Douglas Knight

You know your problem? You live in a culture which does not take ideas seriously. It does not believe that anyone lives or dies or kills themselves for an idea. But people do. A vision inspires them. Their imagination drives them. Whether the revolution they are looking for is going to bring about the Post-Carbon [...]

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States are not founded on social contracts, protection of the individual, or any such idiocy handed down from Hobbes; they are founded upon congregations, as Augustine explained in the City of God. It is not common interest but common love that defines states. We do not have a “self” interest as such; our “self” belongs [...]

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Rusty Reno on an emerging right to cultural approval and endorsement in Marriage, Morality and Culture
The controversial question of same-sex marriage marks decisive new phase in our cultural drive toward an every deeper freedom to live as one pleases. Freedom from censure is no longer sufficient. Today, we see an emerging right to cultural [...]

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This blog is a fan of Amazon reviewer Jackson Eskew. His Guides and Lists are full of wonders, many discoveries, others just long forgotten. My favourite list is Mustapha Mond is now President
America has elected Mustapha Mond as its President. It isn’t surprising; the breakdown has long since prepared the way for this catastrophe. [...]

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My word is my bond? Rebuilding trust – the G20 and beyond
St Paul’s Cathedral Tuesday 31st March, 2009, 11am – 12.30pm
On the eve of the G20, St Paul’s is hosting a high level debate about the moral questions raised by the dramatically changing world we find ourselves in. Can opportunities for society’s good [...]

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Sorry, a blog pause appeared there. A sign that some work is underway I always think. I am following Rod Dreher, like everybody else. But if you are desperate for something to read you could have a look at my latest work-in-progress dump at at Scribd. The theological discussion of economics is presently masquerading as [...]

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These cases are not aberrations. They are the outcome of a process that has been going on for the past three decades and more, in which the fundamental values of civilised society have been systematically trashed and up-ended. They are the result of the doctrine that all lifestyles must be considered equal and that no [...]

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I had a great ten days in the US. It started with the SBL at Boston, bumping into the usual serendity of people – Tom Wright, Neil MacDonald, Doug Campbell, Alan Garrow, Mark Elliott, caught up with Murray Rae, roomed with Luke Tallon and Dan Driver and met some of their talented St Andrews mates. [...]

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The times dictate that we strive all the more diligently to emphasize the unchanging teachings of the creeds and the longstanding moral consensus of the church on matters under demonic seige these days: nothing less than the abolition of man seems underway, though we know that that project ultimately is doomed.
We also know that Christians [...]

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The Institute for Theological Inquiry (ITI) is an ongoing theological enterprise that is a division of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation in Efrat. Its American partner is the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey. The Institutes objective is to engage world-class theologians to break new theological ground on focused research projects in areas [...]

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The Americans have met the enemy, and it is them. America has coasted on a quarter-century wave of power and prosperity since president Reagan won the Cold War and restarted the economy. America in the 1980s was the only model to be emulated, and a magnet for global capital flows. So compelling were American capital [...]

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Scripture and Liturgy in the Theology of Benedict XVI
at the Catholic Chaplaincy, Oxford, Saturday 1 November 2008
Scott Hahn
Aidan Nichols
Michael Waldstein
Adrian Walker
and our very own Stratford Caldecott – details are here
And Scott Hahn is in London on Friday 31 October.
Now wait a minute, I had a little paper on Benedict on the liturgy somewhere, [...]

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Two pieces of sturdy and intelligent common sense from two contemporary apostles:
Archbishop of Denver Charles Chaput Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life
Oliver O’Donovan Church in Crisis: The Gay Controversy and the Anglican Communion – first published as Fulcrum web sermons. My [...]

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The welcome candor of Cardinal Kasper’s remarks at Lambeth can easily be captured in a series of quotations.
* “In our dialogue we have jointly affirmed that the decisions of a local or regional church must not only foster communion in the present context, but must also [...]

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The UK tax system is unusual in that it takes virtually no account of either marriage or family responsibilities. Most other countries’ systems explicitly recognise both. Tax credits do, of course, take account of the financial needs of children of one parent, but in the case of two-parent families they ignore the needs of the [...]

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His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI is a pastor. He preaches and teaches around the Church year, his homily at every feast telling us something about Christ and something about us. Through his Easter and Corpus Christi homilies in particular he teaches us how to relate the passion, crucifixion, resurrection, the eucharist and body of Christ. [...]

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The desacralization of man, who no longer knows himself made in the image and likeness of God, advances in tandem with inflated reverence for culture. But we were warned. Half a century ago, Romano Guardini reflected on modernity’s faith in culture, which “took its stance opposite God and His Revelation” and recognized no measure beyond [...]

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In order to mark this Second Reading of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill in the House of Commons on Monday 12th May we will be holding a prayer vigil together with other groups.
PLEASE COME to our prayer vigil outside Parliament, invite members of your church, Christian groups, family and friends. We will gather [...]

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Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros — named Islam’s “Public Enemy #1” by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid — has been making waves in the Islamic world. Along with fellow missionaries — mostly Muslim converts — he appears frequently on the Arabic channel al-Hayat (i.e., “Life TV”). There, he [...]

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Der Gottesbeweis: Warum wir, wenn es Gott nicht gibt, überhaupt nichts denken können
Solange Vergangenes erinnert wird, ist es nicht schwer, die Frage nach seiner Seinsart zu beantworten. Es hat seine Wirklichkeit eben im Erinnertwerden. Aber die Erinnerung hört irgendwann auf, und irgendwann wird es keine Menschen mehr auf der Erde geben. Schließlich wird die [...]

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