Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 192
January 8, 2016
“Then we become His gods”
More mind-bending insights from Luther, this time on why so many people reject God’s gifts and His grace, insisting instead that they themselves merit their salvation. “Then we are the workmen who lay the cornerstone on which God then builds His grace and love, so that He must praise, thank, and adore us. Then we [Read More...]
Christianity Today’s 2016 Book Awards
Christianity Today announced its choices for the top books of the year. See Christianity Today’s 2016 Book Awards | Christianity Today for the winners and brief reviews. Here are the categories: apologetics/evangelism biblical studies Christian living/discipleship the church/pastoral leadership culture and the arts fiction, history/biography, missions/the global church, politics & public life, spiritual formation, theology/ethics, [Read More...]
Publishers want LGBTQ characters for children’s books
Publishers of children’s and young adult books have put out a call to authors and agents for manuscripts focusing on LGBTQ characters. (The acronym standing for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning.) From Tom Gilson, Parents Be Warned: YA Fiction Agents, Publishers Now Pushing for ‘Stories with Diverse and LGBTQ Main Characters’ | The Stream: Agents, [Read More...]
Earthquake alley
I was watching TV around 10:30 on Wednesday night when I thought one of grandkids–we were hosting a sleepover–was shaking my chair. I reached around to grab the culprit, but there was no one there. Then it happened again. Then the other adults in our living room, including some Californians, said “Earthquake!” This was the [Read More...]
January 7, 2016
God the Giver
I came across one of those stunning and paradigm-shifting quotations from Luther, this one about how God–the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–is always giving. Above all, God, in all of His persons, is always giving Himself.From Martin Luther, Confession Concerning Christ’ s Supper of 1528: These are the three persons and one God, who has [Read More...]
Small Terror
In the course of a larger essay on the world’s political woes, David Brooks points out that all of the major acts of terrorism have had the effect of creating a cultural climate of anxiety, suspicion, and insecurity that he calls “small terror.” David Brooks, The Age of Small Terror – The New York Times: [Read More...]
“I’ve heard a lot about purple”
We’ve blogged about the new technology that allows people who are color-blind to see in color for the first time. Now these special glasses are available through optometrists. After the break is an excerpt and a link to an article recounting the experiences of people with red-green color-blindness, who usually see both colors as a [Read More...]
January 6, 2016
Epiphany and epiphanies
Today is Epiphany! Have a merry and happy Epiphany! It isn’t just about the wise men. It’s the beginning of a whole season in which the scheduled Bible readings on Sunday deal with “epiphanies” of who Christ is: His baptism, in which the voice from Heaven says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I [Read More...]
Gun control by executive order
President Obama issued a series of executive orders in an attempt to control the possession of firearms. See the provisions after the jump. From Obama gun control order: Here are 8 main provisions | AL.com: Closes ‘gun-show’ loophole Require gun dealers, whether they sell in a store, at gun shows or over the internet, to [Read More...]
Biomedical studies that aren’t reproducible
A key principle of the scientific method is that experiments must be reproducible. That is, an experiment has scientific validity only if another person tries the same experiment and gets the same result. It has been coming out that a big percentage–possibly a majority of psychological and social science experiments are not reproducible. That is [Read More...]
