Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 275
January 19, 2015
Most public school kids are poor
Over half of the students in America’s public schools–51% overall, but in many states the number is much higher–are from families below the poverty line. Some will say that this is because the middle class has abandoned public education, what with homeschooling, parochial and other Christian schools, and other private institutions. But why are so [Read More...]
Supreme Court will settle gay marriage
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that will, in effect, decide if the Constitution requires all states to have gay marriage. From Robert Barnes, Supreme Court agrees to hear gay marriage issue – The Washington Post: The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will decide a historic question about whether the Constitution [Read More...]
Martin Luther King, Jr., on Vocation
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I offer you something he said about vocation: If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will [Read More...]
January 16, 2015
Symposium on Vocation
As I said in my own contribution, Patheos has put together a symposium on vocation, involving blogs on the Faith & Work channel and the Evangelical channel. Since Luther’s doctrine of vocation is a major theme of this the Cranach blog, I took part, and I invite you too to join the discussion. This may [Read More...]
The Conflict of Iconoclasts
France is holding huge rallies for free speech after the Charlie Hebdo murders, but they have arrested a comedian for his antisemitic speech. Now the Pope, while condemning the terrorist attack, is underscoring that mocking religion is wrong in itself. Issues of free speech are apparently more complicated than is often assumed. Meanwhile, the sold-out [Read More...]
We now have a ray gun
The U.S. military is now deploying a weaponized laser. It isn’t a Buck Rogers-style light pistol or a Star Trek phaser that looks like a cell phone. It looks like a telescope. But it can zap enemies with perfect accuracy. Its biggest potential, though, is as a defensive weapon. Not only can it shoot down [Read More...]
Oscar nominations
The Academy Award nominations have been announced, and they are already proving controversial. For example, how could The Lego Movie not get nominated for best animated feature? “Everything Is Awesome” from that movie did get nominated for best song, but you do not want that earworm to win, lest it drive the population further into [Read More...]
January 15, 2015
The “big questions” of vocation
The Faith and Work channel at Patheos is sponsoring a symposium with other blogs interested in the subject. That would have to include us at the Cranach institute, since one of the major themes here is the doctrine of vocation. The topic is the “big questions” of vocation, as raised by the quotations posted here. [Read More...]
A “heavenly tourist” takes back his claims
There are a number of books in the genre of what has been called “Heavenly tourism.” They tell about someone who died, went to Heaven, and came back to tell the tale. Now the boy featured in The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, then 6, now 17, has recanted his story. He says that [Read More...]
The very model of a Biblical philologist
After the jump, Biblical scholarship by way of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “I am the very model of a modern major-general.” HT: Mary Moerbe
