Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4648 )

• De Profundis

  

  In a grocery store last week a friend pointed out how many magazines had pictures of Robin Williams on the cover. Although his suicide two months ago was tragic... Read more

  Posted on 10 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Monster Mash

  

  In one of those ironies of personal history, I never met Linda Godfrey although we lived not far from one another and shared a great many common interests. Read more

  Posted on 09 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Small Town Heroes

  

  When World War Three starts I hope someone will let me know. You see, I barely have time to satisfy the needs of employers and tax collectors to get everything... Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Literally Biology

  

  In a New York Times opinion piece on a recent Sunday (ironically, always on a Sunday), college biology professor David P. Barash submitted an article entitled... Read more

  Posted on 07 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• See Serpent

  

  Seeing, it is said, is believing. I have a feeling that this truism may have become effaced somewhat in this age of deft photo manipulation and apps that are... Read more

  Posted on 06 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Theatrical Desert

  

  While the appellation T. E. Lawrence may leave many scratching their heads, “Lawrence of Arabia” will still garner nods of recognition. Of course, having a majo... Read more

  Posted on 05 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Books on Wheels

  

  Some unexpected serendipities transport you to childhood. Somewhere on Interstate 80 I passed a bookmobile. The notion felt strangely old-fashioned in this... Read more

  Posted on 04 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Trisagion

  

  Irony is all around. When we hook words up into phrases or titles they often take on unexpected connotations. I often see the sign for Jesus’ Bookstore on a... Read more

  Posted on 03 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Growing Up

  

  I am in two minds about Sam Harris’s Waking Up. Literally. I haven’t read Harris since The End of Faith, and I have to admit that I found Waking Up to be a... Read more

  Posted on 02 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Theological Cemetery

  

  Implosion is a word frequently associated with demolition. Implosions are episodes where buildings collapse in upon themselves, in theory, harming no one on... Read more

  Posted on 01 October 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Dirty Words

  

  I don’t have any bumper-stickers on my car. As clever as I may think any particular one to be, driving down the highway is not the place that I want other... Read more

  Posted on 30 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Knockin’ Where?

  

  For a while, when I was with Routledge, I tried to kick-start the old series Biblical Limits. I didn’t initiate the series, but it had been cutting edge at the... Read more

  Posted on 29 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Cuneiform Lover

  

  I’m busy. Too busy most of the time. You see, I used to be able to keep my mental files neatly in order. Recall was swift and efficient. Read more

  Posted on 28 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Ironic Icons

  

  The Annals of Improbable Research every year offer up the Ignobel Prize for research that is bound to raise a condescending smile from the perspicacious. Read more

  Posted on 27 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Casing the Promised Land

  

  In one of the great ironies of the English language “flammable” and “inflammable” mean the same thing. Sometimes an extra syllable can make all the difference. Read more

  Posted on 26 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Afraid for God

  

  Reading Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi, is not easy. It is, however, rewarding. Appropriate for Banned Book Week, we might want to remind ourselves... Read more

  Posted on 25 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Academic Freedom

  

  Azusa Pacific University, 2013. Emmanuel Christian Seminary, 2012. Interdenominational Theological Center, 2012. University of Illinois, 2010. Carroll College,... Read more

  Posted on 24 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Lola Lolita

  

  As a father, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita is difficult to read. With Banned Book Week upon us, however, and with my wife suggesting I read Reading Lolita in Tehran... Read more

  Posted on 23 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Acts of Apostles

  

  “Manifesto,” the poem that launched Banned Book Week 2010, was written by banned author Ellen Hopkins. As a perspicacious undergraduate I know pointed out,... Read more

  Posted on 22 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• All Things Being Equal

  

  Today the light and darkness are equal. The equinox is the great equalizer of the year, the day that reminds us summer’s ebullience is always, and ever will onl... Read more

  Posted on 21 September 2014 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY