Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4650 )

• 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

• Musical Mind

  

  Music is perhaps the most natural of human arts. We are all, as Daniel J. Levitin says, expert listeners from an early age. This Is Your Brain on Music: The... Read more

  Posted on 09 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• From Solid to Gas

  

  “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” I couldn’t believe that the woman at the police station actually used that phrase on me. The only time I’d ever heard it... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Naming Evil

  

  Books don’t tell us what is true; books tell us what could be true. When I was growing up, under the influence of the Bible, I thought that non-fiction books... Read more

  Posted on 07 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Star Lords

  

  Things are done differently in the UK. I suppose that’s obvious, but I have always noticed on my trips between our respective countries that some things that... Read more

  Posted on 06 December 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY