Dale Ahlquist on G. K. Chesterton

A surprising number of Catholic conversions in the last hundred years begin with one man: G. K. Chesterton. A modern Catholic favorite, Chesterton looms large in subjects as diverse as theology, satire, marginalia, philosophy, politics, and mystery fiction. Our guest today is Dale Ahlquist, founder and president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. His own journey of conversion started with Chesterton's The Everlasting Man. In our conversation, we visit many of Chesterton's ideas, concluding with the much misunderstood "distributism"—a Chestertonian practical philosophy and the subject of Ahlquist's co-edited book of essays titled Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching. Chapters: 1:53 Conversion by way of Chesterton 6:17 Chesterton: a "complete thinker" 8:16 Reading recommendations 12:05 The opening of Everlasting Man 13:56 The ending of Man Who Was Thursday 17:16 Fairy tales and fundamental truths 19:18 "The twitch upon the thread" 22:27 Defining distributism, or localism 30:13 Localism for D.C. (sub)urbanites 33:44 Founding schools: localism in action 39:11 Family enterprises 42:19 The contributors to Localism 45:31 Creating a life of localism where you are Links: Localism: Coming Home to Catholic Social Teaching edited by Dale Ahlquist and Michael Warren Davis The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton G. K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense by Dale Ahlquist Common Sense 101: Lessons from G. K. Chesterton by Dale Ahlquist Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton St. Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton St. Francis of Assisi by G. K. Chesterton Father Brown: The Essential Tales by G. K. Chesterton "The Roots of the World" by G. K. Chesterton The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton Men in the Making, Alvaro de Vicente's substack featuring original articles Featured Opportunities: What Should a Catholic University Be? at The Heights School (December 7, 2024) Also on the Forum: Episode 1: The Homework Problem, newly launched Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox featuring round-table discussions with veteran teachers