Though New York state has now legalized gay marriage, Katherine Francke, a gay law professor at Columbia, has qualms, worrying that marriage might restrict the freedom gays now enjoy. She also fears that the parceling out of benefits will now go only to marriage couples, thereby forcing gays to get married: While many in our community have worked hard to secure the right of same-sex couples to marry, others of us have been working equally hard to develop alternatives to… Read more
The great comic book bubble
June 27, 2011 By Gene Veith
6 Comments
Jonathan V. Last offers a fascinating mashup of two of my favorite topics: comic books and economics. Not only that, he draws lessons that apply to the recent popping of the housing bubble: In 1974 you could buy an average copy of Action Comics #1—the first appearance of Superman—for about $400. By 1984, that comic cost about $5,000. This was real money, and by the end of the decade, comics sales at auction houses such as Christie’s or Sotheby’s were… Read more
Thoughts on the conversation with my critic
June 24, 2011 By Gene Veith
72 Comments
Thanks to Trevin Wax for arranging that discussion between Ben Witherington and me. (See the posts over the last three days.) It’s a good use of technology to have that kind of forum. Some thoughts: (1) An effective argument–that is, one whose purpose is persuasion rather than just hitting the other person over the head with your position–tends to start by finding common ground. I did that. (I hope I didn’t concede too much. Perhaps I should have defended Luther… Read more
Me on marriage
June 24, 2011 By Gene Veith
14 Comments
The latest issue of the Lutheran Witness includes an article that I wrote on marriage, addressing the question of whether or not it will become obsolete and what it means to understand marriage as vocation. You can read it here: The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod – The Lutheran Witness. Read more
The War in Afghanistan
June 24, 2011 By Gene Veith
6 Comments
President Obama announced a time table for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan. The Washington Post, no less, which usually supports the president and all things liberal and Democratic raised some questions in an editorial: The president may be sabotaging his own Afghanistan strategy – The Washington Post. So is the president declaring victory and going home? Are we leaving just as we are making progress? Is announcing when we’ll be leaving just an incentive for the Taliban to hunker downuntil after we’re gone? Is… Read more
World Swastika Rehabilitation Day
June 24, 2011 By Gene Veith
10 Comments
Sunday is World Swastika Rehabilitation Day, celebrated by the New Age religious cult known as the Raelians: World Swastika Rehabilitation Day (WOSRED) will be celebrated on June 26 through marches and informative events worldwide, according to a statement released this morning by the International Raelian Movement (IRM). WOSRED was launched last year by Rael, spiritual leader of the IRM. “The goal is to return the swastika’s true meaning of peace and harmony to this ancient symbol regretfully hijacked by the… Read more
A conversation with one of my critics #3
June 23, 2011 By Gene Veith
18 Comments
In which we conclude the “battle of the books” between my God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life (Focal Point) and Ben Witherington’s Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor and also get into some other issues: WITHERINGTON: Why do both Jesus and Paul talk about rewards in heaven or in the Kingdom, and the lack thereof for those who are less profitable servants, shall we say? Do you think virtue is its own reward, and how does virtue relate to your… Read more
Taizé
June 23, 2011 By Gene Veith
96 Comments
Steve Schwolert asked me, “What do you know about Taizé?” Not much, I said. I know that it is a religious monastic-kind of community in Europe. I know that they have liturgical music that is kind of modern and folky, but quite reverent and liturgical-sounding. The Lutheran Service Book includes a couple Taizé songs (pp. 638 and 780). Lots of “pilgrims” go there, including, as Steve noted, a lot of evangelicals. I had assumed that the community is Roman Catholic. … Read more
The Singularity will give you everlasting life
June 23, 2011 By Gene Veith
52 Comments
A new religion is born. The concept of the “singularity” used to be a dream of technology, the notion that exponentially-growing computing power would reach a point at which machines would become more intelligent than human beings. But now the hypothetical Singularity is being invested with religious significance: It will give you eternal life. The Singularity, promised by futurist Ray Kurzweil, has accelerated interest in an entirely new field known as Transhumanism, giving hope to deep-pocketed Baby Boomers that they… Read more
A conversation with one of my critics #2
June 22, 2011 By Gene Veith
76 Comments
More of my debate with Ken Witherington, author of Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor, which takes issue with what I say about vocation in God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life (Focal Point): WITHERINGTON: Let’s take one of these issues where we really do have a difference. While I am not going to suggest that human beings, Christians in particular, never are co-operating with God in some sense, I am going to insist on is that there… Read more
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