G.K. Chesterton Archives ~ Page 11 of 14 ~ The Imaginative Conservative

Plato’s Pious Prophecy of Modern Man in The Euthyphro

By Phillip N. Goggans|2019-09-12T13:52:54-05:00March 12th, 2015|Categories: Alexis de Tocqueville, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Classics, G.K. Chesterton, Modernity, Plato, Richard Weaver|

Modernism is an ancient phenomenon. If prostitution is the world’s oldest profession, then modernism is the world’s oldest heresy. Modernism’s essential features were already understood long before the era of modernity. Plato reveals them in his dialogue The Euthyphro. The character of Euthyphro is a prototype of modern man. In the dialogue Euthyphro is prosecuting [...]

On the Killing of Innocents

By Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg|2016-02-12T15:28:02-06:00February 27th, 2015|Categories: Christianity, Culture, Death, G.K. Chesterton, Morality, St. Thomas Aquinas, Steven Jonathan Rummelsburg|

G.K. Chesterton remarked on insanity in Orthodoxy. He said “Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that [...]

Chesterton and the Power of Paradox

By Joseph Pearce|2019-05-30T11:28:03-05:00January 18th, 2015|Categories: Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce|

I owe a great debt of gratitude to G. K. Chesterton. Indeed the debt is so great that it can never be paid. It is for this reason that I always remind myself that the first book that I wrote, following my conversion, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton, was a two-fold [...]

Celebrating Christmas at Christmastime

By Dale Ahlquist|2018-11-26T16:29:10-06:00December 26th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Christmas, G.K. Chesterton|Tags: 1CM|

About a hundred years ago, the usual jolly G.K. Chesterton can be found lamenting two things that are still a problem today: First, that as a writer, he has to write about Christmas long before Christmas in order for it to be published at Christmas. Second, the rest of the world seems to celebrate Christmas [...]

Is Cleanliness Next To Godliness?

By Brian Miller|2016-02-12T15:28:04-06:00December 16th, 2014|Categories: Beauty, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton|Tags: 1IR|

“He [the new priest] also kept it differently, scouring away the blood after each slaughter and sprinkling fresh water; it smelled cleaner and less holy.” —C. S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces They say cleanliness is next to godliness. They, as “they” usually are, are wrong. G.K. Chesterton reminds us that saints can afford to [...]

Distributism in the Shire: The Political Kinship of Tolkien & Belloc

By Joseph Pearce|2021-06-28T21:16:46-05:00November 6th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Distributism, Economics, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joseph Pearce|

In a very interesting interview in Catholic World Report, Jay W. Richards, co-author of The Hobbit Party, a new book examining the political thought of J. R. R. Tolkien, sought to distance Tolkien from the political views of G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Whilst paying lip service to the romantic aspirations of distributism, the political [...]

Man, Men, & Misanthropy: Agreeing with G. K. Chesterton

By Joseph Pearce|2018-10-09T13:44:29-05:00October 30th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce|

Philanthropy, as far as I can see, is rapidly becoming the mark of a wicked man. G. K. Chesterton[1] In my last essay I had the temerity to disagree with G. K. Chesterton over his idealization of the common man and his endorsement of the actions of the vulgar mob. Having done so, and wishing to reaffirm [...]

The Vulgar Mob: Arguing with G. K. Chesterton

By Joseph Pearce|2016-02-12T15:28:07-06:00October 20th, 2014|Categories: C.S. Lewis, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Joseph Pearce|

“There never was any Supreme Anarchist Council,” he said. “We were all a lot of silly policemen looking at each other. And all these nice people who have been peppering us with shot thought we were the dynamiters. I knew I couldn’t be wrong about the mob,” he said, beaming over the enormous multitude which [...]

G. K. Chesterton & T. S. Eliot: Friends or Enemies?

By Joseph Pearce|2023-05-26T10:28:51-05:00September 22nd, 2014|Categories: Christendom, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, T.S. Eliot|

Should G.K. Chesterton and T.S. Eliot be considered friends or enemies? As champions of Christendom, they were united in the friendship of faith. With regards to whether one sides with Eliot… or with Chesterton, apparently Eliot said this: “Mr. Chesterton’s brain swarms with ideas. I see no evidence that it thinks.” ∗∗∗ I think a [...]

The English Spring of Catholicism

By Stratford Caldecott|2016-02-12T15:28:07-06:00September 9th, 2014|Categories: Books, Christian Humanism, Christianity, Christopher Dawson, G.K. Chesterton|

This is a remarkable, indeed a staggering book. Each of the four sections, on G. K. Chesterton, Graham Greene, Christopher Dawson, and David Jones, taken alone, would have made it worthwhile. Taken together, they offer an illuminating analysis of the vigorous Catholic revival that took place in Britain during the early and middle years of [...]

Muslims and the Miasma of Multiculturalism

By Joseph Pearce|2016-02-12T15:28:08-06:00September 8th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Friendship, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Religion|

It takes all sorts to make a world and all shades of opinion to make a good discussion or even a good argument. There is, however, as Chesterton reminds us, a world of difference between an argument and a quarrel. The former is animated by charity and a genuine desire to arrive at the truth; [...]

When Reagan and Ratzinger Teamed Up on Faith and Hope

By Paul Kengor|2023-01-07T10:11:04-06:00September 7th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Communio, Faith, G.K. Chesterton, Hope, Pope Benedict XVI, Ronald Reagan|

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI almost a year after the June 2004 death of Ronald Reagan. I don’t know if Ratzinger and Reagan ever met, though there’s a chance they did during one of Reagan’s visits to the Vatican to meet with Pope John Paul II, especially his first and most prominent visit, [...]

Modern Art and Imaginative Conservatism

By Joseph Pearce|2016-02-12T15:28:08-06:00September 1st, 2014|Categories: Art, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Modernity, T.S. Eliot|

A friend of mine, staying in Paris with his wife, booked into the same room in the Regent Hotel in which they had stayed two years ago in order to enjoy the beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower that it afforded. Upon setting foot in the room and looking out of the window they were [...]

What Next for Distributism?

By Stephen Masty|2016-02-12T15:28:10-06:00July 10th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Distributism, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Stephen Masty|

As any old newspaperman can tell you, crafting headlines is a rare skill quite distinct from ordinary good writing. A New York Post example, “Headless Body in Topless Bar,” is a work of art. Or when rural American audiences felt insulted by hillbilly comedy films, and Variety proclaimed: “Stix Nix Hix Flix.” Or a long-forgotten [...]