The Commentary Magazine Podcast The Next Great Awakening?
21 snips
Dec 10, 2025 
Eli Lake, a contributing editor at Commentary and host of Breaking History, dives into the cultural evolution of Christmas music, revealing how popular carols prioritize shared symbols over theology. The discussion explores the role of Jewish songwriters in shaping modern Christmas and critiques the notion of America as a unified white Christian nation, emphasizing historical diversity. Lake also examines the intersection of modern revivalism with political movements and warns of the risks posed by online religion, contrasting it with meaningful communal practices.
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Irving Berlin's Lower East Side Memory
- Eli Lake recounts Irving Berlin seeing an Irish neighbor's tiny Christmas tree and feeling astonished by American generosity.
- That memory illustrates how immigrant Jews both absorbed and shaped American Christmas culture.
How Christmas Became Ecumenical
- Many classic Christmas songs sidestep Christ's birth and instead create an ecumenical, secular holiday feeling.
- That secularization helped immigrant creators like Jewish songwriters craft unifying American myths.
The 250th Will Reopen America's Identity Debate
- The question for America's 250th is whether its founding promises are a fulfilled dream or a contested myth.
- The panel notes that America's identity always mixed many religious and ethnic traditions, not a single 'white Christian' origin.
