Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 20
May 28, 2018
Memory Day
Memorial Day should include memories. The holiday was established specifically to remember those who died defending their country. In some parts of the country, that observance has broadened to include also remembering other family members and friends who have died. The custom is to visit the cemeteries where they were buried, putting flowers on their graves. […]
“The Anticipated Davidic Figure” in the Psalms
My son-in-law Adam Hensley, Old Testament Lecturer at Australian Lutheran College, has just published his book Covenant Relationships and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter. I am posting about the book not only to encourage you and any associated libraries to buy it, expensive though it be. But also to show you an example of rigorous, sophisticated […]
May 26, 2018
Bloody Ireland
Ireland once saved civilization, keeping Christianity and the classical tradition alive, during the barbarian invasions after the fall of Rome, eventually converting those barbarians. Not this time. Ireland joined the rest of the uncivilized world by voting to legalize the barbaric practice of abortion. The Irish voted to repudiate their Christian heritage and their Catholic […]
May 25, 2018
Will the New Critics of Liberal Democracy Turn Against Religious Liberty?
A number of conservative thinkers, in trying to address the political and cultural problems of our time, are blaming liberal democracy itself. They are maintaining that the combination of individualism, personal freedom, and free market capitalism, as cultivated by liberal democracy, undermine community, religion, and (ironically) the foundations of liberal democracy itself. But what these […]
May 24, 2018
Evangelicals’ Realpolitik
Evangelicals who support Donald Trump are receiving harsh criticism, both from other Christians and from secularists. How can you support Trump? goes the typical attack. With his porn star affairs, egotism, and vindictiveness, he’s as far from being a Christian as you can get. And his mean-spirited policies aren’t Christian either. You Christian Trump […]
May 23, 2018
A Bill to Amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Leading Democrats in the Senate have introduced a bill that would amend the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), so that it could not be used to protect Christians who refuse to approve of gay marriage and other LGBT causes. The RFRA was passed in 1993 as a bipartisan measure with overwhelming support, introduced by liberal […]
What Trump’s Blow to Planned Parenthood Means and What It Doesn’t
President Trump is bringing back a Reagan-era rule that would prevent federal “family planning” money from going to organizations that provide for or recommend abortion. This will hurt Planned Parenthood, but it stops far short of defunding the abortion franchise completely. The federal government has long had a program called Title X, which provides for […]
May 22, 2018
“The Evangelical Church” as the “Catholic Church Purged of Certain Heresies & Abuses”
I quite randomly stumbled upon this quotation from Lutheran theologian Hermann Sasse*, the anti-Nazi activist who settled in Australia. Paul McCain nailed it to the door at First Things eight years ago. Nota bene: By “evangelical,” Sasse is using the European terminology for what we would call Lutheran. See the explanation at this post. From […]
Why Would a High School Kid Shoot His Classmates?
We had yet another high school shooting, with 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis in Santa Fe, Texas, prowling the hallways shooting 23 teachers and classmates, killing 10 and wounding 13. Most discussions about this and all of the similar cases are focusing on the “how”; that is, the availability of guns, so that even children and adolescents are […]
May 21, 2018
The Lord and Giver of Life
Yesterday was another major holy-day: Pentecost, fifty days after the resurrection of Christ and ten days after His ascension, at which time the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church. There are many misconceptions about this particular person in the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not just a force or power, not just […]
