G.K. Chesterton Archives ~ The Imaginative Conservative

“By The Babe Unborn”

By G.K. Chesterton|2020-01-22T13:42:16-06:00January 22nd, 2020|Categories: Abortion, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Poetry|

If trees were tall and grasses short, As in some crazy tale, If here and there a sea were blue Beyond the breaking pale, If a fixed fire hung in the air To warm me one day through, If deep green hair grew on great hills, I know what I should do. In dark I [...]

The “Deplorable” G.K. Chesterton

By Jerry Salyer|2020-01-02T22:39:52-06:00January 2nd, 2020|Categories: Character, Conservatism, G.K. Chesterton, Politics, Sainthood|

Many scholars, heroes, and even martyrs among great Christian figures have either been forgotten or “sanitized” to meet modern standards. Others, like G.K. Chesterton, have simply become “deplorable”—i.e., utterly unacceptable to contemporary sensibilities. This past year Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton opted to drop G.K. Chesterton’s cause for canonization, in part because “even allowing for [...]

G.K. Chesterton’s Radical Vision for Conservatives

By Jesse Sumpter|2019-11-21T01:15:58-06:00November 20th, 2019|Categories: Christianity, Conservatism, G.K. Chesterton, Politics|

The recent National Conservatism conference is one of many examples that conservatism is going through a significant re-evaluation process. This process began in large part as a response to the Trump presidency, but it is also a response to alarming liberal trends: transgender issues, gay marriage, immigration, abortion, and many others. All these factors [...]

The Wonder of G.K. Chesterton

By Joseph Pearce|2019-10-02T15:12:49-06:00October 2nd, 2019|Categories: Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Imagination, Joseph Pearce, Literature, Senior Contributors, StAR|

What makes Gilbert Keith Chesterton so wonderful is that he is full of wonder. He doesn’t merely see trees, or clouds or sky; he sees glorious creatures charged with what Gerard Manley Hopkins called the grandeur of God. He sees that seeing is itself a miracle. “Give me miraculous eyes to see my eyes,” he [...]

Chesterton the Crusader: Using Words as a Sword

By Joseph Pearce|2019-06-28T23:53:52-06:00June 28th, 2019|Categories: Books, Christian Humanism, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Sainthood, Senior Contributors, Writing|

More than anyone, Dale Ahlquist has borne witness to the power of G.K. Chesterton and has witnessed the resurrection of Chesterton’s reputation. His book is therefore the fruit of much labour and tremendous knowledge, as well as being an act of unabashed homage to one whom Mr. Ahlquist considers to be not merely a [...]

Was G.K. Chesterton a Socialist?

By Joseph Pearce|2019-09-02T11:22:59-06:00May 25th, 2019|Categories: Distributism, Economics, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors, Socialism|

G.K. Chesterton’s ideas concerning government intervention in the economy have led some to believe that he may have been a socialist. They argue that the political creed of distributism, which Chesterton advocated, would involve the coercive redistribution of wealth. But are these critics right in their characterization of Chesterton’s ideas? One of the weirdest [...]

“My Name Is Lazarus”: G.K. Chesterton’s Converts

By Chuck Chalberg|2019-05-18T22:19:36-06:00May 18th, 2019|Categories: Books, Catholicism, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton|

In “My Name is Lazarus,” a collection of thirty-four essays by thirty-four Chesterton-influenced converts, Dale Ahlquist presents us with a compelling anthology of personal redemption stories. Each tells a story that hits home—probably because each tells a story of coming home. My Name is Lazarus: 34 Stories of Converts Whose Path to Rome Was [...]

Beauty and the Imagination

By Aaron Ames|2019-02-01T10:10:26-06:00January 27th, 2019|Categories: Beauty, Christian Humanism, Culture, G.K. Chesterton, Imagination, Nature, Order, Timeless Essays|

The imagination is a gift from God, given in His own image, to conceive of a Glorious Reality that does exist, that we cannot yet fully see... Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Aaron Ames, as he considers the Divine source of beauty and imagination.—W. Winston Elliott [...]

Tucker Carlson: The New G.K. Chesterton?

By Auguste Meyrat|2019-04-20T19:52:57-06:00January 17th, 2019|Categories: Christian Humanism, Conservatism, G.K. Chesterton, Populism|

Rather than being condemned as a manipulative populist feeding the people’s paranoia, Tucker Carlson should be commended for asking us to reconsider the first principles of conservatism, and for addressing the same ideas that G.K Chesterton also believed to be a threat to society: materialism, imperialism, feminism, and progressivism... Responding to Mitt Romney’s op-ed in [...]

“The God in the Cave”

By G.K. Chesterton|2018-12-21T02:55:29-06:00December 24th, 2018|Categories: Christendom, Christianity, Christmas, Existence of God, G.K. Chesterton, Myth, Philosophy, Religion, Truth|

This sketch of the human story began in a cave; the cave which popular science associates with the cave-man and in which practical discovery has really found archaic drawings of animals. The second half of human history, which was like a new creation of the world, also begins in a cave. There is even a [...]

Christianity’s Home in Homelessness

By Casey Spinks|2019-02-18T02:39:13-06:00December 23rd, 2018|Categories: Christian Humanism, Christianity, Culture, Faith, Featured, G.K. Chesterton|

Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords our readers the opportunity to join Casey Spinks, as he examines the Christian notion of home. —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher The history of Western philosophy may be but a footnote on Plato, but the history of the whole of Western philosophy, theology, politics, science, art, and [...]

Home and Hearth: A Cautionary Christmas With Washington Irving

By Christine Norvell|2018-12-08T00:35:23-06:00December 6th, 2018|Categories: Advent, Books, Charles Dickens, Christendom, Christianity, Christine Norvell, Christmas, G.K. Chesterton, Literature, Senior Contributors|

In the 1820s, Washington Irving was credited with inspiring the romantic revival of Christmas in America. His Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman relayed sentimental tales of the British holiday with all its romance and traditions. The five Christmas tales were later published in 1875 as a separate collection titled Old Christmas.* Having lived in London and its [...]

Cultivating Friendship in a Fractured Age

By Joseph Pearce|2019-07-23T11:43:15-06:00November 2nd, 2018|Categories: C.S. Lewis, Christendom, Christian Living, Community, Friendship, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

What is friendship? Why is it important and why is it worth cultivating? These axiomatic questions form a significant part of the thought and writing of C. S. Lewis. In a letter to his lifelong friend, Arthur Greeves, Lewis touched upon the heart and meaning of friendship: The First [Universal Friend] is the alter [...]

G.K. Chesterton’s “A Ballade of Suicide”

By Titus Techera|2018-10-28T21:50:37-06:00October 14th, 2018|Categories: Christian Humanism, Death, G.K. Chesterton, Literature, Poetry, Timeless Essays|

Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Titus Techera as he reflects on the meaning of G.K. Chesterton's "A Ballade of Suicide." —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher G.K. Chesterton published "A Ballade of Suicide" in his journal, The Eye-Witness, September 21, 1911. This is a ballade, an old French form [...]