Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 394
August 12, 2013
Radical Orthodoxy?
What are we to make of “radical orthodoxy”? This isn’t people who are orthodox getting all radical about it, as in some sort of theological Tea Party. It’s a distinct theological movement, as I understand it, that uses postmodern philosophy to shoot down theological liberalism, that challenges the fact/value nature/grace distinction, that makes use of [Read More...]
Obamacare a step towards single-payer system
Critics of Obamacare have said that it is just a first step towards a single-payer system. That is, the government provides everyone’s health care as in the socialized medicine of Great Britain and Canada. Now Senate majority leader Harry Reid is admitting that this is, in fact, the plan. And if Obamacare proves to be [Read More...]
A word-based management style
Nervous Washington Post employees are wondering what life will be like under their new boss, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com. So some of the newspaper’s reporters did a bit of investigative journalism on what Bezos is like to work for. The article is worth reading for his exploration of the distinctive management style of the man [Read More...]
August 9, 2013
Is God different than we are?: The ontological controversy
Consider this quote from Timothy George, in our recent Christianity without the Atonement post: The problem comes when we use an anthropopathic term like “wrath” and apply it univocally to the God of eternity. Before long, we have constructed “a god who looks like me,” to use the title of a recent book of feminist theology. [Read More...]
Drugs and sports
Major league baseball suspended 13 players, including superstar Alex Rodriguez and three All Stars, for using performance-enhancing drugs. Sportswriter Julian Linden worries that this may be the tip of the iceberg, not only in baseball but also in other sports. This is because none of the suspended players failed a drug test. The cutting edge [Read More...]
Mazeppa and Teddy Jack Eddy
I told you about the Tulsa mini-renaissance of my college days in the 1970s, mentioning specifically the Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting, the late night bad-movie and skit-comedy festival featuring Mazeppa Pompazoidi (Gailard Sartain) and Teddy Jack Eddy (Gary Busey). Well, hat tip to my brother Jimmy for pointing out that you can find [Read More...]
August 8, 2013
Christianity without the Atonement
The committee preparing a new hymnal for the Presbyterian Church (USA) has thrown out a popular praise song, “In Christ Alone,” not just because it refers to the “wrath” of God, as originally reported, but because of the word “satisfied.” That is, because it says the wrath of God was satisfied in the Cross of [Read More...]
Be careful what you google
The anti-terrorism surveillance, we are told, involves just aggregate data and in any event wouldn’t be a bother to ordinary law-abiding citizens. But a Long Island woman happened to be researching pressure cookers while her husband was shopping for backpacks. Whereupon six men from an anti-terrorism task force showed up at their home and subjected [Read More...]
Bringing back audio drama
Do any of you remember radio drama? How about hearing recordings of radio dramas? Do you listen to “talking books” on car trips? There is something special about listening to a story-teller, to the power of sheer aural language. Notice how the experience engages your imagination even as the images come from outside yourself. Well, [Read More...]
August 7, 2013
The religious spectrum of liberals and conservatives
E. J. Dionne is a liberal columnist who is also a faithful Catholic. He has written a column warning liberals about the anti-religion reflex that some of them display. In doing so, he cites a useful study of where both liberals and conservatives fall on the religious spectrum. From E.J. Dionne Jr.: Religion challenges left [Read More...]
