Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 334

The world’s eucatastrophe

Thanks to Rev. Sam Schuldheisz who posted passages from J. R. R. Tolkien on “eucatastrophe,” a word he coined for “the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears.”  Tolkien then developed the idea that the eucatastrophe of history is the Birth of Christ, and the eucatastrophe of [Read More...]

Bringing back the religious left?

A Brookings Institution study says that today’s Democrats are less interested in even liberal Christianity, but that it still might be possible to bring back the religious left.  I would think this is true.  Pope Francis seems to be bringing liberal Catholicism back into power.  Many ostensible evangelicals are reconfiguring their teachings to promote liberal, [Read More...]

A very early image of Jesus

Archaeologists have discovered in Egypt an image of Jesus dating from the 500s-600s.  See it, along with a news report, after the jump.   From Egypt dig unearths ‘early image of Jesus’ in a mysterious underground tomb | Mail Online: His image has been replicated countless times in churches and artwork, but a team of [Read More...]

The glory of God hidden under suffering

Thanks to Rev. Scott Diekmann for bringing to our notice a 2002 piece by Rev. William Cwirla that succinctly explains the “theology of the Cross” and applies it to human suffering. From Rev. William Cwirla,  “Suffering, Death, & the Hidden God,” in Modern Reformation (2002): The theology of the cross is the theology of Jesus Christ, [Read More...]

Inequality as the root of social evil?

The Pope sent out a tweet that set forth a curious moral teaching:  “Inequality is the root of social evil.”   Twitter as a genre for theological discourse has its limits, but, as Grant Gallicho points out, Pope Francis said much the same thing in his encyclical Evangelii Gaudium.   Do you think he is right?  If [Read More...]

Meet me in St. Louis–for CCLE conference

The Consortium for Classical and Lutheran Education will be holding its annual conference July 15-17 in St. Louis on the beautiful, historic gothic campus of Concordia Seminary.  This year there will even be child care! I’ll be there–talking about George Herbert, the Christian poet whom I’ve been featuring here lately–along with many others (check out [Read More...]

Back to the social gospel

Hillary Clinton cited her commitment to the “social gospel” in a speech to United Methodists.   That goes back to the 19th century when many Protestants said that instead of emphasizing the gospel of eternal salvation in Heaven through Christ, they should emphasize a gospel of building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The social gospel, [Read More...]

Church competition

More from Methodist minister Morgan Guyton’s post entitled “Six Ways that Capitalism Fails the Church.”  He discusses competition between churches, the way churches “with bling” take members away from churches “without bling.” From Morgan Guyton, Six ways that capitalism fails the church | Mercy Not Sacrifice: 3) Capitalism fails the church when churches with bling [Read More...]

Sarah Palin’s blasphemy

Sarah Palin, in a speech to the NRA, said that “waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.”  Lutheran journalist Mollie Hemingway calls that blasphemy.  Her article in the Federalist includes a shoutout to the Cranach Institute, a quote from my daughter, and a critique of civil religion. Mollie Hemingway, No, Sarah Palin, Baptism Isn’t A Good [Read More...]

Adolescent Arguments

In the context of an article criticizing President Obama, George Will says that the president continually uses “the four basic teenage tropes” that characterize the way adolescents argue.   I give them after the jump, with my emphases in bold.  I don’t really want to discuss what Will says about the president.  And I don’t want [Read More...]