Book Reviewed: There and Back Again: A Somewhat Religious Odyssey by Fr. Dwight Longenecker.
This “somewhat religious odyssey” begins with an appropriate and well-loved quote from St. John Henry Newman: “God has created me to do him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another”. It is followed by an introduction from Steve Ray about Peter and Paul proclaiming to the people of Rome, the center of civilization, that men had not become gods, but God had become man. Perhaps this answers the implied question: this is the definite service every Christian must render, to follow in the footsteps of the apostles and spread the Good News. Spanning the course of multiple decades and denominations, this is what Fr. Dwight Longenecker has sought to do.
The first section of the book chronicles the author’s family life and his youthful years in the spirit of C.S. Lewis’ Surprised by Joy. Instead of an Anglo-Irish family in Northern Ireland, we are given a tour-de-force of life among the hearty Pennsylvania Dutch. In another call-back to Lewis and his vibrant Christian imagination, young Dwight has a dream about a Lion which leaves a lasting impression on him, common to those encountering the numinous and entering into the christological mystery, even as children. This related to his first conscious acceptance of Christ at an Evangelical revival meeting.
During his adolescence and young adulthood, the author becomes increasingly enamored with the history and heritage of England, something which this reviewer can intimately relate to, particularly in terms of her rich literary tradition. Inspired particularly by T.S. Eliot, the American-born English author, Dwight dreamed of following in his footsteps and moving to England and living the laid-back life of a gentleman and scholar. Some time after attending the eccentric Bob Jones University, he received a book that is a personal favorite of mine, C.S. Lewis: Images of His World, causing his Anglophilia to reach new heights. He also found himself increasingly.drawn to a more high-church form of liturgy in Anglicanism which led him to finally travel to the United Kingdom.
Dwight struggled to find his land-legs in the ocean-girt isle. He had entertained a somewhat picture-book view of the nation and people, and confronting the cultural realities took some getting used to for him, just as the English took time to adopt him into the fold. In some respects, he continued to see the place and people with an almost fairytale veneer, something emerging from the pens of Austen or Dickens or Christie. In others, he was shocked to find himself the odd one out in old-fashioned attire, reminiscent of the days of T.S. Eliot, while his fellows were dressed in jeans and flip-flops. He did make some friends who helped him through the hard years, including an amiable young aristocrat with whom he played chess.
Meanwhile, he embarked upon what he considered to be a course in “How to be a Jolly Vicar in Six Easy Lessons”, among those whom he considered to be an array of English eccentrics, including one who he felt gave off a villainous Alan Rickman air. Eventually, he came to realize his dream of becoming a country vicar with an ancient parish. He took up residence on the Isle of Wight, which he jokingly nicknamed “the Isle of Dwight”, where he presided over a parish which felt to him like something straight out of Downton Abbey. He came to learn about the various divisions with the Anglican communion, ranging from low-church Protestant to high-church Anglo-Catholic. He also became enmeshed in the ever-widening split between liberals and conservatives on issues such as women’s ordination, which threatened to derail ecumenical relations with both Catholics and the Orthodox.
Although he ultimately married an Englishwoman, and came to appreciate various aspects of his life in England, Dwight gradually became disenchanted with Anglicanism and unconvinced of its religious authority. As he pondered more upon the origin story of Henry VIII’s split with the Catholic Church, and the subsequent brutal enforcement of the Anglican settlement under Elizabeth I, he came to the conclusion that Anglicanism is, fundamentally, a political entity, one intended to give religious cohesion to a particular nationality and serve as a wing of the state. Indeed, he came to believe that the ethnic emphasis from its foundation point, manifesting what might be called island insularity, belied any attempt to be truly universal in scope and mission.
Eventually, Dwight made the decision to leave Anglicanism for Catholicism, a choice that not only shattered his long-held dreams but also created ill-feeling among some of his old co-workers among the Anglican clergy. This included one particularly unfortunate incident in the vicarage when the author felt the need to turn a cleric who had insulted him in a previous ill-fated encounter out of his then-home. Said cleric had arrived in a possibly awkward and perceived-to-be insincere effort to smooth things over before the author’s dramatic departure, returning “The Isle of Dwight” to its former title.
The author was not the only one crossing the Tyber, as the debate over women’s ordination within the Anglican communion caused a wave of conservative-minded clerics to make the pilgrimage to Rome. In the fall-out, these former clerics found themselves trying to re-adjust to secular life or pursue a path to ordination within Catholicism. Married men had a particularly difficult time with the later route, and Dwight struggled for years to find a way to be ordained while pursuing a career in screenwriting to make ends meet. Eventually, an opportunity presented itself. It was not in his adopted country of England, but in his native country of America. Now serving as a Catholic priest in a parish church in South Carolina, he truly has come full circle in his wanderings.
This book was a truly unique read, full of plot-twists and surprises along the long and windy
road. I particularly appreciated the reflections on English heritage and culture, as manifested by
both the Anglican and Catholic communities in that beloved sceptered isle of saints and sages.
Tying into the literary themes that permeate the book, the memorable cover art has a fantastical
feel, evocative of The Lord of the Rings, which Dwight evokes in his choice of title. His
testimony is truly one of journeys, to and fro.
To conclude with a quote from the author’s much-loved poet, T.S. Eliot: “We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
by Fr. Dwight Longenecker