Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 387

Bringing back the Psalms

I’m no fan of N. T. Wright’s “new perspective on Paul” stuff, but his new book about the centrality of the Psalms for Christian worship, prayer, and worldview formation sounds really, really good.  It’s called The Case for the Psalms: Why They Are Essential.  I am forming my opinion from the interview in Christianity Today, [Read More...]

Illegal dinner parties

New York City is being plagued by a shocking crime that is being committed at ever-shifting secret locations, its perpetrators involved in a shadowy underground operation accessible only through a sinister online network.  I am referring to illegal dinner parties. Now the Washington Post just published a feature about meal-sharing sites that made them sound [Read More...]

Seceding from the state

The Civil War established the principle that states are not allowed to secede from the Union.  But it also established the principle that counties can secede from a state.  West Virginia was formed when certain counties in Virginia refused to go along with the rest of the state in joining the Confederacy. That has been [Read More...]

You cannot be be my disciple

We had a powerful sermon last Sunday on one of those “difficult” passages of Scripture, one that reminds us that Christianity is not merely about “family values”: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, [Read More...]

Colorado throws out anti-gun lawmakers

Citizens of Colorado voted for the right to smoke marijuana, but they have also voted or the right to own firearms.  In a recall election, this blue state ousted two state legislators who pushed anti-gun laws.  Might this be another example of a leftwing/rightwing alliance for civil liberties? From Gun rights groups roil politics with [Read More...]

Collective bargaining through government power

Labor unions have been having a hard time of it.  So union activists have announced a new strategy: “We are going to expand the idea of collective bargaining,” said Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco AFL-CIO. “You can have collective bargaining through legislation. You can have collective bargaining through ballot measures.” Columnist Harold [Read More...]

The legacy of 9/11?

On this anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we’ve got to ask ourselves:  Did the terrorists win?  Or did America win?  And what did those attacks do to us?  Considerations after the jump.That the terrorists have won:  We have been fighting wars with Islamic extremists ever since and, on this very day are contemplating a new [Read More...]

Good liberal theology vs. bad liberal theology?

British theologian Theo Hobson has a paradigm-scrambling article in the Christian Century, the magazine of record of mainline liberal Protestantism.  He says that liberal theology has suffered a “huge collapse,” particularly in its intellectual credibility in academic theology.   The “bad” liberal theology is faulted for being little more than a vague, rationalistic humanism, cut [Read More...]

The President’s speech

So what did you think of the President’s speech on Syria?  Did it make any of you change your mind?  Is this his “Cuban Missile Crisis” moment?  What do you think will happen now?

Developments on Syria

A reporter asked Secretary of State John Kerry if Syria could do anything to avoid getting attacked.  Off the cuff, Kerry said, sure, get rid of their chemical weapons.  Whereupon the Russian foreign minister seized on the idea, turning it into a proposal.  Whereupon the Syrian foreign minister indicated that the country might be open [Read More...]