Orthodoxy - it's a beautiful, creative, hilarious treatment of modern philosophical failures and mistakes, and presents the Christian worldview in a way that feels as fresh as it is true.
My first was Ballad of the White Horse in highschool - I was mesmerized!!!! Lines from that poem have stayed with me since then. Working at a chesterton academy now. God has mysterious ways. ❤
"The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man" "The madman is not the man who has lost his reason; he is the man who has only his reason left" "We are all liars but we love truth" - G. K. Chesterton
I knew I would see you here. I love your reading of Orthodoxy and I hope you will continue with the series. I think your channel is criminally underrated!
With one sentence I heard on John Eldredge's 2019 podcast series on spiritual warfare when I was going through my divorce, Mr. Chesterton kept me sane, and probably also alive. "If we are comfortable with mystery, we will be able to understand many things, but if we insist on being able to understand everything we will end up mad." So, instead of going mad I followed him to the Catholic Church.
@@Americanheld I am generally, thanks. That video mocking red-pilled men was pretty discouraging. Andrew Tate doesn’t speak for me about anything. We have no leader because it is not a movement. It’s a result of what’s been done to us, and in a few fortunate cases, what smarter men have observed. Anyway, thanks again. I have to recommend that new edition of The Everlasting Man. It is out now, and you mustn’t skip the footnotes. God bless.
I hope that both Chesterton and Tolkien will be canonised: two beautiful Catholics who were instrumental in my joining the Church. So glad you had Dale Ahlquist on the show! I love his work!!
@@catholicconvert2119 Out of interest, may I ask why? Because certainly the writing of both men has led more people to faith than most of the Saints put together. And in my view, their works are timeless and genius, and seem wholly compatible with the beliefs and values the Catholic Church is built upon.
Yes. As a self deprecating fat man who dropped out of art school and still wishes to advance my art skills and is interested in theology I was incredibly happy to learn about GK Chesterton.
CHESTERTON ACADEMY!! Latin and History teacher here from the Peoria IL branch! Teaching there for the past five years has been one of the greatest blessings of my life, second only to my husband and baby (on the way). People are always shocked when I say how much I love working with highschoolers - “joyful” is not usually the go-to adjective to describe that group but it certainly is with this school curriculum! Absolutely groundbreaking. Praise God for your work, Dr Ahlquist!
Very cool! We have a Chesterton academy that just started in Orlando Florida and I really want my son to go to high school there. He’s in sixth grade and really wants to go to the main Catholic high school in this area but feel Chesterton is more focused on what truly matters, faith and growing in holiness and closer to God. Do you feel it’s faith first at Chesterton?
@@johnbrion4565 1000%! The entire curriculum is based around making them confident defenders of the faith with an ability to articulate well the truth in a way that will be receptive to their audience. So absolutely!
This is immediately one of my all-time favorites episodes of Pints. Mr. Ahlquist is such a delightful story teller and speaker that he thoroughly convinced me to read Orthodoxy for the first time.
Many thanks to Dale Alqhuist for his series on Chesterton on EWTN. Chesterton lampooned and savaged, exposed and excoriated error. He skewered, sliced and diced folly, and presented a heartwarming delectable feast for the intellect. Chesterton was one of God's many gifts to the 20th century, and it's time he takes his place with St. Faustina, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Maximilian Kolbe, Padre Pio, & St. John Paul II. I will continue to pray for his canonization.
The Chesterton Academies are the foundation of the renewal of the Church, and ultimately the world. The students and faculty are joyful and dedicated. (I teach at one, so I can attest to this personally.) Any parent interested in the serious education of their child and their moral and emotional development would be blessed to have their child attend such a school.
I had the honor of meeting Mr. Ahlquist in 2013 when I was 14 years old, he gave a speech when my parents started a Chesterton Society group at our church and we took him out to dinner afterwards. He was a great man back then and has only done bigger and better things since. this was a great guest to have on, Matt
Jordan Peterson needs to read GKC. He is SO close to converting and his wife has converted, so he’s on the brink. His intellect is just so incredible but sometimes prohibitive when it comes to faith. Keep,praying for him! Love this interview. Fascinating!! Love it, thanks Matt.
Amen! I'm a huge fan of both GKC and JBP. I think Peterson would resonate at every level with Chestertons Everlasting Man, with it's glorious presentation of Christ as the incarnation of all the deepest archetypes of reality.
I just learned that I live right by one of these Chesterton academies and if I have children I will be sending them there once they're high school aged!
I met Dale Ahlquist in Colorado Spgs Our Lady of Walsingham Chesterton Academy. He is very down to earth, funny and so personable. Talks to you like you are a friend.
Do yourself a favour and read Chesterton's essay on Cheese. It will change the way you think about cheese and, consequently, life. It's short, profound, hilarous, and peak Chesterton imo.
No other author have I read and re-read so many times as Chesterton. No other author do I quote in such lengthy paragraphs. He's just brilliant. But I will be especially grateful to him for restoring St. Francis to me - a saint that featured in my conversion and whom I loved; a saint taken away from me by shallow Franciscans (who emulate exterior aspects of St. Francis only) and quasi-political biographies that juxtapose St. Francis and the Church by siding with the monomaniacal Fraticelli movement ("the Church betrayed St. Francis"). One paragraph of Chesterton and it expressed everything I knew to be true but would not have been able to out my finger on. The amounts of time I have to interrupt my reading Chesterton for pure expressions of joy and insight makes me return to his works.
I love Dale! He came and spoke at Biola many years ago when I was working there, and then was a guest on The Babylon Bee when my friend Ethan worked there. We had a group called The Chestertonians that Ethan started many years ago where we would get together after church and read Chesterton, smoke pipes and cigars, and drink beer and whiskey. It was a wonderful thing.
Dale suggests part of the reason for bringing Chesterton to the cause of canonization is the immense joy GK radiates. Well, Dale has that in spades - he's continually cheerful and it's contagious. Watch out, Dale! We might be putting you up for canonization one of these days. As a fellow convert, I salute you. As a former teacher of classics, I applaud your success with the academy. Thank you for this refreshing interview! God Bless!
Mr. Alquist introduced me to Chesterton when my wife had a vendor booth next to his Chesterton Society booth. It was years ago at the Immaculate Heart of Mary homeschool conference in Virginia.
G.K. Chesterton is honestly one of my favourite writers ever. And one of the thinkers that influenced my thinking the most and leading me further into my intellectual conversion. ✝ 🙏
Here is a Quote that will persuade you that Chesterton is not just likable but Vital in todays secular age. "As for the general view that the Church was discredited by the War-they might as well say that the Ark was discredited by the Flood. When the world goes wrong, it proves rather that the Church is right. The Church is justified, not because her children do not sin, but because they do." G.K. Chesterton,
I first discovered Chesterton during the week of my wedding and continued reading him into our honeymoon! I’ll never forget reading Orthodoxy for the first time. It’s hard to even put to words the feeling I got when reading him, but it just felt like everything he said clicked in my head. I can remember reading him on my parents back porch and just sitting and thinking about his idea that a proper worldview ought to make you both feel at home in this world, but at the same time feel you are in a foreign land. Glad to see this interview!
Years ago EWTN visited San Francisco and hosts of many of their programs were available to speak with. However, there seemed to be unpleasant accommodations, and most were a bit grumpy EXCEPT Dale Ahlquist who was gracious, smiling, welcoming and eager to chat. I will NEVER forget him. BTW, gentlemen, your beards are wonderful.
This episode needs more views. You do many superb interviews and this episode and guest, as well as the subject; the incomparable GK Chesterton, is one of your finest. I especially enjoyed the point where Chesterton’s friendship with Hilaire Belloc was discussed. Thank you Matt!
I met Dale in November re opening yet another Chesterton Academy in Va. The curriculum is the best. This is quite a history he’s giving! God has used him as a real instrument of reforming Catholic primary and secondary education. Childhood and teenage formation is critical in persevering in the faith.
Had the pleasure of hearing Dale speak last night about the 3 joys going into Lent- and of course there’s no talk without quoting Chesterton! Dale has a witty send of humor and draws you in when he talks. Great guest Matt, thank you!
Thank you for doing homeschooling conferences along with Scott Hahn, Jeff Cavins, Steve Ray. Dr. Ray Korrendy (sp?) and Peter Kreft. I was privileged to meet all of you, not in the same year, but over the years, I home schooled my son. Each of you was interesting and would bring each other up as you talked about your subjects. You all helped bring me home to the Catholic Church along with Mother Angelica.
Joseph Pearce”s Chesterton bio , Wisdom and Innocence is fantastic!! Thank you Dale and Matt for the inspirational interview and Dale for writing all the good Chesterton books, running the Chesterton Academies. Enjoying the monthly Troubadour podcasts as well. 🙏❤️
Speaking of an empty Rome, my husband and I visited Rome during the Covid period. The streets and attractions were largely empty. It was extraordinary.
This really was an enjoyable conversation. It is always great to see someone who clearly enjoys his work and has found the calling that well-matches his heart.
GKC has been my favorite writer ever since the first read. Brilliance that sparkles off the page and prophetic in his insights on modernity and culture. I once wrote with a question to Alhquist on GKC and he wrote back an answer at length. A true gentleman and a scholar!
This was an excellent episode. Not that your other episodes aren't great, but I just truly enjoyed hearing stories of a fascinating individual such as Chesterton, especially since he lived within the last century. I just had to give some praise. Also loved the discussion on localism, I feel as an American we're forced to believe that there are only two ways , socialism or capitalism. Furthermore, while it is way better than socialism when it comes to protecting an individual's goods, many glorify capitalism as if it does not have it's side effects such as monopolies, with which we see the issues with big tech trying to dictate our lives and politics. I'm really glad you had Mr. Ahlquist on the show, a very well spoken guy. You should consider having Dr. James Patterson, Ph.D. Chair of the Politics Department from Ave Maria University to talk all things Fulton Sheen, he's an expert on Bishop Sheen!
Timely interview, this is indeed the age of Chesterton's Fence: tearing things down only to find out--often catastrophically--what purpose they served.
I had heard of Chesterton with not much interest, but picked up a very old copy of The Flying Inn in a used bookstore. I loved the book, still do, and didn’t even notice the author’s name for years. Then I discovered that Chesterton is *that* guy.
I gotta hand it to you, Matt & Dale, Dale Ahlquist is a hoot and the intro started off like dynamite. - Great intro! I'm now captivated though I wasn't planning on watching beyond a couple minutes I'm into about 4 minutes and not going anywhere. I'm glad it's Sunday. :-) Thank you, gentlemen. PS, I lived at St Peter's in Chains in the Mystical City.
What a wonderful interview! It inspired me to pull my one book of Chesteron which I bought about 40 years ago from Ignatius Press off the shelf and begin reading. I'm starting with Everlasting Man.
I discovered Chesterton after this podcast. I have already listened audio book of Orthodoxy and I am currently listening to the Everlasting man. I have also read a bunch of his essays from the Chesterton academy website. I am loving my days. Thank you.
I wish these conversations were in spanish, latin America including specially colombia and ecuador are amongst the countries with the most Mass attendance, they would love these conversations and discussions! I know i love them!
There's a auto translate (Subtitle/CC) in the Setting button on the lower right of the screen. I know it's not 100% accurate but the translation quality is quite okay I think from English to a popular language, eg Spanish!
Chesterton says in “The Thing”, “The birth and death of every heresy has been essentially the same. A morbid or unbalanced Catholic takes one idea out of the thousandfold throng of Catholic ideas; and announces that he cares for that Catholic idea more than for Catholicism. He takes it away with him into a wilderness, where the idea becomes an image and the image an idol. Then, after a century or two, he suddenly wakes up and discovers that the idol is an idol; and, shortly after that, that the wilderness is a wilderness. If he is a wise man, he calls himself a fool. If he is fool, he calls himself an evolutionary progressive who has outgrown the worship of idols; and he looks round him at the wilderness, spreading bare and desolate on every side and says...’I see no limit to it at all.’” But in the lines I read upon exiting the library one day, he says: “Protestants are Catholics gone wrong; that is what is really meant by saying they are Christians...Thus a Calvinist is a Catholic obsessed with the Catholic idea of the sovereignty of God. But when he makes it mean that God wishes particular people to be damned, we may say with all restraint that he has become a rather morbid Catholic...Thus a Quaker is a Catholic obsessed with the Catholic idea of gentle simplicity and truth. But when he made it mean that it is a lie to say ‘you’ and an act of idolatry to take off your hat to a lady, it is not too much to say that whether or not he had a hat off, he certainly had a tile loose...And every step he takes back to common sense is a step back towards Catholicism.” And this is true not just of Protestantism, but of every religion and philosophy in the world, as I saw it then. For the Buddhists and Spiritualists were obsessed with the spiritual realities in Catholicism to the point where they said the material world was mere illusion or maya. The materialists and atheists went the opposite way, claiming the material world was all there is and the spiritual world was the illusion, without recognizing that illusions require minds and minds of Reason require some mystical explanation as to how and why material should ever do such a strange and non-material thing such as having illusions. On and on with every philosophy and religion we find the same issue. Here is Chesterton summing it up: “In all of them you find that some Catholic dogma is, first, taken for granted, then exaggerated into an error...” Back to Chesterton- I was ignoring much of my studies to read more and more of him. Orthodoxy was astonishing and wonderful. The Everlasting Man a watershed. And then, when I checked out The Thing: Why I am a Catholic. I came to the passage above and I was intellectually converted already. I had only to ask for help with the remainder of my being. So I prayed, “God. I feel rather silly saying it this way, but direct is best and all I can do anymore. If I am to return to Catholicism, give me a sign.” And like a cliche, the clouds literally parted just then, and sunlight came through, hitting my eye in that slightly painful way light can. I turned to the splitting clouds and caught a glimpse of a steeple I hadn’t seen before. St. Catherine of Sienna Catholic Church sits on the campus, but faces away from the classroom facilities, hidden behind one of the larger buildings. I walked around to the front of the Church and entered. It was the first time in many years I had been in a Catholic Church. The stained-glass windows drew my eyes up to the high ceiling. I wandered through the pews and to the front of the empty place. A tile on the ground with a single letter. I walked to the other side near the sacristy and another letter in tile. Then a third and so far it had spelled JAM. “Yes, I am in a jam here. Is that what You’re telling me, Lord?” But as I reached the back of the Church, an E and then an S. God had spelled my name on the Catholic Church floor. I turned to the Crucifix at the front, rather shaken. In the center aisle I had avoided while exploring were two more tiles: The Alpha and the Omega. The verse came to mind. “I am the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end.” And I saw my ending should be as my beginning, and I would return to the faith of my youth. I would not follow the world into all the nonsense of modernism and postmodernism, but, like Newman, return to Rome. I took off my shoes and entered a pew. I dropped the kneeler and knelt to pray. “Thank you for answering me. I will return to the beginning. Help me burn all my doubts to ash.” Just then, the door behind me opened. I grabbed my shoes and put them on. Parishioners came in. A priest entered near the altar. “A service? On a weekday?” I had not been thinking of it, but it was a Wednesday. Ash Wednesday. And I sat through the liturgy, surprised at how much of it I remembered. I did not receive the Eucharist, but at the end of the service, I walked up to be marked with ashes: “Remember that you are dust. And to dust you shall return.” The priest crossed my forehead with the ash I had just asked God to turn my doubts into.
@jamessgian …wonderful testimony!! Thanks for sharing!! I too am a revert…after 30+ years as a Protestant, such a blessing to be back home..in the One Holy Catholic & Apostolic Church!
Well written!! Have you been in touch with the Coming Home Network, or some other agency that would preserve your testimony? I hope so! And may the Lord continue to guide you ever up and ever in!
I just was at a Chesterton Academy Gala for one opening up in Fort Wayne with Dale as the keynote speaker this last weekend so this is such crazy timing to see it now
Well, this made me feel a lot better about starting Orthodoxy and not finishing. I dont usually quit books halfway, but I had no idea what he was on about, and it seemed silly to just continue like nothing was wrong
I think that quote on only once one is inside the church do you see the stained glass windows is connected to a line of thinking originating with Augustine and his understanding of language. There is a philosophical line of thought in the tradition of Skepticism (orig. Augustine) that goes through Erasmus, Descartes and lands up somewhere down the line with Wittgenstein, who unlike Augustine said the words themselves are not enough to understand its full meaning, the context in which they are said are an important medium to teach the meaning of said word in a language, hence the concept of Sprachspiel. I remember (and this was ages ago in a philosophy class) either thinking this or hearing in the context of Wittgenstein, the example of Christianity and its claims on truth not being understood unless one is in it (I guess we would say, through the sacrament of baptism one is reborn to see the things of God), like not being able to see the beauty of a stained glass window unless one is on the inside. But that could just as well have been a brain fart on my behalf when trying to stay awake in a philosophy class. . .
I can't wait to start "the Everlasting Man". I found an audiobook for it here in YT. Dale, maybe you should listen to Jordan Peterson and his daughter Mikhaila's personal testimony on how changing the way they ate drastically improved their health. Some similar issues to yours.
In my top five people in history who I would love to have a glass of claret, a brew or cup of coffee with, Chesterton is a magnet for all the right reasons. BTW, subsidiary as society collapses is what “preppers ” are getting a hold of. The plandemic should have been a huge wake up call that Hudge and Gudge are alive and all too well!
