{"id":38989,"date":"2018-12-04T10:26:59","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T16:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/?p=38989"},"modified":"2018-12-05T08:17:07","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T14:17:07","slug":"lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/","title":{"rendered":"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>The Speaker<\/i><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It could be argued\u2014in fact, I will argue it right now\u2014that G.K. Chesterton got his start in journalism writing for\u00a0<i>The Speaker<\/i>, a Liberal weekly with a\u00a0literary bent. It was the first major publication to publish anything by Chesterton, a poem called \u201cThe Song of\u00a0Labour,\u201d in December of 1892, when GKC was only 18 years old. He would get six more poems published in\u00a0<i>The Speaker<\/i>\u00a0over the next seven years. In\u00a0October of 1899, he started submitting book reviews to the paper, but they were rejected by the book editor, F.Y. Eccles, who concluded, on the basis of GKC&#8217;s distinctive italic handwriting, that he was Jewish. At the behest of his college classmate, Ernest Hodder-Williams, Chesterton began writing reviews of art books for\u00a0<i>The Bookman<\/i>, which were immediately published (thanks perhaps to the fact that Ernest&#8217;s father was the publisher). It was then that Chesterton decided he wanted to be a journalist.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It would be a few more months before Eccles determined that Chesterton was not Jewish and began publishing his book reviews. Here the world got its first real look at Chesterton&#8217;s creative mind, at how insightful and sagacious he was, but also how amusing. And\u00a0quotable. It was a collection of these essays that made up Chesterton&#8217;s first book of prose:\u00a0<i>The Defendant.\u00a0<\/i>But the uncollected pieces from\u00a0<i>The Speaker\u00a0<\/i>would fill another book. And the book could be called\u00a0<i>The Defendant, Volume II<\/i>, because Chesterton continues his theme that all precious things are \u201cin perpetual and incurable peril.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He defends little things: \u201cThe mystic is not a man who reverences large things so much as a man who reverences small ones, who reduces himself to a point, without parts or magnitude, so that to him the grass is really a forest and the grasshopper a dragon. Little things please great minds.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335559740&quot;:270}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He defends basic morality against the hedonist: \u201cNature is one of the worst guides conceivable in all matters of peace, war, government,\u00a0industry and the ordinary relations between man and man. Why in the name of common-sense should she be any better guide on the relations of the sexes? The New Hedonism . . . amounts apparently to this, that Nature is detestable when she commands us to be strong, but infallible when she commands us to be weak.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He defends basic faith against the atheist: \u201cTo assert a universal negative is a far more\u00a0undemonstrable\u00a0dogma than the vision of a million angels.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He defends the Sabbath against the Sabbatarians who empty it of its joy by denying normal pleasure:\u00a0\u201cThe Sabbath is the Festival of Creation on which the world is made over again. The universe presents the\u00a0cryptogramic\u00a0wonder of a detective story; but with this difference, that the secret is not a hidden\u00a0crime, but a hidden kindness.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335559740&quot;:270}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He defends the use of humor in his writing: \u201cI could never understand why it should be considered as anything against the truth of an idea that it was funny: to me it appears that its funniness should be rather in its\u00a0favour.\u201d<span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:2,&quot;335559740&quot;:270}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>One thing he does not defend is John Milton. He calls his religion\u00a0\u201cfrigid and repellent.\u201d He argues against the idea that the theories of\u00a0<i>Paradise Lost<\/i>\u00a0are Hebraic and Scriptural. So, I suppose we could say he is defending the Old Testament against Milton.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The God of the Old Testament never explains himself intellectually; the God of Milton never does anything else. The much-quoted object \u201cto justify the ways of God to men\u201d would have appeared mere ridiculous blasphemy to Isaiah. This\u00a0sublime Jewish sentiment of the loneliness of God (\u201cI have trodden the wine-press alone and of the peoples there was no man with me\u201d) is perpetually violated in Milton, whose Deity is always clearing Himself from charges as if He were at the Old Bailey. The least superstitious of us can feel the thrill of the elemental faith of the Jews, can imagine a voice thundering out of the sky in mysterious wrath or more mysterious benediction. But who can help laughing at the idea of a voice out of the midnight sky suddenly beginning to explain itself and set right an unfortunate misunderstanding?<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This early whack of Milton would lead to many more over the next three decades, which is one of the many things that endears Chesterton to me and to every other person who suffered through English Literature 101 being told how great\u00a0<i>Paradise Lost<\/i>\u00a0is. I always knew there was something wrong with it.<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And though Chesterton defends tradition, he does not necessarily uphold philosophic Conservatism per se: \u201cA clock\u00a0that has stopped is at least right twice a day; the real philosophic Conservative is right with the same regularity as a clock that has stopped.\u201d (In case you were wondering about the source of this oft-repeated line, it comes from\u00a0<i>The Speaker<\/i>, October 19,1901.)<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The amazing thing about these essays that laid the foundation for Chesterton&#8217;s career as a journalist is that they are\u00a0all book reviews: books such as Grant Allen&#8217;s memoirs, a biography of Edward Dowden, the poetry of William Watson. Though the books and their authors are forgotten, the journalist&#8217;s reviews live on. How many journalists can make the same claim?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Essays from The Speaker<\/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-38989","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 128: In The Beginning Was... - 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-128-in-the-beginning-was\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was... - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Essays from The Speaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/\" \/>\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=\"2018-12-04T16:26:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-05T14:17:07+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=\"4 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-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dale Ahlquist\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d06b6be072498eed6d3d83aee49f7177\"},\"headline\":\"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was&#8230;\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T16:26:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-05T14:17:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":884,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Chesterton University\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was... - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-04T16:26:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-05T14:17:07+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.chesterton.org\\\/store\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was&#8230;\"}]},{\"@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 128: In The Beginning Was... - 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-128-in-the-beginning-was\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was... - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","og_description":"Essays from The Speaker","og_url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/","og_site_name":"Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanChestertonSociety\/","article_published_time":"2018-12-04T16:26:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-12-05T14:17:07+00:00","author":"Dale Ahlquist","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dale Ahlquist","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/"},"author":{"name":"Dale Ahlquist","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#\/schema\/person\/d06b6be072498eed6d3d83aee49f7177"},"headline":"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was&#8230;","datePublished":"2018-12-04T16:26:59+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-05T14:17:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/"},"wordCount":884,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Chesterton University"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/","url":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/","name":"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was... - Store | Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-12-04T16:26:59+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-05T14:17:07+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/lecture-128-in-the-beginning-was\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lecture 128: In The Beginning Was&#8230;"}]},{"@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\/38989","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=38989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chesterton.org\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}