Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4522 )

• The Fault in Whose Stars?

  

  Theodicy. I’m no theologian, but the problem of suffering erects a wall ever higher between wanting to believe and actual experience. Many great thinkers have... Read more

  Posted on 07 June 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Uisge Beatha

  

  Water is essential for life. Life as we know it, in any case. It is no surprise, then, that many religions incorporate water into their rituals. Read more

  Posted on 05 June 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Inerrant, Indeed

  

  The other day at work, I discovered a huge Bible. This one was truly massive, in three volumes, almost too heavy to lift. As I pulled down the last fascicle,... Read more

  Posted on 04 June 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Vive La Compagnie

  

  I’m cleaning out the closet at work. I doubt that either J. C. L. Gibson or Nicolas Wyatt envisioned my future thus. Edinburgh University was exotic and... Read more

  Posted on 03 June 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Two Roads Divergent

  

  One of the most hopeful signs for culture is the quality of young adult fiction on the market. Since I’m now in the book industry, Publisher’s Weekly is require... Read more

  Posted on 02 June 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Singing the Truth

  

  Attending a local high school choral concert recently, I arrived late. That’s fairly common since the bus from New York is often quite tardy—arriving forty... Read more

  Posted on 01 June 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Transparent

  

  With its endless versatility, gold is many things to many people. Already at the dawn of civilization, both in the old world and the new, it was a valued... Read more

  Posted on 31 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The One That Got Away

  

  While looking for reviewers for a book proposal on Jonah, I had a strange realization. Few mainstream biblical scholars are interested in the book. Or at least... Read more

  Posted on 30 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• 31 Flavors

  

  Princeton Theological Seminary, nestled next to its Ivy League sibling university, has never welcomed my advances. Although I’ve long ceased keeping the myriad... Read more

  Posted on 29 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Back to School

  

  “We want to make certain that we view culture through the eyes of faith, that we don’t view our faith through the eyes of culture. Read more

  Posted on 28 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Saints and Serpents

  

  Santa Barbara feels like paradise.  To a guy who grew up under the gray clouds and sometimes cruel winters of the northeast, the sun-washed placidity of the... Read more

  Posted on 27 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Price of Flags

  

  As a child, Memorial Day signaled the start of summer. Most of the time it announced that the obligations of school were nearly over and that was sufficient... Read more

  Posted on 26 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Buttons and Bows

  

  I don’t remember what year it was, but I remember precisely where. On one of my countless trips out back—to or from school, to burn the paper garbage, pet the... Read more

  Posted on 25 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• How We Got Here

  

  Perhaps it’s because the Steampunk World’s Fair is still on my mind, or perhaps because I’m increasingly curious about the way we came to be how we are, I read... Read more

  Posted on 24 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Double Blind

  

  When I read Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics as a child, I assumed that I’d not live to worry about them in real life. What we don’t know can indeed hurt... Read more

  Posted on 23 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Greece Lightning Rod

  

  Eds and op-eds are popping over the Supreme Court decision to allow sectarian prayer at Greece, New York town council meetings. Some citizens complained that th... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Akedah

  

  Violence, in its most basic form, is to be blamed on evolution. Not the theory of evolution, but the fact of it. More precisely, violence is a reflex of the... Read more

  Posted on 21 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Future Shock

  

  The Jehovah’s Witnesses are nothing if not persistent. Unemployed and huddling fearfully at home during the day a few years back, I answered the door and had a... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Gorilla Whale

  

  Monster Boomers grew up with Godzilla. Among the many monsters on offer on a Saturday afternoon, Godzilla was one of the most obvious fakes, but also among the... Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• In Our Own Backyard

  

  That monk walking towards me looks a little suspicious. Perhaps it’s that guy with a top hat and weird gun strolling next to him with a waxed mustache and... Read more

  Posted on 18 May 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY