Video: Lift your Ebenezer

Hollywood has Christmas Caroled 15 times, rarely well | Pamela Johnson

For better than 150 years Charles Dickens's story of miserly, miserable Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghosts has been a staple of Western observance of Christmas. With the advent of cinema, A Christmas Carol has proven to be a favorite plot for filmmakers, who have turned out more than 15 feature productions.

Even though Dickens employs numerous references to the Bible, the tale's theology is more humanitarian than scriptural. Instead of grace through faith alone, the shade of Marley teaches Scrooge that salvation arises from good works and that the penance of phantoms like himself is to wander the earth seeking "to interfere, for good, in human matters." While moderns delete Christ from Christmas, Dickens at least alludes to him, with indirect citations such as "the sacred origin" of Christmas and "the blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode."

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