Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4110 )

• High Places

  

  I have gotten me away unto an high place. No, that’s no biblical, but it sure sounds psalm-like. Part of the anxiety I felt about the literary loss over the pas... Read more

  Posted on 23 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Written Resistance

  

  Power isn’t what you think it is. That’s something autocrats never really learn. Tod Davies explores this tale of our times in Report to Megalopolis, the... Read more

  Posted on 22 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Prelude to Chaos

  

  Liquids are the enemy. Don’t let the cuteness of this little guy fool you—there’s collusion here. For as well as creating life, and being necessary to sustain... Read more

  Posted on 20 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Religion in the City

  

  It’s 5 a.m., so what are all these people doing here? On the highway. It’s still dark and I’m on my way to the choice of public transit that will take me to... Read more

  Posted on 19 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Fair Weather

  

  “I just saw God up on your ridge.” (Kudos to anyone who can name the source of that quote!) Many years ago I read Stewart Guthrie’s remarkable Faces in the... Read more

  Posted on 18 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Starting Something

  

  Starting your own religion, I’m told, just takes patience. You may have to die before it gets off the ground, but if it’s a religion you’re starting you get to... Read more

  Posted on 17 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Final Words

  

  When death’s not the final word, it’s hard to argue. This is such a basic level of disagreement between religions and culture that it may be impossible to... Read more

  Posted on 16 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Quite Eschatology

  

  Realized eschatology, if you’ll pardon my French, is a term that describes the “already/not yet” aspect of the “end of the world. Read more

  Posted on 15 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Awakening

  

  Waking up for the first time in our new place, I felt a strange relief. I hadn’t realized how much you feel owned when you have a landlord. Read more

  Posted on 14 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Bitten by Religion

  

  The Essex Serpent isn’t what it appears to be. Sarah Perry’s debut American novel (although it’s her second elsewhere, publishing being the strange beast that i... Read more

  Posted on 13 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Paranormal Pilgrimages

  

  Although the Allegheny Mountains are hardly the Rockies—they’re much older and more gentle on the eye—they harbor many tourist locations. Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Unnatural Connections

  

  The last time we moved internet service was just becoming an issue. When we first came to our Somerville apartment we had dial-up. Do you believe it? Read more

  Posted on 11 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Blogday

  

  Sects and Violence in the Ancient World is nine years old today. Not that I’m keeping count. Really, I’m not. WordPress sent me a notice, and they ought to know... Read more

  Posted on 10 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Net Worth

  

  —strange concept for a human being—is calculated on the basis of how much cash you’re “worth.” While on that lonely task of sorting through the attic, I came... Read more

  Posted on 09 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Moved Unmover

  

  To say it was an easy move would be a lie. I write this on a beautiful, cool, clear July morning. Only I can’t even calculate the last time I slept. Not new... Read more

  Posted on 08 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Moving Day

  

  So, it’s moving day. Amid all the packing and sorting—outside the regular 9 to 5—I realized that this was the first move I’ve made outside the constraints of... Read more

  Posted on 07 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Moving Books

  

  One of my anxieties about moving is that commuting time was my reading time. Enforced sitting for over three hours a day meant consuming book after book. Now I... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Extra Baggage

  

  So, I’m packing. Have been, on and off, since January. One of the most dreaded moments of packing is the closets. You know how in horror movies the villain ofte... Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Not Enceladus

  

  I’m moving. It turns out that transport companies don’t offer service to Enceladus, and inter-planetary moves are expensive, so we’re moving just one state over. Read more

  Posted on 04 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Melting Psalmists

  

  With weather like this, I could use a Psalm or two. Of course, in my mind, weather and Psalms are closely connected. Here in the mid-Atlantic states, we’ve... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2018 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY