Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4522 )

• Horsemanship

  

  Hi ho Silver, away! I’ve been pondering academic freedom. (It was suggested to me that I might discourse on such.) My academic career, three years cold in the... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Fashions to Slaves

  

  Howard Thurman was a theologian who held saintly status in my days at Boston University. As an African-American he’d experienced episodes while growing up that... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dark and Stormy Night

  

  I miss my monsters, especially when I stay away too long. I had eyeballed Roseanne Montillo’s The Lady and Her Monsters: A Tale of Dissections, Real-Life Dr. Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• What I Mean

  

  It might seem, in this world of constant misunderstanding, that we might get along better were it not for the Tower of Babel. I mean, we call it a language... Read more

  Posted on 11 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sustain This

  

  “Grant me chastity and continence,” Augustine famously prayed, “but not yet.” That tragicomic scene kept coming to me as I read Jeremy L. Caradonna’s... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dystopian Paradise

  

  Dystopias resonate with me. As I ponder why, two factors seem to rise to the surface: dystopias are inevitably populist in orientation, and I was raised... Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Cost of Being Human

  

  In last week’s Time magazine Joel Stein’s “The Awesome Column,” a humorous endnote for somber weekly news, spoke to me. Although Stein writes as light relief,... Read more

  Posted on 08 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Disco Duck

  

  From the Roman Empire, Holy or otherwise, to the British Empire upon which the sun once never set, human endeavors are inevitably temporary. We like to think... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Our Pigeons, Ourselves

  

  You don’t have to be in New York City long to begin to see yourself as an expert on pigeons. The ubiquitous avians are ruthlessly castigated as “flying rats” an... Read more

  Posted on 06 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Exceptionalism

  

  Some years ago I was invited to a famous person’s house along with some intellectuals—we’re all mature here, so names aren’t necessary. Read more

  Posted on 05 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Waking Up in Galilee

  

  One voice can’t be heard. Unless, of course, it has a publicist. For years, it seems, I have been suggesting in my obscure corner of the internet that we’re... Read more

  Posted on 04 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Quantum Uncertainty

  

  Physics has moved beyond the point of comprehension for the average citizen, if I might be permitted to class myself as that. I got the concept of the atom,... Read more

  Posted on 03 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Religion, Technically

  

  One of the truths of history is that technology has always been with us. Reading Steampunk stories always boosts my historical sense of the interaction of... Read more

  Posted on 02 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sentence

  

  Labor Day marks the end of summer. Originally a day to commemorate all that the common laborer has contributed to society, it is now always a slightly melanchol... Read more

  Posted on 01 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Water Flowing Underground

  

  One of the most compelling characters of the Bible is John the Baptist. Unconventional and non-conformist, he speaks with unquestioned authority based on pure... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Retro Progress

  

  In these days of high technology, remembering childhood might be seen as cowardly nostalgia. When driving my daughter back to college, however, sometimes I... Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Stamp Act

  

  Reality seems more and more intangible all the time. Perhaps this is because I can remember a time, not so long ago, when sitting in front of a computer all... Read more

  Posted on 29 August 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Esau and Jacob

  

  “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” at least according to the recollection of Paul in Romans. One of the most poignant scenes in the Hebrew Bible is th... Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Watchers and (Un)holy Ones

  

  Angels, demons, djinn, watchers, giants, and a healthy dose of fantasy pervade Nancy Madore’s novel, The Hidden Ones. In this present world where, I’m told,... Read more

  Posted on 27 August 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Founding Principles

  

  That feeling is in the air. Autumn began to stretch its melancholy fingers into August this year. Even before the month was half over the mornings had that chil... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY