{"id":38952,"date":"2018-12-04T09:05:36","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T15:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/?p=38952"},"modified":"2018-12-06T13:36:44","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T19:36:44","slug":"lecture-111-final-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Illustrated London News 1935-36<\/i><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/shop\/volume-xxxvii\/\"><i>Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Volume 37<\/i><\/a><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><br \/>\n<\/span>It was at about the time of the first Midwest Chesterton Conference in 1981, which kicked off the great\u00a0annual conference we still enjoy today, that the beloved Frank Petta of Elgin, Illinois, first floated the idea of packaging all of Chesterton&#8217;s columns from the\u00a0<i>Illustrated London News\u00a0<\/i>and bringing them out in book form. He knew it would be a big task: collecting almost 1600 essays written over a period of 31 years. Fortunately, Frank already had copies of every one of them. The ad hoc group of Midwest\u00a0Chestertonians\u00a0soon announced their plans to publish the collection. They wanted to have a scholar provide some annotations for the essays, and they found Lawrence Clipper, an English professor from Indiana University, who got the University to give him a grant not only to do the research and writing, but to have a bevy of secretaries type up all the essays.\u00a0Then, along came Father Joseph\u00a0Fessio\u00a0of Ignatius Press in San Francisco. He liked Chesterton. He had the grand idea to publish\u00a0<i>The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton<\/i>. Enter George Marlin from New York, who became the General Editor of the\u00a0<i>Collected Works<\/i>,\u00a0and thought that including the\u00a0<i>Illustrated London News<\/i>\u00a0with the\u00a0<i>Collected Works<\/i>\u00a0and releasing them right away would be a great idea, because after all, Chesterton fans everywhere would be clamoring for all this previously uncollected material. The first nine volumes of the \u201c<i>ILN<\/i>\u201d columns came out in short order, from 1987 to 1991. Only two remained to be published. There was only one problem. There were hardly any \u201cChesterton fans everywhere\u201d in 1991. John Peterson and I were about the only ones who bought\u00a0the volumes. The rest languished on shelves in Ignatius&#8217; warehouse. There was still a lot of work to be done on the Chesterton revival. But that work was done, thank God. However, it would be 20 years before Ignatius finally brought out the last two volumes, completing the\u00a0<i>ILN<\/i>\u00a0collection. Both Frank Petta and Larry Clipper went to their graves without seeing the project finished. However, they saw the first fruits of their efforts, and I am very grateful for that.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Volume 37 of the\u00a0<i>Collected Works<\/i>\u00a0is the slimmest of the\u00a0<i>ILN<\/i>\u00a0books, as it only contains the last year-and-a-half worth of Chesterton&#8217;s columns. However, its added value is a large subject index for the entire\u00a0<i>ILN\u00a0<\/i>collection, which was one of the things that Larry Clipper had worked hardest on. It is, of course, not only a valuable tool for any Chesterton scholar but for anyone to better enjoy the wealth of material from the whole collection. It sure would have been fun to have had this index twenty years ago.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It is poignant to read the final\u00a0<i>ILN<\/i>\u00a0volume, knowing its own long history, but especially knowing that in the last several essays, Chesterton is writing his last words. One gets the feeling that Chesterton knows it, too. He is saying good-bye.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>What are his final thoughts for us?<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He is prophetic as he always has been. He is concerned about the destruction of the family, which has come about through divorce and wage slavery, which have pulled both father and mother out of the home. But \u201cnobody has really discussed\u00a0<i>the alternative<\/i>\u00a0to the Family.\u00a0The only obvious alternative is the State. . . If families will not be responsible for their own children, then officials will be responsible for other people&#8217;s children.\u201d The result will be that the government will gain great power over our lives, as well\u00a0as interference in our lives. The most sobering prophecy: \u201cThe frightful punishment of mere sex emancipation is not anarchy but bureaucracy.\u201d Think of the enforced chaos that has come about as the State has redefined marriage and family.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Chesterton worries about \u201cthe madness of machinery,\u201d and warns about a robotic world \u201cwhere some horrible parody of human beings pretend to be human.\u201d This is all due to the loss of tradition, the loss of custom, the literal loss of significance, of meaning. Everything is\u00a0out of proportion, reflected in the world of art where \u201ceven the grotesque effects of deformity are lost in a complete loss of form.\u201d Along with this is the decline in the art of controversy, where men will \u201cmake a point merely because it is part of a controversy; without worrying about whether it is a part of a philosophy.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He sympathizes with the revolutionary idealist \u201cwho would defy and destroy all our corrupt compromises,\u201d but he has no sympathy for the man who only uses his arguments to show \u201chis superiority to anybody he happens to dislike.\u201d Most argument is opportunism. Even the right morality is preached for the wrong motives. The result is \u201ca chaos of caprice and anarchy\u201d that threatens \u201cto produce a world in which men differ too much even to dispute.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span>In Chesterton&#8217;s parting wisdom to us, we can hear a weariness in his voice. But he has not given up. He still has time for literary criticism, as he devotes one essay to admitting that he has never understood what Shakespeare&#8217;s poem \u201cThe\u00a0Phoenix and the Turtle\u201d is supposed to mean. And his second-to-last essay is a grand tribute to his life-long friend Edmund Clerihew Bentley, who has just published a sequel to his famous detective novel\u00a0<i>Trent&#8217;s Last Case<\/i>. When Chesterton refers to the seeming irrelevancies in the plot that turn out to be not quite so irrelevant as we had supposed, I could not help but think of the detective novel that God has written for each of us, the story of our own lives, where we think we are misled by many irrelevant things that turn out to be very relevant after all, all leading to a surprise ending. Chesterton, who made a life of seeing the meaning in everything, could look back to \u201cthose distant days\u201d of his youth, when he dedicated\u00a0<i>The Man Who was Thursday\u00a0<\/i>to Bentley. He could see that in spite of that novel&#8217;s \u201cmelodramatic moonshine,\u201d he had the right notion of fighting against what appeared to be a world of anarchy and to resist the temptation to despair. And\u00a0thus\u00a0he finishes in the light of hope.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Essays from The Illustrated London News, 1935-1936 (the final columns)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chesterton-101"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lecture 111: Final Thoughts - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Essays from The Illustrated London News, 1935-1936 (the final columns)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanChestertonSociety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-04T15:05:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-06T19:36:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dale Ahlquist\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dale Ahlquist\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dale Ahlquist\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d06b6be072498eed6d3d83aee49f7177\"},\"headline\":\"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T15:05:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-06T19:36:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1050,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Chesterton University\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T15:05:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-06T19:36:44+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/\",\"name\":\"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\",\"description\":\"Apostolate of Common Sense\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Chesterton Society\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png\",\"width\":\"1181\",\"height\":\"1174\",\"caption\":\"American Chesterton Society\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanChestertonSociety\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/AmChestertonSoc\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d06b6be072498eed6d3d83aee49f7177\",\"name\":\"Dale Ahlquist\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9bfbe8d2ebc5025c6021f8bf030c3e05553ab88d2047b0d33813b86d169b8985?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9bfbe8d2ebc5025c6021f8bf030c3e05553ab88d2047b0d33813b86d169b8985?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9bfbe8d2ebc5025c6021f8bf030c3e05553ab88d2047b0d33813b86d169b8985?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dale Ahlquist\"},\"description\":\"One of the most respected G.K. Chesterton scholars in the world, Dale Ahlquist is President of the American Chesterton Society, and publisher of its flagship publication, GILBERT. Dale is also the creator and host of the popular EWTN series The Apostle of Common Sense, and he is the author of three books on Chesterton including G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton and The Complete Thinker. His books deliver Chestertonian perspectives on such topics as faith, education, love, and marriage, and unpack the wisdom of Chesterton to explain why modern man has lost his ability to think clearly. He has also edited eight books of Chesterton\u2019s writings.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/author\\\/dale-ahlquist\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","og_description":"Essays from The Illustrated London News, 1935-1936 (the final columns)","og_url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/","og_site_name":"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanChestertonSociety\/","article_published_time":"2018-12-04T15:05:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-12-06T19:36:44+00:00","author":"Dale Ahlquist","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dale Ahlquist","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/"},"author":{"name":"Dale Ahlquist","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/person\/d06b6be072498eed6d3d83aee49f7177"},"headline":"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts","datePublished":"2018-12-04T15:05:36+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-06T19:36:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/"},"wordCount":1050,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Chesterton University"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/","name":"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-12-04T15:05:36+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-06T19:36:44+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-111-final-thoughts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lecture 111: Final Thoughts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/","name":"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","description":"Apostolate of Common Sense","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#organization","name":"American Chesterton Society","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/cropped-Chesterton_Seal_Navy-1.png","width":"1181","height":"1174","caption":"American Chesterton Society"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanChestertonSociety\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AmChestertonSoc"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/person\/d06b6be072498eed6d3d83aee49f7177","name":"Dale Ahlquist","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bfbe8d2ebc5025c6021f8bf030c3e05553ab88d2047b0d33813b86d169b8985?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bfbe8d2ebc5025c6021f8bf030c3e05553ab88d2047b0d33813b86d169b8985?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bfbe8d2ebc5025c6021f8bf030c3e05553ab88d2047b0d33813b86d169b8985?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dale Ahlquist"},"description":"One of the most respected G.K. Chesterton scholars in the world, Dale Ahlquist is President of the American Chesterton Society, and publisher of its flagship publication, GILBERT. Dale is also the creator and host of the popular EWTN series The Apostle of Common Sense, and he is the author of three books on Chesterton including G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense, Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton and The Complete Thinker. His books deliver Chestertonian perspectives on such topics as faith, education, love, and marriage, and unpack the wisdom of Chesterton to explain why modern man has lost his ability to think clearly. He has also edited eight books of Chesterton\u2019s writings.","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/author\/dale-ahlquist\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}