Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 133

Ten Things I Like About St Gregory the Great

Here’s a little list. Ten Things I Like About St Gregory the Great He was a Benedictine monk. I’m a Benedictine oblate and the monk in me will always hanker for the cell, the cloister and the bell. He was a scholar. You got to love a Pope who is brainy. He was a liturgist. [Read More...]

British Girls Raped By Muslim Gangs

Rebecca Hamilton writes powerfully here about the Islamic sex abuse scandal in Rotherham, England. This is NOT about racism, Islamophobia or any other politically correct battle. This is about the rape, torture and abuse of young women by Muslim men. The politically correct crowd can yak about “racism” and “Islamaphobia” all they want. What we [Read More...]

Does the Quran Command Beheading?

In this post for Aleteia I ask whether the Quran commands the beheading of infidels. Quran 8:12 which says, “When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off [Read More...]

Angels, Elephants and Aliens

Here is my latest post at ZENIT…it discusses the fallacy that the apparent vast size of the cosmos must mean that there are extraterrestrials. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed a seemingly profound, but ultimately silly discussion which is prevalent within popular culture. It’s called the Fermi Paradox and it goes like this: “There are [Read More...]

Easter and the Atheists

The last few years have seen a shelf load of worthy books de-bunking what is called the New Atheism. I’m sure it is a mighty good thing to explain and expound the five proofs of God’s existence, but it seems to miss the point. I’d rather present the reality of God’s work in the world [Read More...]

Wherefore the Fedora?

Where are all the men in hats? In the midst of so much bad news, here’s a whimsical piece: my column for the Imaginative Conservative this week. Men in Hats – An Endangered Species Who can resist the gritty allure of the gumshoe Bogart tugging at the brim of his hat, or John Wayne glowering [Read More...]

On the Glory of Purgatory

Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross by S. Mark Heim is a fascinating exposition of the thought of Rene Girard to the theology of the atonement or “what really happened when Jesus died on the cross. I’m reading it as part of my research for a book I am working on called The Sacred Sacrifice which [Read More...]

Why the Secular Humanists Cannot Cope With Islam

In England the liberal left wing ideologues are shaking their heads with shame at the revelations coming from the town of Rotherham. In a huge scandal it has emerged that hundreds of children in state run children’s homes were systematically abused by gangs of Muslim men. More than 1,400 children were sexually abused over a [Read More...]

Prepare for the Rise of the Right

Ordinary people are fuming. Ordinary, decent, down home Mom and Pop types are frightened and fed up. In Britain and France, in the United States and Germany, in Scandinavian and Low Countries, in Spain and Italy ordinary, quiet citizens are angry and afraid. Check out this article reporting on the huge swing towards a new right [Read More...]

Southern Catholicism: Embracing Tradition

Michael Tamara writes here at Crisis Magazine website on the rise of traditional church architecture in the American South: it is still somewhat of a rarity to see a new ecclesiastical project of such delicate care and quality. However, it is not nearly as rare as it was at the turn of the century, and [Read More...]