G.K. Chesterton Archives ~ Page 4 of 14 ~ The Imaginative Conservative

The Dark Side of Chesterton: Gargoyles and Grotesques

By David Deavel|2022-09-23T18:03:22-05:00September 23rd, 2022|Categories: Books, David Deavel, G.K. Chesterton, Senior Contributors|

Though an apostle of joy and common sense, Chesterton’s work, especially his stories, has hideous and frightening images running through from beginning to end. What is the place of the grotesque, the nihilistic, and evil itself in his work? The Dark Side of Chesterton: Gargoyles and Grotesques, by John C. Tibbetts, with a foreword by [...]

Education as if Truth Mattered

By Joseph Pearce|2022-08-25T12:54:22-05:00August 24th, 2022|Categories: C.S. Lewis, Education, Evelyn Waugh, Featured, G.K. Chesterton, Great Books, Joseph Pearce, StAR, T.S. Eliot, Timeless Essays|

If the twenty-first century is to produce more great men and more great books, it will have to restore a true education; and a true education is an education as if truth mattered. The title of this essay, “Education as if Truth Mattered,” is taken from the subtitle of Christopher Derrick’s book, Escape from Scepticism: [...]

A People Without History: T.S. Eliot’s Critique of Evolutionary History

By Benjamin Lockerd|2022-08-21T15:07:55-05:00August 21st, 2022|Categories: Benjamin Lockerd, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, History, Poetry, Senior Contributors, T.S. Eliot, The Imaginative Conservative, Timeless Essays|

H.G. Wells sought to free humanity from the “bondage” of tradition, but T.S. Eliot saw history not as an evolutionary movement, but a return to the past. While T.S. Eliot never made any comments critical of Charles Darwin or his theory of the evolution of species, he was quite critical of various popularized versions of [...]

Chesterton on Progressivism and Barbarism

By Chuck Chalberg|2022-07-06T21:37:15-05:00July 6th, 2022|Categories: Catholicism, G.K. Chesterton, Modernity, Progressivism|

As G.K. Chesterton observed what was happening all around him in England, he was led to conclude that there were historical moments when what he termed “over-civilization” and what he termed “barbarism” were close to becoming one and the same thing. Virtually the same thing might be said of America today. Just where is our [...]

The Privilege of Little Words and Mighty Swords

By Bradley J. Birzer|2022-06-09T22:38:55-05:00June 9th, 2022|Categories: Bradley J. Birzer, Christian Humanism, Christianity, Essential, G.K. Chesterton, History, J.R.R. Tolkien, T.S. Eliot, Timeless Essays|

Let not future generations say of us: We slept. Instead, may they remember us as those who fought the good fight for the Logos and for humanity. Let it be said that in the twenty-first century we took up either of our mythically-laden swords and wielded them with all the force imaginable. My talk today [...]

G.K. Chesterton on the Family

By Chuck Chalberg|2022-06-07T12:29:37-05:00June 7th, 2022|Categories: Books, Culture War, G.K. Chesterton|

G.K. Chesterton prophesied that the attack on the family would intensify, and his writings were an attempt to provide ammunition for those who would be on hand when his prophecy came true. And now we have Dale Ahlquist to give us the best of Chesterton's writings on the family in what we hope will prove [...]

Christmas Dinner With G.K. Chesterton

By Chuck Chalberg|2021-12-21T15:15:34-06:00December 21st, 2021|Categories: Christmas, G.K. Chesterton|

As we look forward to Christmas dinner with our families, you may be surprised to learn that someone else who always enjoyed his Christmas dinner claimed to be a vegetarian. That someone was the portly G. K. Chesterton. How could that be? After all, he was anything but a slim, trim fellow. And yet by [...]

Does History Repeat Itself?

By Joseph Pearce|2021-08-31T12:22:56-05:00September 1st, 2021|Categories: G.K. Chesterton, History, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

It is true that we can’t say with certainty what will happen in the future because it will depend on the choices we make. But we can be almost certain what will happen in the future based upon what we know about the past. It’s not often that I find myself disagreeing with G. K. [...]

Singing in the Rain

By Joseph Pearce|2021-07-22T12:07:58-05:00July 23rd, 2021|Categories: G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

In days of relative darkness, when shadows envelope everything, we should seek the light that is reflected and refracted in our neighbors. As an Englishman, I have a tendency towards sun-worship. There’s a very good reason for this. England is a gloomy country in terms of the weather. It rains a lot, and even when [...]

G.K. Chesterton Meets Dorian Gray

By Joseph Pearce|2021-07-08T11:28:23-05:00July 8th, 2021|Categories: G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

Last month, in an essay entitled “Chesterton Meets the Devil”, I discussed the period of youthful morbidity which characterized Chesterton’s time at the Slade School of Art in the early 1890s. This gloom-laden period inspired “The Diabolist,” one of Chesterton’s darkest and most powerful essays. Published in Tremendous Trifles in 1909, it recounts an episode [...]

G.K. Chesterton, the Jolly Journalist

By Joseph Pearce|2021-06-26T10:29:43-05:00June 25th, 2021|Categories: G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Journalism, Senior Contributors|

Though known to posterity as a wit, a controversialist, and a Christian apologist, G.K. Chesterton considered himself primarily to be merely a “jolly journalist” and it was through the writing of essays for newspapers and magazines that he made both his reputation and his living. G.K. Chesterton is known to posterity as a wit, a [...]

Chesterton’s “Manalive”: “Friends” a Century Earlier

By David Deavel|2021-06-23T23:00:29-05:00June 23rd, 2021|Categories: David Deavel, Friendship, G.K. Chesterton, Senior Contributors|

Want a real happy ending for twenty- and thirty-somethings? G. K. Chesterton’s 1912 novel, "Manalive," is a tale about young, bourgeois people living in the modern world. It is also a tale about what is necessary for such people to come alive and enjoy real friendship and communion. The entertainment world fluttered a few weeks [...]

G.K. Chesterton and the March of the Church Militant

By Joseph Pearce|2021-06-19T15:46:54-05:00June 19th, 2021|Categories: Architecture, Christianity, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

G. K. Chesterton, a truly humble soul, enrapt in gratitude and wonder, was moved to contemplate the deepest meaning of gothic architecture. More than a century later, our own souls find themselves singing in harmony with Chesterton as they hear and contemplate the beauty of his voice, and the beauty of the song he is [...]

Chesterton Meets the Devil

By Joseph Pearce|2022-05-28T22:47:03-05:00June 11th, 2021|Categories: G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Pearce, Senior Contributors|

G.K. Chesterton is so full of wisdom and wonder, and sanity and sanctity, that it comes as a surprise to learn of his darker side. Yet there were two particularly dark and bitter periods in his life that should not be overlooked. The first was the unholy and unhealthy darkness that descended during a period [...]