Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 250
May 8, 2015
A sentimental tribute to Motherhood, with spiders
OK, what I am about to tell you is gross, even horrific. And (trigger warning to arachnophobes, who had better not click through to the jump) it has to do with spiders. And yet, there is what Yeats called a terrible beauty here. And, for Mother’s Day, it gives us a profound emblem of extreme [Read More...]
The new Encyclopedia of Christian Education
The Encyclopedia of Christian Education has been released today, a three-volume reference book packed with information about the influence of Christianity on education as a whole, as well as the various ways Christians have taught the faith. I wrote the entries for the Liberal Arts, the Renaissance, Johann Sturm, and the Concordia University System. Details [Read More...]
May 7, 2015
How the KGB created Liberation Theology
Liberation Theology, which teaches that Christianity demands radical social and economic change, is a major movement in modern theology. It has been especially influential in Latin America where it created alliances between Roman Catholics and Marxist revolutionaries. Now a former Soviet intelligence agent says that Liberation Theology in its entirety, from its formulation to its [Read More...]
Having a loving family as an unfair advantage
The evidence is overwhelming that growing up in an intact, two-parent loving family confers huge advantages on children as they grow up. The normal response has been to encourage strong families among those who lack those advantages. But, looked at another way, through the usual leftist prism that sees all inequality as oppression, it can [Read More...]
Corporate America’s alliance with cultural left
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal says that corporate America is foolish to ally with leftists in opposing religious liberty in the name of gay marriage: Referring to the recent events surrounding Indiana’s Religious Liberty Restoration Act, Jindal said corporate America teamed up with the radical left “to come after our religious liberty rights.” Jindal warned, “Corporate [Read More...]
May 6, 2015
Being Christian without believing in God
In Judaism, it’s fairly common to hear, “I’m an atheist, but I’m culturally Jewish.” So why can’t a person be an atheist but culturally Christian? It turns out that some people like going to church–singing hymns, performing rituals, being part of a community, getting morally inspired–but they have trouble with the God part. An op-ed [Read More...]
Mike Huckabee is running for President
Now former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has announced that he too is running for president. The former Baptist minister has impeccable credentials for social conservatives, though financial conservatives will never forgive him for once raising taxes. But what sets Huckabee apart from the crowd is that he is also a populist, championing the cause of [Read More...]
May 5, 2015
“The sacraments are what make the church relevant”
Yesterday we blogged about Rachel Held Evan’s contention that church growth techniques designed to reach Millennials–contemporary worship, attempts to make church relevant, efforts to make Christianity seem cool–do not, in fact, work. Her suggestion instead: “Keep worship weird.” That is, recover the sacraments. “The sacraments,” she says, “are what make the church relevant.” From Rachel [Read More...]
Islamic terrorists attack Muhammad cartoons in Texas
A free speech group sponsored an exhibit of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in Garland, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Predictably, this drew the ire of Muslims, for whom any depiction of their prophet is blasphemous. So two terrorists attacked the exhibit with gunfire, but were killed by police officers. The question is, were these [Read More...]
Carly Fiorina is running for president
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlitt-Packard, announced that she is running for president. The pro-life businesswoman says that she can counter the appeal of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Do you think she would be good? Should someone holding the office of President of the United States have prior political experience? How about Carly Fiorina [Read More...]
