A Church of England bishop has criticised some Christmas carols as nonsense and suggested others exhibit "Victorian behaviour control".

The Rt Rev Nick Baines, the bishop of Croydon, sets out his views in his book Why Wish You a Merry Christmas?, which aims to return to the Christmas story "at its heart".

In the book, Baines says "most carols are OK", and accepts they have a difficult task. "They try, within the constraints of several verses and an easily memorable tune, to capture something of the story of Christmas or the mind-boggling idea of God becoming human and living among us," he writes.

But even accepting these lyrical hindrances, the bishop believes some carols are lacking in substance. He is particularly critical of nativity play favourite Away in a Manger, asking: "How can any adult sing this without embarrassment?"

"I always find it a slightly bizarre sight when I see parents and grandparents at a nativity play singing Away in a Manger as if it actually related to reality. I can understand the little children being quite taken with the sort of baby of whom it can be said 'no crying he makes', but how can any adult sing this without embarrassment? I think there are two problems here: first, it is normal for babies to cry and there is probably something wrong if they don't; secondly, are we really to believe that a crying baby Jesus should be somehow theologically problematic? Or, to put it more bluntly, is crying supposed to be sinful?"

The bishop stresses that there is another serious problem with the content of some popular carols: "If we sing nonsense, is it any surprise that children grow into adults and throw out the tearless baby Jesus with Father Christmas and other fantasy figures?"

Baines takes a verse of Once in Royal David's City as an example of a carol with lyrics which have seemingly little relevance to the story of Christmas.

"Once in Royal David's City has Jesus as 'our childhood's pattern' – even though we know almost nothing of his childhood apart from one incident when he was 12 years old and being disobedient to his parents – and invites children to be 'mild, obedient, good as he' – which means what exactly? This sounds suspiciously like Victorian behaviour control to me."

The bishop says O Come, All Ye Faithful also poses a problem: according to gospel accounts of Jesus's birth it was "not the 'faithful', but rather the 'faithless'" who came to see the infant.

He cites the shepherds, "who cannot fulfil the regular religious rituals because they are always up on the hills", and the wise men, who "were not good Jews. They were not Jews at all. They were pagans – men who were outside the covenant people of God" as contradictions to the carol's lyrics.

Baines does not hate all Christmas carols – "There are carols and poems that express in a single line what most of us struggle to put into a hundred or a thousand words," he writes – but believes not enough of them remember that "Jesus spent time with people on all sides of the 'faith' or godliness lines," mixing with people from varying backgrounds.