Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4647 )

• Final Frontier?

  

  Stay away from the dark side. That’s generally good advice. Ironically, new religious movements (NRMs, in the biz) have come up in my conversations quite a bit... Read more

  Posted on 02 November 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sacred Fear

  

  Last week’s Time magazine ran a story about fear. I’m no stranger to this emotion, so long ago I decided to engage it creatively rather than run away. The... Read more

  Posted on 01 November 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Conscientious Ghosts

  

  It’s finally Halloween. In keeping with the spirit of the season, NPR recently ran a story on ghosts. I’ve posted on the topic of ghosts several times since the... Read more

  Posted on 31 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• World War 1.2

  

  75 years ago today Orson Welles presented a radio drama version of The War of the Worlds. Perhaps it was the looming fear of the Second World War in a society... Read more

  Posted on 30 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Hungry Again

  

  Vampires are on my mind. The funny thing is this often is the case when I’m unemployed. Feeling lost and alone, I settled down to watch the most depressing... Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Presumption Be Thy Name

  

  I once dashed an email off to a colleague in a hurry. The email concerned, in some way, the Judeo-Christian deity, known in the Hebrew Bible by the... Read more

  Posted on 28 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Omega Alpha

  

  Perhaps out of a warped—perverse even—sense of self-punishment, I watched The Omega Man. Being unemployed will make you react that way. I have a pretty high... Read more

  Posted on 27 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Human Resources

  

  I’m thinking about how we blithely accept cruelty and christen it “just business.” It’s legal, and even encouraged. Was a time when you wouldn’t dare trade... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Thanksgivukkah

  

  A moveable feast is hard to hit. Or something like that. Religious festivals are frequently tied to celestial events—the ancient Jewish holidays are based on a... Read more

  Posted on 25 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Carrie the Cross

  

  With all the buzz about the new Carrie movie just released, I decided to go back and watch the Brian De Palma version again. I’ve written here before about the... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Lost Supper

  

  Culture, for better or worse, involves a deep connection to religion. No matter how secular we suppose the world to be, profound connections to belief surface i... Read more

  Posted on 23 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• At World’s End

  

  “I am not a number, I am a free man” Number 6 plaintively cried on The Prisoner. Capitalism, however, has a way of making each of us quantifiable. A statistic.... Read more

  Posted on 22 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sleepy Hallow

  

  Upon occasion I found movie clips to be of great help in explaining ideas in religion classes. A movie whose clips I used sparingly, due to concerns for... Read more

  Posted on 21 October 2013 ENTERTAINMENT

• The Devil’s Dues

  

  Belief, no matter how inscrutable, must be taken seriously. Although we frequently prefer to privilege that which we “know,” belief is one of our main... Read more

  Posted on 20 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Making Saints

  

  Some places are inaccessible in the academic world. Or perhaps invisible. I couldn’t help but have Santa Muerte on my mind as I visited the Phoenix/Tempe area o... Read more

  Posted on 19 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Literate Monsters

  

  Literary criticism is not for the faint of heart. Biblical scholars long ago adopted the methodologies of literary criticism since it had become clear that an... Read more

  Posted on 18 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sun Devils

  

  Unbelievable. The unrelenting sun of Arizona is unbelievable. Even a “cloudless day” back east is only an approximation. Here it is literal. And like all... Read more

  Posted on 17 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Phoenix Rising

  

  As a bird with the incredible gift of resurrection, the Phoenix is one of the most enduring symbols of Greek mythology. We, as people, are pretty accustomed to... Read more

  Posted on 16 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• A Dog’s (Inner) Life

  

  Last week’s Sunday Review in the New York Times included a piece tuck under Opinion entitled “Dogs Are People, Too.” Gregory Berns, the article’s author, a... Read more

  Posted on 15 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Quack, Quack, Honk

  

  Although I’ve never hunted, there is an undeniable sense of power involved with shooting a shotgun. Maybe it’s the harsh kick against your shoulder as a clay... Read more

  Posted on 14 October 2013 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY