What's New

Be Afraid...
Monsters are coming

Spring 2009
Free Tibet? Not so Fast
"Happy Serf Liberation Day"
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile from Tibet. Asma’s new article in In These Times magazine is both a glimpse at the past and a suggestion for the future of Chinese/Tibet relations.
Click HERE to read.

"Ancient Antidotes to Timeless Troubles"
In the Chronicle of Higher Education, Asma applies Stoic philosophy to our current recession. If you don't win the lottery soon, you may find great consolations for your economic woes in the philosophies of ancient Greece and Rome.
Click HERE to read

Doctor Swing
A live music band that swings stylish 1930s Jazz
Regular Chicago gigs at “Pops for Champagne” and “The Horseshoe”

Buddha for Beginners
(Hampton Roads Publ.)

A “graphic novel” of the Buddha’s philosophy
Available now at stores and online

January, 2008
Asma’s article “Trapped in the Creation Museum” is published in the Chicago Tribune Magazine, Sunday Jan. 20th. This new article is a strange personal trip to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, and a rumination on the American ideology of free choice.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-080120creationmuseum-story,0,2804703.story

January, 2008
Asma’s article “In Search of the Retired Buddhas” is published in the online literary zine Rokovoko. The article is about traveling up the Mekong River to a cave in Laos. For centuries, a giant grotto in a Mekong cliff-wall has served as the sacred resting place for broken Buddha statues. The drinking of centipede whiskey is chronicled. nuff said.
Click here: http://www.rokovoko.com/asma

October, 2007
Asma on MTV. Asma will read an excerpt of his book The Gods Drink Whiskey as part of a joint project between publisher HarperOne, The Beastie Boys, and MTV. Look for animated spots that portray imaginary gods, accompanied by new Beastie Boys music and Asma reading a short passage from his book.
watch it:http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=181433

October, 2007
New article, “Holy Toyland” in In These Times explores the new line of Bible action-figures (e.g., Moses, Noah, Jonah, and talking Jesus). These Bible toys, made by one2believe, are now available at Wal-Mart stores. Check out the article here: http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/covers_ind/31/10/

October 3, 2007
Free Public Lecture (and slide show) at the Chicago Cultural Center, entitled “Monsters in the Christian Tradition.”

Many people have heard of Leviathan and Behemoth in the Old Testament, but lesser known are the race of Giants --born of human women who were impregnated by fallen angels. So too, while many Christians may have a St. Christopher statue on the dashboard of their cars, Christopher is rarely depicted (as the Eastern Church believes) as a monster with a dog’s head. Many ancient and medieval monsters have been conveniently edited out of modern orthodoxy, but they played important roles in previous eras.

To be a monster is to be an omen. Sometimes the monster is a display of God’s wrath, sometimes a portent of the future, sometimes a symbol of moral virtue or vice, sometimes an accident of nature.

The monster is more than an odious creature of the imagination, it is a kind of cultural category –employed in domains as diverse as religion, biology, literature and politics. In this lecture Dr. Asma will examine some of the fabulous creatures of ancient legend, and draw parallels to our contemporary uses and abuses of monsters. Significant images will be included in the presentation.

WHAT: Monsters in the Christian Tradition –
An Illustrated Intersections Presentation by Stephen T. Asma

WHEN: Wednesday, October 3 – 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Chicago Cultural Center, Garland Room, 78 E. Washington, 1st Floor

HOW MUCH: Free and open to the public

MORE INFO: 312-744-6630

September, 2007
Asma’s new article about the Creation Museum, entitled “Jurassic Lark” appears in the British publication Museums Journal. Check out the journal here: http://www.museumsassociation.org/14198&_IXPOS_=manews2.1

September, 2007
Asma’s article “How to Survive the Apocalypse” appears in the magazine Skeptical Inquirer (Sept/Oct). http://www.csicop.org/si/ Asma explains how to avoid the Four Horsemen, and what to do about the human-headed locusts. Also, confusion is laid to rest about whether or not to get the mark of the beast. Read it here: http://web.mac.com/stephenasma/iWeb/Site%2016/how%20to%20survive%20the%20apocalypse.html

July and August, 2007
Asma is featured in a series of interviews for the Phnom Penh Post, by Charles McDermid. Asma addresses the complex nature of Khmer Buddhism, including its fusion of pre-Buddhist superstition and Dharma rationalism. And he discusses the relationship between the monk community and Cambodian politics. Click here: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

July, 2007
Asma is interviewed about the Creation Museum (Kentucky) for the Scientific American podcast (hosted by Steve Mirsky). He explains some of the exhibits and odd theories on display in the museum. Listen to the interview (entitled “Saddle up that Stegosaurus” 7/25/07) at Scientific American podcast archive (http://www.sciam.com/podcast/index.cfm?e_type=W), or the itunes podcast entitled “Science Talk.”

Summer 2007
Asma’s book The Gods Drink Whiskey is translated into Czech. Get on the phone and tell all your Czech friends. http://www.martinus.sk/?uItem=32535 Also, a Portuguese Brazilian version is in the works.

May, 2007
Asma’s review of the Kentucky Creation Museum, “Dinosaurs on the Ark” is published in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Skeptic magazine. Read a version here: http://web.mac.com/stephenasma/iWeb/Site%2011/Welcome.html