G. K. Chesterton
Everlasting Man
Chesterton propounds the thesis that "those who say that Christ stands side by side with similar myths, and his religion side by side with similar religions, are only repeating a very stale formula contradicted by a very striking fact." And with all the brilliance and devastating irony, so characteristic of his best writing, Chesterton gleefully and tempestuously tears to shreds that "very stale formula" and triumphantly proclaims in vivid language the glory and unanswerable logic of that very striking fact. Here is the genius of Chesterton at its delightful best.
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Flying Inn
The beloved G.K. Chesterton presents a well-crafted and joyous work of political fantasy about a small group of rebels who rail against the government's attempt to impose prohibition in England.
Humphrey Pump, a pub owner, accompanied by Captain Patrick Dalroy, a flamboyant giant with a tendency to burst into song, take to the road in a donkey cart with a cask of good rum, a large block of cheese, and the signpost from his pub, The Flying Inn. The two men bring good cheer to an increasingly restless populace as they attempt to evade the law. In a journey that becomes a rollicking madcap adventure, the two travel round England, encountering revolution, romance, and a cast of memorable characters.
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Lepanto
Hilaire Belloc called "Lepanto" Chesterton's greatest poem and the greatest poem of his generation. But not only have English classes neglected this masterpiece of rhyme and meter, History classes have neglected the story of the pivotal battle upon which the poem is based.
This book brings together the poem, the historical background of the famous battle, a riveting account of the battle itself, and a discussion of its historical consequences. The poem is fully annotated, and is supplemented with two interesting essays by Chesterton himself. Well-known Chesterton expert, Dale Ahlquist, has gathered together all the insightful commentaries and explanatory notes. Here is the story behind the modern conflict between Christianity and Islam, between Protestant and Catholic Europe, and the origin of the Feast of the Holy Rosary. A fascinating blend of literature, history, religion and romance! "A valuable reference book that is also a great read!"--Therese Warmus, Literary Editor, Gilbert Magazine G.K. Chesterton was one of the most prolific and renowned literary writers of the 20th Century. Dale Ahlquist, author of G.K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense, is the President of the American Chesterton Society.
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Manalive
Introduction by Dale Ahlquist
This classic novel by the brilliant G. K. Chesterton tells the rollicking tale of Innocent Smith, a man who may be crazy-or possibly the most sane man of all. Arriving at a dreary London boarding house accompanied by a windstorm, Smith is an exuberant, eccentric and sweet-natured man. Smith has a positive effect on the house-he creates his own court, brings a few couples together, and falls in love with a paid companion next door. All seems to be well with the world.
Then the unexpected happens: Smith shoots at one of the tenants, and two doctors arrive to arrest him, claiming that he's a bigamist, an attempted murderer, and a thief. But cynical writer Moon insists that the case be tried there-and they explore Smith's past history, revealing startling truths about what he does. Is he the wickedest man in Britain, or is he "blameless as a buttercup"?
Beautifully written, mixing the ridiculous with the profound, full of hilarious dialogue and lushly detailed writing, Chesterton's main character Innocent Smith somehow manages to restore joy to all the dull and cynical lives around him. In this delightfully strange mystery, Chesterton demonstrates why life is worth living, and that sometimes we need a little madness just to know we are alive.
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Orthodoxy
A pagan at only 12 and totally agnostic by 16, Chesterton had the remarkable experience of developing a personal, positive philosophy that turned out to be orthodox Christianity. Orthodoxy, his account of it all, has not lost its force as a timeless argument for the simple plausibility of traditional Christianity. C.S. Lewis and many other emerging Christian thinkers have found this book a pivotal step in their adoption of a credible Christian faith. This intellectual and spiritual autobiography of the leading 20th century essayist combines simplicity with subtlety in a model apologetic that appeals to today's generations of readers who face the same materialism and antisupernaturalism as did the "man at war with his times."
Of the numerous works that Chesterton wrote, the most scintillating synthesis of his philosophy and deeply religious faith was manifested in his masterpiece, Orthodoxy, written when he was only thirty-four and which tells, in his inimitable, soaring prose, of his earth-shaking discovery that orthodoxy is the only satisfactory answer to the perplexing riddle of the universe. Orthodoxy is perhaps the most outstanding example of the originality of his style and the brilliance of his thought.
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Orthodoxy (Noll Library)
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Saint Francis of Assisi
This edition offers all of G. K. Chesterton's insight, humor, and wit as he uncovers the real meaning of the life of the world's most popular saint. All Francis's life was a series of plunges and scampers, darting after the beggar, dashing naked into the woods, tossing himself into the strange ship, and hurling himself into the Sultan's tent. In appearance he must have been like a thin brown skeleton autumn leaf dancing eternally before the wind; but in truth it was he that was the wind.
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St Thomas Aquinas (The Dumb Ox)
G.K. Chesterton's brilliant sketch of the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas is as relevant today as when it was published in 1933. Then it earned the praise of such distinguished writers as Etienne Gilson, Jacques Martain, and Anton Pegis as the best book ever written on the great thirteenth-century Dominican. Today Chesterton's classic stands poised to reveal Thomas to a new generation.
Chesterton's Aquinas is a man of mystery. Born into a noble Neapolitan family, Thomas chose the life of a mendicant friar. Lumbering and shy -- his classmates dubbed him "the Dumb Ox" -- he led a revolution in Christian thought. Possessed of the rarest brilliance, he found the highest truth in the humblest object. Having spent his life amid the vast intricacies of reason, he asked on his deathbed to have read aloud the Song of Songs, the most passionate book in the Bible. As Albert the Great, Thomas's teacher, predicted, the Dumb Ox has bellowed down the ages to our own day. Chesterton's book will enlighten those who would consign Thomas to the obscurity of medieval times. It will confound those who would use Thomas to bolster arid schemes of Christian rationalism. Rather, it will introduce the wondrous mystery of the man who, after a life of unparalleled genius, was seized by a vision of the Unknown and said, "I can write no more. I have seen things which make all my writings like straw."- Please log in to review this product
St Thomas Aquinas and St Francis of Assisi
St. Thomas Aquinas was written later in Chesterton's career. It also is enriched by the author's unique ability to see the world through the saint's eyes, a view that shows us Aquinas in a fresh way. Chesterton's pen brings the author of the Summa vividly to life.
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Tumbler of God: Chesterton as Mystic
"One of the best books I have ever read on Chesterton."--Dale Ahlquist
"A book that speaks openly of what is, in the end, the most important thing about him: his friendship with God."--Stratford Caldecott
"A ground-breaking examination of G.K. Chesterton."--Mark Sebanc
"Robert Wild's fascinating perspective is a welcome addition to the enlivening field of Chestertonian studies."--Chris Chan
"An exploration, made with deep and affectionate familiarity with GKC's writings, of what is meant by the word 'mystic'."--Francis Phillips, The Catholic Herald
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What's Wrong with the World
In 1910, when the industrialists and intelligentsia both promised only "progress," G. K. Chesterton was among the few in the West who could see the brewing ideological storms that would soon make landfall, not just in the form of world wars and totalitarianism but in the pervasive modern dehumanization that consumes us to this day.
More than a century ago, Chesterton perceived the beginnings of "woke capital" and how it aligns with and promotes social progressivism. There is an unspoken alliance between big business and progressives, he explains. The one (big business) impoverishes the worker, eviscerating the material conditions of family life, while the other (the progressive) tells him he doesn't need family anyway. Big business "wants women workers because they are cheaper," while the progressive "calls the women's work 'freedom to live her own life.' "
Chesterton saw, too, how economic individualism ultimately led to more intrusive government because of the inability of the worker to enter into modest ownership of the kind accessible to his forebears, leaving him vulnerable to looking to the State for help.
It is in examining these threats to a decent, stable, ordinary life that What's Wrong with the World proves astonishingly, almost unbelievably, prophetic. Although Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism was still a decade away, one can see in these pages that his arguments were already unmistakably contoured by Catholic teaching, concerned as he is with the false emphasis on "science," sexual license as "liberating," socialism's fake humanity, and how "faith in the future" is actually a sign of cowardice and fear of our past.
As readable today as when it was first written, no other book offers such an incisive analysis of what is truly wrong with our world.
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