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 ( 4574 )
-
Top Predator
The reboot of Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, has been on my mind. Back in the early days of this century I hadn’t bothered to see either Jurassic Park II or III. Read more
Posted on 29 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Mother Divine
Religions, by nature, exercise a distribution of power. That power is perceived to be on several axes at once, the “vertical” is intended to represent the... Read more
Posted on 28 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Social Security
Security. If there’s one thing we can never get enough of, this is it. We look at the future with a mix of perspectives: it’s going to get better, or it’s... Read more
Posted on 27 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Feasting
In addition to music, Christmas has also been associated with seasonal foods. Unlike today, when we think of foods primarily in terms of either fast food or... Read more
Posted on 26 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Christmas Music
While reading about holidays recently, I came across the idea of Christmas as a cultural holiday as well as a religious holiday. Now that it’s here, it feels... Read more
Posted on 25 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Credit Is Due
In an article on Nomad by Brandan Robertson, the issue of Larycia Hawkins at Wheaton College is discussed. Hawkins was suspended for stating that Christians... Read more
Posted on 24 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Imagine the World
Robin A. Parry’s, The Biblical Cosmos: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Weird and Wonderful World of the Bible is a fun trip through territory already familiar. Read more
Posted on 23 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Solstices
Most cultures outside of the tropics, where the difference in lengths of days is noticeable and portentous, there is a celebration of the winter solstice. Read more
Posted on 22 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Seeing Things
We have to learn to see the world. Traditionally religion and science both had roles to play, but as science grew better at explaining physical causes, many... Read more
Posted on 21 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
All Go Down Together
While the rest of the world was watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I was rewatching Noah, trying to find some profundity there. Read more
Posted on 20 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Sorry About That, Chief
What’s worth $20,000? An apology. That figure may require some adjustment for inflation, but back in the days when I was taking conflict management training it... Read more
Posted on 19 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Who’s God?
There shall be wars, and rumors of wars. The Bible says nothing about being able to declare what future people might have to say about God. Read more
Posted on 18 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Who the Devil?
Those who’ve studied the history of ancient West Asian religions know that the concept of a devil, as a character, derives from Zoroastrian origins. Read more
Posted on 17 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Away in a Manger?
The holidays are a time for getting together. At a friend’s house over the weekend, we were talking about nativity scenes. I mentioned a story about how a... Read more
Posted on 16 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Looking Ahead
A History of the Future is a great title for a book. Classified, I suppose, as a dystopia, James Howard Kunstler’s novel is set in upstate New York, not too... Read more
Posted on 15 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Holiday Fervor
Time comes in different varieties. In temperate regions where the changing seasons keep the time of year for us, we tend to have seasonal holidays. Read more
Posted on 14 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Only Hummus
I remember the moment well. I was in Jerusalem on my own. Although in my early twenties, I really didn’t know much. The man at the vending cart didn’t speak... Read more
Posted on 13 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
O Come Let Us
During the height of the zombie craze a meme went around the internet proclaiming “zombie Jesus.” It was funny because the salient feature of zombies is that... Read more
Posted on 12 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Factor Fiction
An article on CBS that my wife sent me tells how Costco mistakenly labelled a shipment of Bibles as fiction, setting off a tweet-storm. Some offended, some... Read more
Posted on 11 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY -
Things Being Equal
Gun violence is out of control. While experts dither and bicker about whether this or that act was done by “terrorists” they choose to ignore that gun violence... Read more
Posted on 10 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY
