Dr Robin Douglas
@robincdouglas.bsky.social
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📥 842
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Historian of religions, paganism and esotericism. Website:
https://www.robindouglas.org
pinned post!
Endorsements: St Ronald Hutton: "written in an admirably lucid and accessible style that will be attractive to general readers while the subject matter also makes it important to scholars" Owen Davies: "A valuable contribution to our understanding"
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17 days ago
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I looked in the clown book and the largest chapter by far was about you.
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about 3 hours ago
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Some people are saying that Andrew could be barred from succeeding to the throne if he became a Catholic. But what does the statute (the Act of Settlement 1700) actually say?
2 days ago
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Dr Francis Young
3 days ago
I now have one too! Author copy of the paperback edition of ‘Paganism Persisting’, releasing on 21 April with
@uexeterpress.bsky.social
and priced £24.99!
www.exeterpress.co.uk/products/pag...
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It's actually real now!
4 days ago
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This is so cringe. You're not fooling anyone, lads!
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4 days ago
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Had an amazing time at the Glastonbury Occult Conference - I'm so grateful to have had the chance to attend the talks and to talk about my own research on 18th century paganism. Looking forward to next year already!
8 days ago
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I think that the American Secretary of State has just declared publicly that God inspired the Rolling Stones.
9 days ago
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Delighted to be in Glastonbury again for the annual Occult Conference 🙂
10 days ago
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Auberon Waugh on Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in The Spectator (1976).
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2026/02/aube...
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Auberon Waugh on Marcel Lefebvre (1976)
Papal Prejudice Auberon Waugh The Spectator 7 August, 1976 Not much excitement has been apparent in Britain after the Pope's decision, annou...
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2026/02/auberon-waugh-on-marcel-lefebvre-1976.html
12 days ago
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In the UK, we had a years-long (2014-2022) inquiry into child sex abuse. It did really valuable work, heard evidence from numerous people, and published a series of reports. It got only limited media attention. But clearly if politicians and rich people are involved....
12 days ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
12 days ago
Hello. Still without necessary IT and health issues mean I may have to leave the county long before I would wish. However, I am still filling notebooks and hope to be able to restart an intermittent service at some point soon. I am also discussing how best to make Hookland permanently available.
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Mitch Wagner
15 days ago
Italia 1958, a futuristic car with Sputnik knockoff used by the Italian Communist Party during General Elections
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Who was the first modern pagan? That is, who was the first person in modern times to embrace revived pre-Christian religion? The answer may surprise you.
17 days ago
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Endorsements: St Ronald Hutton: "written in an admirably lucid and accessible style that will be attractive to general readers while the subject matter also makes it important to scholars" Owen Davies: "A valuable contribution to our understanding"
add a skeleton here at some point
17 days ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Dr Francis Young
17 days ago
Cover reveal for the paperback (and hopefully more affordable) edition of ‘Paganism Persisting’ (co-authored with
@robincdouglas.bsky.social
) which releases on 21 April with
@uexeterpress.bsky.social
. I'm especially pleased with the Lithuanian cover image 😉
www.exeterpress.co.uk/products/pag...
📚
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Who was the first modern pagan? That is, who was the first person in modern times to embrace revived pre-Christian religion? The answer may surprise you.
17 days ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
China Books Review
19 days ago
Listen to the new episode of the China Books Podcast:
chinabooksreview.com/2026/02/03/r...
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Lefebvre's excommunication was about the Roman primacy. Not the Latin Mass, nor even pre-Vatican II theology, but the question of whether Catholic ecclesiology allows one to say that the Pope has lost the plot so far that it's necessary to consecrate bishops against his express orders.
19 days ago
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New article from me on the birth of a form of religious bigotry.
24 days ago
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New article from me on the birth of a form of religious bigotry.
24 days ago
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There's an old joke about a Portuguese soldier who bets a French soldier in the trenches in WW1 that he can teach him 1000 words in Portuguese in less than a minute. "Every French word ending in -tion is the same in Portuguese, but ends -ção. There are over 1000 of them and they're all feminine."
30 days ago
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London, 1816 - an absolutely bizarre "Operatic Ballet" based on the story of the Bounty mutineers and Pitcairn Island.
30 days ago
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The Great Goddess in the Ancient World New article from me published by Katharsios Press.
www.katharsiospress.com/blog-3-1/9kn...
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The Great Goddess in the Ancient World — Katharsios Press
The idea of a Great Goddess, who is triple in nature, and tethered to the moon and earth, is not such a modern idea, after all.
https://www.katharsiospress.com/blog-3-1/9knxc36v8t7ikiuaijbj0nonzmardi
about 1 month ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Ancient anti-Christian apologetics During the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, several pagan intellectuals published works attempting to discredit the new faith. My piece on this:
robindouglas.org/2026/01/17/a...
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Ancient anti-Christian apologetics
During the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, several pagan intellectuals published works attempting to discredit the new faith. Three works in particular are worthy of mention: Celsus’…
https://robindouglas.org/2026/01/17/ancient-anti-christian-apologetics/
about 1 month ago
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Ancient anti-Christian apologetics During the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, several pagan intellectuals published works attempting to discredit the new faith. My piece on this:
robindouglas.org/2026/01/17/a...
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Ancient anti-Christian apologetics
During the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, several pagan intellectuals published works attempting to discredit the new faith. Three works in particular are worthy of mention: Celsus’…
https://robindouglas.org/2026/01/17/ancient-anti-christian-apologetics/
about 1 month ago
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I see that they're doing "Rhodesia" nostalgia over on Twitter.
about 1 month ago
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It may be time to recirculate this article: "Islamism and Khomeinism: The words are Muhammad's but the voice is Mussolini's"
pagesfromahistoriansnotebook.substack.com/p/islamism-a...
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Islamism and Khomeinism
The words are Muhammad's but the voice is Mussolini's
https://pagesfromahistoriansnotebook.substack.com/p/islamism-and-khomeinism
about 1 month ago
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Jack Jenkins
about 1 month ago
There are debatable exceptions, but as a historical and theological matter, no, most likely would not. Some Founding Fathers were deists. Some were Quakers. Others were Presbyterians who wrote a lot about religious freedom. And some were, uh, Thomas Paine (here in a later edition of Common Sense):
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New book from me out later this year! "THE PAGAN REVIVAL: The Roots of Modern British Paganism, 1700-1950" A unique history of the pagan revival told through analysis of contemporary literary, scholarly and journalistic texts.
www.equinoxpub.com/projects/pag...
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The Pagan Revival | Equinox Publishing
<i>Forthcoming, 2026</i><br><br> This book is a unique documentary history of the religious tradition known as modern Paganism, covering the period from the eighteenth century to 1950. Through the med...
https://www.equinoxpub.com/projects/pagan-revival
about 2 months ago
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"Astrologers came from the East" A piece for Epiphany on the mysterious Magi in St Matthew's Gospel. Who were they? What do the gifts mean? Is the story true?
robindouglas.org/2026/01/05/a...
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Astrologers came from the east
“When Jesus had been born in Bethlehem in Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, magoi arrived in Jerusalem from the east….” The magoi – the ‘kings’, or ‘wise men’…
https://robindouglas.org/2026/01/05/astrologers-came-from-the-east/
about 2 months ago
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"Astrologers came from the East" A piece for Epiphany on the mysterious Magi in St Matthew's Gospel. Who were they? What do the gifts mean? Is the story true?
robindouglas.org/2026/01/05/a...
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Astrologers came from the east
“When Jesus had been born in Bethlehem in Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, magoi arrived in Jerusalem from the east….” The magoi – the ‘kings’, or ‘wise men’…
https://robindouglas.org/2026/01/05/astrologers-came-from-the-east/
about 2 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝
2 months ago
🎵 The party's on The spirit's up We're here tonight And that's enough Simply having a
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Joel S.
2 months ago
From a focus group of Gen Z Republicans. (
www.city-journal.org/article/manh...
)
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US army chaplains are insufficiently redpilled. I assume "tossing" must mean something different in American.
2 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
will pooley
2 months ago
when a reviewer asks you to cite their work in your revised submission and so you grudgingly insert a footnote but in no way discuss their ideas in your work, so that it’s there and you can’t be dinged for ignoring it, but also you did nothing to address it… this is called a “sightation”
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SPIRITUALISM AND TWO CLASSICAL SCHOLARS Or, how an ancient Greek philosopher appeared to a South African academic and the bestselling English translation of the Aeneid was assisted by Virgil's ghost.
robindouglas.org/2025/12/16/s...
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Spiritualism and two classical scholars
Asking Virgil’s ghost for advice Over the years, a number of scholars of classics have had an interest in the paranormal. Perhaps the best-known is E. R. Dodds (1893-1979), who is the only pe…
https://robindouglas.org/2025/12/16/spiritualism-and-two-classical-scholars/
2 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Spencer Sunshine
2 months ago
just a reminder that antisemitism has been a part of Western culture for over a millennia and has a powerful influence on culture, social life, and politics. as with other forms of oppression, like misogyny and racism, open violence is just an explicit expression of more widespread attitudes.
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On John Fransham (1730-1810), who seems to have been the first modern pagan revivalist: "he used to walk about with a cat under his arm, which he affirmed possessed a soul, and that cats would be saved rather than human beings"
2 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Board of Deputies of British Jews
2 months ago
We are devastated to hear reports of a shooting attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, with multiple fatalities at a Jewish Hanukkah event. The scourges of terrorism and antisemitism are shared, international challenges and need concerted and determined action to defeat them.
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🚨 New on my Substack THE ANTICHRIST - A Biblical Puzzle A piece on one of the most enigmatic and notorious characters in Christian thought.
religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com/p/the-antich...
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The Antichrist
A Biblical puzzle
https://religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com/p/the-antichrist
2 months ago
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🚨 New on my Substack THE ANTICHRIST - A Biblical Puzzle A piece on one of the most enigmatic and notorious characters in Christian thought.
religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com/p/the-antich...
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The Antichrist
A Biblical puzzle
https://religionoffthebeatentrack.substack.com/p/the-antichrist
2 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Sardonicus
3 months ago
'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.' Photograph by Daniel Ibanez
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ICYMI When did Britain stop being Christian? Can we put a date on the end of Britain as a Christian country?
robindouglas.org/2025/12/09/w...
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When did Britain stop being Christian?
Originally posted on my Substack on 29 November 2024. It is sometimes assumed that Christianity in the West decisively gave way to secularism in the 1960s. The eminent historian of religion Francis…
https://robindouglas.org/2025/12/09/when-did-britain-stop-being-christian/
3 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Jacob Gifford Head
3 months ago
Very interesting. Not entirely convinced I accept the premise! Whilst the UK may not be a particularly religious country, I think it is still a very Christian country. The framing of society is still very Christian: most of the population are currently observing Advent; the two big festivals are ...
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ICYMI When did Britain stop being Christian? Can we put a date on the end of Britain as a Christian country?
robindouglas.org/2025/12/09/w...
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When did Britain stop being Christian?
Originally posted on my Substack on 29 November 2024. It is sometimes assumed that Christianity in the West decisively gave way to secularism in the 1960s. The eminent historian of religion Francis…
https://robindouglas.org/2025/12/09/when-did-britain-stop-being-christian/
3 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Silvio Vannini
3 months ago
There remains the problem, in which language was Adam naming the animals? Did he say "חָתוּל", or "cat", or "gatto", or "Katze", or αἴλουρος, or "catus"?🤔 No, not catus, as we needed Saint Jerome to have it translated into Latin However, what was wrong with this Bull guy? Nothing better to think of?🙄
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Adam in the Garden of Eden is said to have named all the animals for the first time. Bishop George Bull was enormously impressed with this feat and thought that it could only have been executed with God's help.
3 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Rev. Gareth Bennett. An Anglican scandal and tragedy from the 1980s.
robindouglas.org/2025/09/08/t...
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The Crockford’s Preface – Remembering an Anglican tragedy
Originally posted on 5 December 2024. Today is the 37th anniversary of the death of Rev. Dr Gareth Bennett. He was 58. He took his own life as the result of a tragic and unnecessary scandal. Bizarr…
https://robindouglas.org/2025/09/08/the-crockfords-preface-remembering-an-anglican-tragedy/
3 months ago
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Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Rev. Gareth Bennett. An Anglican scandal and tragedy from the 1980s.
robindouglas.org/2025/09/08/t...
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The Crockford’s Preface – Remembering an Anglican tragedy
Originally posted on 5 December 2024. Today is the 37th anniversary of the death of Rev. Dr Gareth Bennett. He was 58. He took his own life as the result of a tragic and unnecessary scandal. Bizarr…
https://robindouglas.org/2025/09/08/the-crockfords-preface-remembering-an-anglican-tragedy/
3 months ago
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Dr Robin Douglas
Dan Kaszeta FRHistS
3 months ago
Muscular Christianity. “Wear some headphones, kid. And put your shoes back on”
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