Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 158
May 27, 2016
Oberlin students demand end to grades below C
Students at Oberlin, which has the reputation as a good school, are demanding that the administration abolish any grades below C. And while they are at it, they should abolish midterms and essay questions, replacing them with a conversation with a professor. Their reasoning is that they have too much to do, what with their [Read More...]
May 26, 2016
Classical Lutheran Education
The Lutheran educational tradition, according to Thomas Korcok, is classical liberal arts education + catechesis. In his book Lutheran Education, Dr. Korcok, now a professor at Concordia Chicago, shows how the enthusiasts just wanted Bible-reading schools; the humanists just wanted classical education; the pietists just wanted vocational training; the Enlightenment just wanted science education–but orthodox [Read More...]
“I am a nasty man with no heart”
When Russell Moore criticized Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee retaliated, as he always does. He tweeted that Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, is “A nasty guy with no heart!” I love Moore’s response on Meet the Press: “I am a nasty guy with no heart, which is [Read More...]
Looking for a new moral code
Barna has released a fascinating study on Americans’ moral beliefs. Eighty percent are worried about the nation’s moral condition, and yet there is little consensus about what morality is and how we can know the difference between right and wrong. A majority believe that this knowledge is a matter of personal experience. Three-quarters of Millennials believe “Whatever [Read More...]
The Thunder rolls. . .
Now that I live in Oklahoma, I can’t help but get pulled into the vortex of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA this season has been dominated by two teams for the ages, with astonishing records, hailed by many as among the best teams ever: The San Antonio Spurs and (above all) the Golden State [Read More...]
May 25, 2016
You’ve got to read “Being Lutheran”
There is a new book out from CPH that is very much worth reading: Being Lutheran by A. Trevor Sutton, a young pastor in Michigan. In the vein of my Spirituality of the Cross, this book explains in an utterly fresh way not only what Lutherans believe but also what it feels like to “be” Lutheran. This [Read More...]
Methodists go pro-life
We mustn’t give up on the Protestant mainline. At its recent General Conference, the United Methodist Church voted to repeal its four-decades-old resolution supporting abortion. It also voted to withdraw from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. From Evangelicals Cheer Pro-Life Vote at Methodist Conference | Gleanings | ChristianityToday.com: In one of the last actions [Read More...]
Was Christopher Hitchens reconsidering his atheism?
Christopher Hitchens was one of the most prominent of the “new atheists,” but a book by evangelical author Larry Alex Taunton who travelled with him says that after his diagnosis of terminal cancer, which killed him in 2011, he was reconsidering his atheism and may have come close to converting to Christianity. And that there [Read More...]
May 24, 2016
How Luther invented mass media
Media historian Andrew Pettegree has written a new book entitled Brand Luther: How an Unheralded Monk Turned His Small Town into a Center of Publishing, Made Himself the Most Famous Man in Europe—and Started the Protestant Reformation. He tells about how Luther, along with his collaborator the artist and printer LUCAS CRANACH, used the printing press [Read More...]
How feminism was hijacked by the pro-abortionists
Feminism at first was not pro-abortion. Not only were the 19th century Suffragettes pro-life, pioneering 20th century feminists like Betty Friedan were at most ambivalent about abortion. The fact is, the early pro-abortion movement was led by men. In 1967, though, the pro-abortionist leader Larry Lader gained the endorsement of the National Organization for Women and [Read More...]
