Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 125
October 18, 2016
A rigged election?
Donald Trump is re-emphasizing his claim that if he doesn’t get elected, that’s because the election is rigged. Now 41% of voters are saying that this could happen. Critics are saying that casting those kinds of doubts undermines the social compact that gives Democracy its legitimacy. Most people seem to believe that the “establishment” will [Read More...]
The Nobel Peace Prize keeps missing
Juan Manuel Santos, the president of Columbia, negotiated a peace deal with the left-wing rebels known as FARC, which has been conducting a guerilla war for 52 years. But on October 2, the people of Columbia voted down the agreement. Five days later, Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize. I suspect the votes had already [Read More...]
October 17, 2016
“God punishes wicked subjects by wicked rulers”
Luther did not actually say the words attributed to him, that he would rather be ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian (HT: Carl Vehse). Though we might wish a wise Turk were running. All we seem to be getting are foolish Turks. But here is a political observation that Luther did say, from Treatise on [Read More...]
Charles Taylor wins philosophy prize
There is the Nobel Prize for various great achievements, and now there is the Berggruen Prize for philosophy. The first award, which comes with $1 million, was given to Charles Taylor. Taylor, a Canadian thinker, is one of the most interesting, helpful, and Christian-friendly of all contemporary philosophers. (See this Cranach post.) A Catholic, though [Read More...]
Oklahoma State wins national football championship
Oklahoma State University has won its first national championship in football! For 1945. The American Football Coaches Association is cleaning up its records from between 1922 and 1949, when the championships were not clearly defined. OSU–then, Oklahoma A&M–had an undefeated season and a Sugar Bowl win, along with an All-American leading rusher and a defense [Read More...]
October 14, 2016
Luther and technology
David Gibson of Religious News Service tells about three major exhibitions opening this month on Luther’s Reformation: at the Morgan Library in New York City; at the Minneapolis Art Institute; and at Emory University in Atlanta. These sound extremely interesting and worth going to. I was struck by what the Morgan library curator says about [Read More...]
The candidates and the Two Kingdoms
I’ve been studying the Lutheran doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, which has some interesting applications to our controversies today. Christian defenders of Donald Trump are saying that his sexual transgressions show that he isn’t a saint. But he is well-suited to the pragmatic, rough-and-tumble world of secular government, and that’s what we need in a [Read More...]
Did the Greeks make China’s terracotta army?
Archaeologists have discovered European DNA at the site where those 8,000 lifesize terracotta soldiers guard the tomb of China’s first Emperor. They are concluding that Greek sculptors may have been involved with their creation, especially since the realistic statues correspond to Greek styles and techniques. They were made in the 3rd century B.C., which means that [Read More...]
October 13, 2016
Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize
Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize. The Peace Prize for “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Masters of War”? No. The Chemistry Prize for his duets with Joan Baez? No. The Prize for Music? There is no prize for music. He won the Prize for Literature. OK, even many of us Dylan fans responded to the [Read More...]
Non-denominational vs. confessional evangelicals on politics
Jacob Lupfer makes the observation that non-denominational evangelicals tend to support Donald Trump, while “confessional evangelicals” (those committed to a specific theology) tend not to. These are generalizations about leaders who are vocal about the election, not poll results of rank and file members. But his lists of partisans on either side (see his article after [Read More...]
