Steveawiggins
MY BLOGS
-
Sects and Violence in the Ancient World
http://sawiggins.wordpress.com/
A blog that tries to find intelligent things to say about religion and related subjects.
LATEST ARTICLES ( 4126 )
-
The Day After
I don’t mean to be insensitive. Sometimes I get so busy that I don’t even look at the date for days at a time. This can’t be good, but I was surprised when the... Read more
Posted on 12 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Psychobabel
Evolution, we’re told, has one goal: survival. As an unthinking process of nature, evolution “programs” us all to desire survival for ourselves and our... Read more
Posted on 11 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
The End of the Gods
Hovering somewhere between fiction and fact, A. S. Byatt’s Ragnarök: The End of the Gods is a compelling reimagining of Norse mythology. Read more
Posted on 10 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
School Bible
As a very young scholarlet, I recall the horror expressed when some form of prayer was expelled from public schools. It had to have been in the late ’60’s. Mayb... Read more
Posted on 09 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Mind Your Manna
Foodies have gained a respectable place among the ranks of social critics. Major newspapers and many, many websites tell us how to eat better. Eat healthier,... Read more
Posted on 08 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Weathering Academia
Come the end of September, I’m scheduled to give a talk at Rutgers Presbyterian Church in New York City. I’m personally very flattered by this because, as it ha... Read more
Posted on 07 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
What I Meant to Say
XML. CSS. Abstracting. Separating content and meaning. Sounds kind of scary to me. As a would-be writer, plodding my way through what used to be the... Read more
Posted on 06 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Hello, I’m Not In
I recently received two “out of office” replies to my own “out of office” message. Being a fan of futility in all forms, this struck me as a great paradigm for... Read more
Posted on 05 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Rainbow Disconnection
The scene can be quite dramatic. A zoom out from a dead or dying Christian martyr as the moving music swells. There’s a sense of poignant heaven in the air as... Read more
Posted on 04 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Without Precedent
Leonard Pitts Jr. is a national treasure. So many of his Op-Eds make such unwavering good sense that it is difficult to believe he’s not a household name. Read more
Posted on 03 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Something Lost
“Losing my religion,” I learned some time ago, means “going crazy” in some regions. It was that REM song that made me look it up. Losing My Religion, by... Read more
Posted on 02 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
To Whom It May Concern
Everything we do is an investment in the future. Some times it’s intentional, and other times it’s purely accidental. My wife sent me a CNN story about what... Read more
Posted on 01 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Buying the Kingdom
Who doesn’t admire the presidential wannabe who can take a personal hit without flinching? We are, after all, a nation of tough-minded individualists who think... Read more
Posted on 31 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Dog in a Manger
I’m easily amused. I suppose I never outgrew that sophomoric fascination with the little things that seem like big jokes. The other day, for instance, I was... Read more
Posted on 30 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Interstices
College move-in weekend can be a stressful time. In our particular case it means crossing a couple of state lines and staying in a hotel. Read more
Posted on 29 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
The Fall
“Herr, es ist Zeit. Der Sommer war sehr gross,” go the opening words of Rainer Maria Rilke’s 1902 poem, “Herbsttag.” Autumn day. “Lord,” one might feebly... Read more
Posted on 28 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Teaching Vampires
What do you get when you cross German literature, psychology, and the undead? The Vampire Lectures, of course. Laurence A. Rickels, one gets the feeling, must b... Read more
Posted on 27 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Monumental Time
One of my nieces works on the 10,000-year clock (aka Clock of the Long Now). I’ve written about the project before—the object is to build a clock that will run ... Read more
Posted on 26 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
More Blessed to Give
Religions, we are told, are in violent opposition. There’s no denying that sometimes it’s true. It is a sad commentary on belief structures when one way of... Read more
Posted on 25 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Time in a Museum
Over the weekend we visited the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania. I became aware of the museum during one of my steampunk phases, and... Read more
Posted on 24 August 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY