The Prophetic Insights of G.K. Chesterton with Dale Ahlquist | Ep. 102

About this episode

G.K. Chesterton had a way of making familiar things surprising again. Dale Ahlquist joins Purposely Catholic to ask what that way of seeing might offer us when the next new gadget or busy morning has our attention. He introduces Chesterton's use of paradox: holding truths such as justice and mercy together, even when they seem to pull in different directions. Wonder and gratitude bring those ideas into ordinary life, from noticing creation to remembering what we're doing at Mass.

The same questions reach into classrooms and neighborhoods. Dale describes a Catholic education that connects history, literature, philosophy, and the arts, with daily Mass at its center. He also makes the case for localism, beginning with the businesses we support and the decisions we can shape close to home. Along the way, he shares how he gathered Chesterton's scattered reflections about himself into I Also Had My Hour, an alternative autobiography.

In this episode

• Chesterton's paradoxes and holding justice and mercy together
• Recovering wonder, gratitude, and reverence at Mass
• Catholic education that connects learning, faith, and the arts
• Localism, neighborhood businesses, and decisions close to home
• Assembling Chesterton's life story from his own words

With Khalil Hattar, Bobby Fredericksen, and guest Dale Ahlquist.

About the guest

Dale Ahlquist is president of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, publisher of Gilbert magazine, and creator and host of EWTN's The Apostle of Common Sense. An author and editor of books about Chesterton, he also co-founded Chesterton Academy, the classical Catholic high school whose model grew into the Chesterton Schools Network. In I Also Had My Hour, he brings together Chesterton's own recollections from a wide range of writings to tell the story of his life.