Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 38
January 2, 2018
Liberals Should Bring Back Civil Religion?
Conservatives have been known for promoting “civil religion”–investing patriotism, the flag, American heroes, etc., with spiritual significance. Christians warn about slipping into that kind of idolatry, even as they value patriotism and the like in their proper sphere. Liberals, on the other hand, have tended to be civil religion iconoclasts, critiquing American history for its […]
January 1, 2018
Make Your Predictions for 2018!
Happy New Year! A time to look ahead! A time to make your predictions for 2018! The custom on this blog on New Years Day is for readers to predict what they think will happen over the course of the year ahead. Then, once the year is over, on or around the next New Year’s […]
New Year’s Resolutions That You Can Keep
New Year’s resolutions tend to be demonstrations of the bondage of the will. We decide to do something that will make us better persons, we really commit to it, we make a good start, and then in just a few days our resolve falls apart. We fail, beat ourselves up, and resolve not to make any more […]
December 29, 2017
Checking Our Predictions for 2017
Last year at this time, Donald Trump was on the verge of taking office, the state of the economy was uncertain, and no one knew what would happen. That didn’t keep us from making predictions! The Year of Our Lord 2017 was tumultuous and full of surprises. But last year’s post Make your predictions for 2017 brought forth […]
How the Word of God Is Getting Everywhere
In church and Bible studies all over the world, people are taking out their smart phones–not to distract themselves, but to read the Word of God on the YouVersion Bible App. With that technology, the Word of God is getting everywhere, including where physical Bibles are banned. According to the article Life.Church leaders expect YouVersion Bible […]
December 28, 2017
Top Cranach Blog Posts of 2017
Today we look back on 2017 by reviewing the top posts here at the Cranach blog. These are determined not by polls of journalists nor by anyone’s personal opinion, as is the case with most top 10 polls at this time of year. This list is based on the number of page views that each post […]
December 27, 2017
The Top Religion Stories of 2017 Are Mostly About Trump
Continuing our look back at 2017, we turn our attention to developments in religion. A poll of religion journalists has given us another Top Ten list of the top stories in that realm. But it’s an odd list, though revealing in its own way. Most of the items have to do with Donald Trump, as if […]
Democrats Should Make the Tax Bill Fair
Democrats can hardly control their indignation at the Tax Reform Bill that has just passed. As proof of its unfairness, Democratic critics point out that the provisions that give big tax cuts to corporations are permanent, whereas individual tax cuts will expire in 7 years. So why don’t the Democrats vote to make the individual tax […]
LCMS Missionary Battling Witch-Burnings in New Guinea
Papua New Guinea is seeing a revival of sanguma, the belief that witches send evil spirits to cause illness and bad fortune, whereupon accused women are tortured and killed, usually by being burned alive. Now a Lutheran missionary is being hailed for battling this belief and saving the lives of women accused of witchcraft. Anton Lutz is a lay-missionary in […]
December 26, 2017
Why the Word Became Flesh
You want to read a good Christmas book? You can’t do better than the one I am reading. It’s by St. Athansius, and it’s entitled On the Incarnation of the Word. The edition I linked to has as an introduction by C. S. Lewis, which has been published separately as his illuminating essay On Reading Old Books, which shows how […]
