A Seton Hall faculty member read from and signed copies of his new book yesterday evening in the Seton Hall campus bookstore. Greg Tobin, Senior Advisor Communications in the Office of Public Relations at Seton Hall, yesterday released “Holy Holidays: The Catholic Origins of Celebration,” which explains the origins of several popular holidays and looks at how they were and continue to be celebrated.

“What I want readers to take away from this book is the Catholic concept of time and its personal application to our lives,” Tobin said. “To us as Catholics, time is a gift of the creator to the created.

“The Day of Reckoning is where our concept of linear time stops,” he joked with his audience. “You all know the Day of Reckoning, it’s like the biggest and baddest holy day of obligation of them all.”

He said that though the book is written from a Catholic viewpoint, it contains insights on secular holidays and can also be enjoyed by readers of any denomination.

“My intent was to come from a Catholic perspective, but to have an openness in my writing for everyone.”

Tobin said that “Holy Holidays” divides the calendar year into four sections: winter, spring, summer, and fall holidays. In the book Tobin looks at the secular origins of several holidays and their history to date, including some holidays “baptism” by the Catholic Church and the commercialization of several popular holidays.

Tobin is the author of over 21 books, including the fiction thriller “Conclave,” in which a New Jersey priest is elected a cardinal and travels to Rome for the selection of the new pope. He said he was contacted by the international academic publisher Palgrave Macmillan to start work on the book in late 2009. He said he worked under a tight deadline to make sure the book could be released this March.

Tobin also revealed that he is currently working on another novel, a thriller about “the next female pope.”

During the presentation Tobin thanked the Seton Hall faculty for their support.

“This is very much a Seton Hall book,” he said. “The faculty and everyone here are so supportive of creative and scholarly work, and they always help us out in real and spiritual ways.”

Tobin earned a Master’s degree in Theology from Seton Hall in 2006. The Rev. Thomas Guarino, a professor in the School of Theology and Tobin’s first professor in when he was enrolled in the Theology graduate program, was one of the audience members and spoke up to commend his former student.

“I can’t wait to read it,” he said.

The inevitable question was eventually asked: when asked what his favorite holiday was, Tobin chose Halloween.

“As a kid, I loved the candy of course,” he said. “I also like how it is a precursor to Thanksgiving and Christmas. You know there’s more to come soon.”