Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4649 )

• Henging Our Bets

  

  With the discovery of Göbekli Tepe, the history of civilization has received an unexpected prologue. In the view of the archaeologists involved in the... Read more

  Posted on 15 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Hunter-Gatherers

  

  Every once in a while I put down my work long enough to look at where we are. It’s often a frightening experience. Not many of us would be equipped to survive... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Biblical Violence

  

  Sarah L. Winchester, it is said, was a haunted woman. The widow of William Winchester, she was heir to the tremendous amount of money brought in by sales of... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2015 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• 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