G.K. Chesterton Archives ~ The Imaginative Conservative

Chains, Change, and Chesterton

By Joseph Pearce|2021-04-07T19:40:15-05:00April 7th, 2021|Categories: Christian Humanism, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

I recognize G.K. Chesterton as a guide who led me from the doldrums of disbelief into the glorious light of the Gospel. Unbeknownst to me, the gloom in my prison cell was the gloaming of a new day in which the Son would rise, Easter-like, in my soul. The debt I owe to him is [...]

Chesterton and the Meaning of Education

By Joseph Pearce|2021-01-26T14:34:46-06:00January 26th, 2021|Categories: Christian Humanism, Education, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

The anti-religious spirit of modernity is so antagonistic to the idea of a unifying truth that it prefers a meaningless education to an education informed by the underlying meaning inherent in the truth-claims of religion or philosophy. And this, according to G.K. Chesterton, is not really education at all. “It is typical of our time,” [...]

Positive and Negative Morality

By G.K. Chesterton|2020-08-09T17:36:56-05:00August 9th, 2020|Categories: Christianity, Civilization, Conservatism, G.K. Chesterton, Hope, Modernity|

When our hopes for the coming time seem disturbed or doubtful, and peace chaotic, let us remember that it is really our disappointment that is an illusion. It is our rescue that is a reality. A vast amount of nonsense is talked against negative and destructive things. The silliest sort of progressive complains of negative [...]

Questioning Chesterton’s Own Judgment of “The Man Who Was Thursday”

By Joseph Pearce|2020-05-28T15:29:37-05:00May 28th, 2020|Categories: Christian Humanism, Christianity, Fiction, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Literature, Senior Contributors|

The paradoxical heart of G.K. Chesterton’s “The Man Who Was Thursday” is the tension that exists between the childlikeness demanded by Christ and the childishness that St. Paul tells us to avoid. The first is the wisdom of innocence, or the sanity of sanctity, whereby we see the miracle of life with eyes full of [...]

G.K. Chesterton on Scientific “Experts”

By Chuck Chalberg|2020-04-21T11:41:43-05:00April 19th, 2020|Categories: Coronavirus, Culture, G.K. Chesterton, Science|

As we all deal with the latest pandemic, it’s good to know that we can call on experts to help us through—and eventually out—of it. But it’s also good to know that we can also call on non-experts to help us as well. Included among them might even be a non-expert who had his suspicions [...]

G.K. Chesterton’s Socialist Friend: Robert Blatchford

By Chuck Chalberg|2020-02-18T15:49:53-06:00February 18th, 2020|Categories: Conservatism, England, G.K. Chesterton, Government, Politics, Socialism|

Today’s enthusiasts for a socialist America will not be likely to know the name of Robert Blatchford or his story. If they did, they might think twice about their current enthusiasm. […]

“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|2020-06-12T14:00:51-05:00January 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. Is Mr. Ahlquist correct in deeming Chesterton a saint whom we might pray to rather than for? I leave that question up to [...]

G.K. Chesterton’s Radical Vision for Conservatives

By Jesse Sumpter|2020-05-28T15:36:41-05:00November 20th, 2019|Categories: Christianity, Conservatism, G.K. Chesterton, Politics|

In response to the Trump presidency and alarming liberal trends, conservatives have been compelled to examine again the principles that unite them. In doing so, it would be worthwhile for them to look to G.K. Chesterton. The recent National Conservatism conference is one of many examples that conservatism is going through a significant re-evaluation process. [...]

The Wonder of G.K. Chesterton

By Joseph Pearce|2020-06-13T21:35:44-05:00October 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|2020-05-28T15:25:32-05:00June 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 hero, [...]

Was G.K. Chesterton a Socialist?

By Joseph Pearce|2020-05-28T15:48:52-05:00May 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 and [...]

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

By Chuck Chalberg|2019-05-18T22:19:36-05:00May 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 Paved [...]

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 [...]