About Dwight Longenecker

Fr. Dwight Longenecker is Senior Contributor at The Imaginative Conservative. A graduate of Oxford University, he is the Pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, in Greenville, SC, and author of twenty books, including Immortal Combat, Beheading Hydra: A Radical Plan for Christians in an Atheistic Age, The Romance of Religion, The Quest for the Creed, and Mystery of the Magi: The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men, and The Way of the Wilderness Warrior. His autobiography, There and Back Again, a Somewhat Religious Odyssey, is published by Ignatius Press. Visit his blog, listen to his podcasts, join his online courses, browse his books, and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com.

How God Used Poland to Save the World From Darkness

By |2023-08-31T19:13:39-05:00August 31st, 2023|Categories: Dwight Longenecker, Poland, St. John Paul II, Timeless Essays|

God was not absent in the darkest corner of Europe during the horrors of World War II, but he was planting the seed in Poland in the combined work of a hidden nun and a dynamic pope, which would burst through the darkness. As we traveled across Poland on a recent parish pilgrimage, we watched [...]

Theologian Gil Bailie’s Reflections on René Girard

By |2023-11-25T12:06:53-06:00August 29th, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Philosophy, Rene Girard, Senior Contributors, Theology|

We are in a civilizational crisis, one that is the outworking of anthropological mistakes that have long festered. Increasingly in the history of Western culture we have forgotten or ignored or misconstrued, not only mimesis, but what is perhaps the most essential fact of human existence, namely, religious longing. Theologian Gil Bailie was a personal [...]

Repentance and Regret: The Secret of Jane Austen’s Success

By |2023-07-17T22:45:33-05:00July 17th, 2023|Categories: Character, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Great Books, Jane Austen, Morality, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

The secret of Jane Austen’s genius is that she conceals the most serious of themes within light-hearted tales: true repentance and regret. Our own vanity and egotistical deceptions are revealed, and having been made self-aware, we stop and laugh and realize that our delight has filled us with light. Along with Granada Television’s Brideshead Revisited, [...]

Pondering the Permanent Things

By |2023-07-12T15:41:27-05:00July 12th, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Culture, Dwight Longenecker, Faith, Senior Contributors|

In the wasteland of our contemporary culture, in both the church and the world, students and seminarians would do well to read Tom Howard. His essays will give them a fresh perspective, deeper insights, and a broader vision. Pondering the Permanent Things: Reflections on Faith, Art, and Culture, by Thomas Howard, edited by Keith Call [...]

The Domestic Monastery: The Rule of Saint Benedict

By |2023-08-19T09:35:26-05:00July 10th, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Character, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Senior Contributors, St. Benedict|

Whatever a person’s place in life, Saint Benedict offers a “little Rule for beginners.” The principles of the spiritual life which he sets down put us down firmly in life right where we are. By paralleling family and monastery, today’s reader can glean simple yet practical wisdom for, as well as extraordinary insight into, the [...]

Michelangelo’s Last “Pieta”

By |2023-06-25T18:00:48-05:00June 25th, 2023|Categories: Art, Beauty, Christianity, Culture, Dwight Longenecker, Religion, Senior Contributors, Timeless Essays|

The Florentine Pieta was not commissioned. Instead, Michelangelo intended it for his own tomb. He worked on the sculpture in his spare time, late into the night with a candle fixed to his hat for light. The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo is an unmissable new sight in a visit to Florence. Designed by American art [...]

Puppy Dogs & Women Priests: Sentimentalism & Romanticism

By |2023-06-23T22:02:01-05:00June 23rd, 2023|Categories: Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Enlightenment, Senior Contributors|

Sentimentalism—the rule of individualistic emotion—ends by destroying not only the good and beautiful emotions of the individual, but also the individual himself and the society in which he lives. In the late 1980s I was a minister in the Church of England, when the entire denomination was embroiled in a debate about women’s ordination. Much [...]

Mysticism & Optimism: On the Life & Work of Julian of Norwich

By |2023-05-17T19:33:17-05:00May 17th, 2023|Categories: Culture, Dwight Longenecker, Hope, Religion, Timeless Essays|

In our own age, threatened by plague, economic uncertainty, barbarism, religious wars and corruption, the quiet optimism and faith of Julian of Norwich are a sweet tonic which brings re-assurance, hope, and a quiet confidence. In the English city of Norwich there are two Gothic cathedrals: one medieval and Anglican, the other neo-Gothic and Catholic. [...]

The Authenticity of Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino”

By |2023-05-15T17:40:42-05:00May 15th, 2023|Categories: Dwight Longenecker, Film, Timeless Essays|

At the heart of "Gran Torino" is the portrayal of a good man. Too often good characters are simpering or squeaky clean; if not flawless their flaws are superficial traits plastered on top by a mediocre filmmaker. But Clint Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski comes across as authentic because of all the faults our society recognizes in [...]

Where Earth and Heaven Meet

By |2023-05-12T23:15:54-05:00May 12th, 2023|Categories: Catholicism, Christendom, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Poetry, Senior Contributors|

There are few places in the world where I would rather take a vacation than Tuscany. Here are the birthplaces not only of Giotto, Leonardo, and Michelangelo, but the city of Dante, the heartland of popes, princes, and presidents. A visit to this blessed land immerses one in the history, art, cuisine, and culture of [...]

“The Chemist of Catania”

By |2023-04-20T17:13:31-05:00April 20th, 2023|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Dwight Longenecker, Fiction, Senior Contributors|

A good Catholic novel is true to life, and one of the most difficult truths is that some very bad people may continue in their evil—never in this life finding the repentance that might make for a happy ending. Fr. Alexander Lucie-Smith's "The Chemist of Catania" is such a Catholic novel, showing us truth, but [...]

What Is the Meaning of Michelangelo’s “David”?

By |2023-04-12T17:19:22-05:00April 12th, 2023|Categories: Art, Christian Humanism, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Timeless Essays|

In the “David,” we see what Christian humanism can accomplish, and in contemplating the gigantic little boy we can remember that God always uses the little things of the world to confound the mighty. Last week I was in Florence, and while jostling with other sightseers to get a glimpse of Michelangelo’s David, I recalled [...]

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