’s degree in Theology from Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, as well as a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) and doctorate in Mariology, both from the International Marian Research Institute, a pontifical institute associated with the Marianum Seminary in Rome that is based at the University of Dayton in Ohio. She serves as president of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary, U.S.S., and is former president of the Mariological Society of America. Her most recent publication is Mary: Godbearer to a World in Need, edited by Virginia Kimball and Dr. Maura Hearden, Pickwick Publications, Wipf & Stock, 2013. Kimball contributes to the Mary Page (
www.marypage.org), CatholicWeb (
www.catholicweb.com) and Marian Studies.
RSVP and pre-registration is encouraged. For more information, contact Professor Kimball at 978-692-4661 or email
vkimball@assumption.edu.