Book Review: Advent & Christmas with the Church Fathers
It is nice to have a book for reflections during the season of Advent and Christmas. My choice of book in 2025-2026 was Advent & Christmas with the Church Fathers by TAN Books, available here. It was just published in October of 2025 so I was excited to read a newly printed book that refers to the great Church Fathers.
About the book
Advent & Christmas with the Church Fathers was authored by TAN Books to guide people through a seven-week retreat with reflections on the mystery and meaning of the incarnation by reading reflections with writings of the Church Fathers. It was published in October 2025 so it is a newer book. The book is a total of 239 reading pages split between the seven weeks within the period. They did not structure it as a “daily” book with a set of pages for each day, instead it is up to the reader to progress through each chapter throughout its respective week. There are reflection questions placed throughout each chapter which can be used as a natural stopping point between days.
Summary of the book
Advent & Christmas with the Church Fathers starts us off in Advent walking us through the four weeks of Advent while reflecting on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. The authors detail the history of the season of Advent while referring to Scripture and writings from the Church Fathers to guide us through the reflection. After Advent, we walk through the Christmas Octave reflecting on the various feasts within the eight-day celebration that is completed on the Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God. We then move to the week preceding Epiphany and finally the Baptism of Our Lord to Ordered time.
I will note, this book follows the Novus Ordo reading and calendar, which would not work for those who follow the Traditional Latin Mass as their primary Liturgy for worship.
My review
As someone who respects the Church Fathers, I was excited that TAN had published this book. After going through the seven-week retreat, I have mixed feelings. With that, I did enjoy the way they walked through the seasons of Advent and Christmas to develop a deeper understanding through reflection.
Some people may not like the fact that it does not lay out readings for each day, while others may be fine. Personally, the structure of the book worked well for me. I may be odd with this, but I don’t do well with “daily” type books. I have read a few of them, but they feel “restrictive” to me by forcing the reader into a daily reading. Maybe some of you are the same, or maybe I am the odd one. Regardless, it worked well for me.
Now for the mixed feelings. The Patristic writings were quite abundant but there were also a number of modern writings such as from CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, and Paul VI. While these writings were very good, it would have been nice to see the authors utilize the Patristic writings in their places. The book felt more like someone writing a contemporary book and choosing to use Patristic writings rather than orienting the book closer to era and essence of the Church Fathers.
Also, another small pet peeve… the book is physically wider than other books making the spine stick out past other books on the shelf. It’s more of a personal problem I admit, but something to note.
Overall, I would say Advent & Christmas with the Church Fathers was a good read. It was definitely a good companion during Advent and Christmas in 2025. I appreciate that I was able to better understand Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love as well as gaining insight into various aspects of the Liturgical calendar. I can say it was time well spent in reflection during Advent and Christmas.
For those interested in this book, I would suggest it for those who frequent the Novus Ordo and want to walk through the modern Liturgy while accompanied with the writings of the Church Fathers. If you are a deep follower of the Fathers, you will probably be disappointed. There are countless books out available to guide us through Advent and Christmas; if this one is not for you, I am sure there is another one for you.
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