Chesterton in Santa Barbara

Well, close anyway. From the Westmont College Office of Public Affairs:

Influential early 20th century English writer G.K. Chesterton will be the focus of a talk at Westmont Thursday, Oct. 18. Dale Ahlquist, president of the American Chesterton Society, will deliver a free lecture, “An Introduction to G.K. Chesterton,” in Hieronymus Lounge at 7 p.m.

A group of Westmont alumni and friends who began a chapter of The Chesterton Society in Santa Barbara in 2003 are sponsoring the event.

“We were inspired by the Christian apologist G.K. Chesterton to pursue a modest goal of reading great literature and contemplating the human condition,” says Rich Dixon, a founding member of the group and 1992 Westmont alumnus. “His more than 100 books remain timeless in their humor, wonder, and use of paradox and cover a range of genres, including poetry, history, literary criticism, economics, philosophy and politics.”

Chesterton’s most well-known works include “Orthodoxy,” “Heretics” and “Everlasting Man.”

Ahlquist is the creator and host of the “Apostle of Common Sense” television series on EWTN, Eternal Word Television Network. He has spoken at Yale, Columbia, New York, Pennsylvania and Villanova Universities and many others venues around the world. His books “G.K. Chesterton - The Apostle of Common Sense” and “Common Sense 101: Lessons from G.K. Chesterton” will be available for purchase.

This is especially interesting since Westmont is a private college of the evangelical Protestant tradition. And I had no idea that there was an ACS chapter at Westmont.

I also understand that Dale Ahlquist will be speaking at UC Berkeley on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 7:00 P.M. in Room 166 of Barrows Hall. He will be speaking about, "The Art of Thinking: G.K. Chesterton on How to Use Your Brain for Its Intended Purpose."