“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” So writes G.K. Chesterton in the midst of rising political tensions in England, just a few years before The Great War. This simple, witty line from the early 20th century thinker succinctly encapsulates the heart of the man. As one biographer put it, his life was marked by a “defiant joy”.
Even his opponents could not help but be drawn in by his joviality. Cosmo Hamilton said, “To hear Chesterton’s howl of joy…to see him double himself up in an agony of laughter at my personal insults, to watch the effects of his sportsmanship on a shocked audience who were won to mirth by his intense and pea-hen-like quarks of joy was a sight and a sound for the gods…It was monstrous, gigantic, amazing, deadly, delicious. Nothing like it has ever been done before or will ever be seen, heard, and felt like it again.” In nearly every sense, Chesterton really was larger-than-life.
In this course, participants will read one of G.K. Chesterton’s seminal works, Orthodoxy, along with selections of his essays. We will use these to explore many themes that occupied Chesterton’s thoughts, such as the human being, storytelling, paradox, tradition, wonder, and joy. His wit and wisdom have a timeless effect, for, as Chesterton himself wrote, “What a man can believe depends upon his philosophy, not upon the clock or the century.” And thus, a century later, we are left to ask ourselves: How might our schools—and our culture at large—recapture some of this Chestertonian ethos?
Texts:
- Chesterton, G. K. Orthodoxy. Independently Published, 2020.
- Chesterton, G. K., et al. In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essays of G. K. Chesterton. Ignatius Press, 2011.
Schedule: 1/15, 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, and 2/19 from 5:00-6:30 (MST)
Facilitator: Wayne Kiehne
GH employees (and affiliate school employees): use voucher code ghemployee (case sensitive) at checkout.
