Dwight Longenecker's Blog, page 9

Still Standing on My Head

Some regular readers at Patheos may be wondering what happened to my blog Standing on My Head. Last fall I moved it over to my new website to consolidate all my outreach efforts in one place. I still blog here from time to time, and ten years worth of archived material is still published here […]

The Magi: Liberal Myth and Midrash

When I was researching my book Mystery of the Magi – The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men I discovered the extraordinary amount of legendary and mythical material surrounding the magi story. More than any other gospel story, the tale of the wise men who came to pay homage to the Christ child attracted […]

Two Straight Guys Get Married to Avoid Inheritance Tax

There was a case some years back when same sex  civil unions were legalized in Britain in which two elderly sisters applied to get married so one could inherit easily if the other died. As I remember, they were denied their civil rights. I guess that was not only a case of two women marrying, […]

More Americans Disbelieve the Christmas Story

A poll from the Pew Research Center reports that fewer Americans than ever believe the Christmas story is historical. The New York Times reports here about the “Christmas Wars” The most seismic change captured by the survey, from a theological standpoint, may be the declining number of people who said they believed the biblical story of […]

Take Courage

When I lived in England there was a brewery that boosted a brand of beer called “Courage” They had a striking ad campaign that featured a pint of their beer with the simple slogan “Take Courage”. The same might be said of a new website launched by the Courage apostolate. For those who are not […]

Who Were the Wise Men?

Here is this week’s video about the Mystery of the Magi

The Dictator Pope? Kwitcherbellyakin.

A new book called The Dictator Pope is making a splash. I’m reminded of a handmade sign my mom had in the kitchen that just said, “Kwitcherbellakin” The Dictator Pope? I have to give full marks for a sensational headline. Dan Hitchens’ and editor at London’s Catholic Herald gives the book some airtime here. Apparently […]

New Magi Video

Check my latest short video about The Mystery of the Magi  

Praise for Mystery of the Magi

“I just finished reading Fr Longenecker’s book and I must say I am extremely impressed. He puts forward a very good case not only in support of his position that the Magi are to be regarded as historical figures but also as to where they might actually have been from and who they might have […]

Merry Christmas Its a Gay Nativity!

Here’s a puzzle for you. It seems that this year’s Christmas shocker is the gay nativity scene. Two Josephs and a baby Jesus. I guess it is the gay activist’s idea of a joke. Its a pretty lame joke if you ask me, and not just because I’m an outraged, old white Christian guy, but […]