Tim Bradley, Staff Writer

The day was 29 May 1874.  It was the day the current constitution of Switzerland was instituted.  It was also, more importantly, the day that Gilbert Keith Chesterton came into the world.  From this day until his death in 1936, Chesterton blessed the world with a seemingly endless trove of insightful and timeless literature on a multitude of topics.

Dale Ahlquist, President of the American Chesterton Society, visited Notre Dame on February 19 to give a lecture on Chesterton sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Culture. Ahlquist mentioned at this lecture that he believes he has read as much or more of Chesterton’s work than any other man on the earth…and he is not even close to exhausting Chesterton’s material.

Considering the sheer volume of Chesterton’s work, and his proximity to the present day, the world is starting to realize how undervalued Chesterton is.  He is, as Ahlquist said, the 300 pound elephant in the room that has slipped through the cracks.  College students are not exposed to his work (unless a school has a class devoted solely to him, such as at Notre Dame) and therefore miss out on the ideas of a comical and profound writer.

GK Chesterton was a British journalist, literary critic, novelist and Christian apologist.  He was large (over 300 pounds), but the volume of his writing was even larger.  Chesterton wrote on seemingly every topic in thousands of essays and articles and several novels.  Chesterton embraced life and loved many things in this world, but as senior Peter Flores, co-founder of the Notre Dame Chesterton Society, said, “More than anything Chesterton loved life, adventure, fairy tales and God.”

After learning these and many other things about Chesterton at Ahlquist’s lecture, I was pleased to learn that the Notre Dame Chesterton Society was being formed.  This group provides students with an opportunity to gather together and discuss Chesterton in an informal setting.

The Notre Dame Chesterton Society was started by seniors Ben Rusch and Flores with the aid of professor of finance Martijn Cremers.  Cremers, who arrived at Notre Dame last year from Yale University (where he was the moderator of the Yale Chesterton Society), contacted Rusch and Flores because of their interest in Chesterton and asked them to help him start a Chesterton club here at Notre Dame. According to Flores, the group does not have any official club status at this time, but it does have more than 30 members.

“The Chesterton Society’s ultimate goal is to read and discuss Chesterton, how his writings remain relevant today and grow in love of those things that are Chestertonian: adventure, romance, paradox and love of God,” said Flores.

The club holds meetings once a month, typically on the last Monday or Wednesday of the month.  Prior to each meeting, Flores and Rusch disseminate a short reading from one of Chesterton’s many works.  At the meeting itself, “we discuss our favorite passages and how they have moved us, inspired us, challenged us. Typically the conversations will roam away from the initial text and on to a number of different thoughts” Flores said. Rusch and Flores note that the meetings are informal and guilt-free; everyone and anyone is encouraged to attend  even if they have not done the reading because, Flores said, “the great thing about Chesterton is that he wrote something about everything—thus, anyone can come and talk about just about anything and, chances are, Chesterton did too.”

While Notre Dame does offer courses on Chesterton within the philosophy and theology departments, there are benefits to having an informal venue for students to discuss ideas in a way that is not limited by the structure of a course.  As Flores said, “Because the discussions are not inhibited by impending grades of participation, because the group does not have a consensus commentary on what the end goal of the club is, people are more relaxed in offering their voice to genuine discussion. For me, the best part of the society is the idea of a club being a genuinely edifying entity—a club for the sole purpose of discussing truth.”

Chesterton was very keen on the idea that limits and direction are good things.  He routinely viewed everything in life from a different perspective than many of his contemporaries, always focused on the truth.  He often presents a paradoxical perspective on things, and this should not surprise, because truth is often paradoxical. Flores said of Chesterton, “He emphasized adventure over production, wonder over ‘scientific’ inquiry, thinking over mere feeling and joy over despair.”

At many universities there is the problem of placing too much of an emphasis on jumping through the hoops to obtain a degree, to acquire a grant or a prestigious internship, all in the name of building a résumé.  Reading Chesterton, Flores offered, “shows that what is really important, especially in the lives of college students, is where you are going and the adventure of getting there.”

Any student who wants to learn more about Chesterton or become a part of the Notre Dame Chesterton Society can email Ben Rusch at brusch@nd.edu or Peter Flores at pflores1@nd.edu.

Tim Bradley is a great bloke, and is surely in possession of the greatest sense of humour on campus.  Contact him at tbradle5@nd.edu.