Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 107
December 31, 2016
The Name of Jesus
“And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21). So tomorrow, the 8th day after Christmas, which falls on New Year’s Day, the church year commemorates the Circumcision and Name of Jesus. With the baby’s circumcision, He
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Anniversaries in 2017
The new year will mark some important anniversaries. The biggest will be the 500th anniversary of Luther’s posting of the 95 theses and thus the beginning of the Reformation. The significance of that event–not just for theology but for culture, education, socio-economic change, and the overall history of Western civilization–will be intensely debated, especially as October [Read More...]
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December 30, 2016
Make your predictions for 2017
Now it is time to look forward, to speculate about what this new year will bring. Lots of question marks hover over 2017. Will Donald Trump make America great again, or will his presidency prove to be a major fiasco? Will the economy boom or will it collapse? Will Christianity thrive or be declared a [Read More...]
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Top 10 discoveries in Biblical archaeology for 2016
2016 was a good year for Biblical archaeology, with numerous excavations and artifacts confirming Biblical history. Christianity Today announced its “Top 10 Discoveries of 2016.” I give the list after the jump, but you’ll want to go to the link for descriptions of each of the finds. The linked article itself has links that will take [Read More...]
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Debbie Reynolds dies, one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, died last week. One day later, her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, also died. Her father, singer Eddie Fisher, abandoned his family to marry Elizabeth Taylor (who would later abandon him to marry Richard Burton). He died in 2010. Reynolds was known for playing the [Read More...]
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Obama picks a fight with Russians
President Obama has hit Russia with sanctions and the expulsion of diplomatic personnel in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s alleged interference with the U.S. election. He has also threatened cyberattacks against Russia. In return, Russia is promising retaliation of its own. With only twenty or so days left in office, the president has stirred up a [Read More...]
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December 29, 2016
Checking our predictions for 2016
It’s time to check the predictions we made around this time last year, something you don’t see the tabloids or most highly-paid consultants doing. Your predictions for 2016, as usual, were thoughtful, interesting, mostly-wrong, but with some remarkable accuracies. Go here to read them all and come to your own conclusions. We were still under [Read More...]
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The worst political predictions of 2016
The Cranach Institute is not the only news source that holds itself accountable by checking its annual predictions. Politico Magazine does the same with the whole pundit community, publishing a story on “The Worst Political Predictions of 2016.” The point is not just the wrong predictions; of course, hardly anyone predicted that Donald Trump would beat [Read More...]
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In Sweden, Christmas means Donald Duck
Odd Christmas customs department: In Sweden, the country virtually shuts down on Christmas Eve at 3:00 p.m. so that everyone can watch a Donald Duck special from 1958. The show consists of old cartoons from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, featuring Walt Disney’s duck, whom the Swedes call Kalle Anka. After the jump, an excerpt [Read More...]
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December 28, 2016
Birth as the “moral fault line of our time”
Christmas is about birth, Kevin Williamson reminds us, which is what reminds us most of our physicality. No wonder, he says, birth is also “the great political and moral fault line of our time.” Consider all of the moral issues that have to do with birth, whether preventing it or negating it: abortion, sex outside of marriage, [Read More...]
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