Winter 2009/2010
Introduction to Vol. 35, Nos. 3 & 4 of The Chesterton Review

Pieces by Chesterton and four other writers belonging to the twentieth-century Catholic literary revival begin this issue; a poem by Charles Péguy representing France; something from each of Hilaire Belloc and Maurice Baring, the best-known members of the Chesterton circle in England; and a piece by Ronald Knox, which originally appeared in G.K.'s Weekly. Monsignor Knox, who described himself as Chesterton's disciple, was a literary phenomenon in his own right, as a translator of the Bible, a writer of detective stories, a prodigiously gifted essayist, and an important theologian. It was he who preached the panegyric at the Requiem Mass said for Chesterton in Westminster Cathedral on June 27, 1936. The text of this sermon was printed in The Chesterton Review (Vol. XVI, 1990, Nos. 3 & 4, pps. 374-377).  

The lead article of this issue is Sheridan Gilley's review of Julia Stapleton's book Christianity, Patriotism, and Nationhood: The England of G.K. Chesterton, the other articles come largely from Chesterton Institute conference in Oxford and Paris. The theme of the Oxford conference was a Chestertonian critique of the current financial crisis. Philip Blond, an advisor to David Cameron (the leader of the Conservative Party in the U.K.), began the conference with a Distributist analysis of the crisis. Speakers from America, France and Spain completed the programme with papers that articulated the perspectives of their own countries. The Paris conference was devoted to a study of the Catholic literary revivals in France and England. Most of these papers were delivered in French and will be published in a French edition of the Review early in the new year. The remaining papers, which are in this issue, were delivered in English, with one exception: the talk by Brain Sudlow – who organized the conference – which has been translated from the French.  

The remainder of the issue illustrates the range of the growing and world-wide interest in Chesterton: Karl Schmude, a member of our Editorial Board, contributes an article from Australia; John Coates and Julia Stapleton write from England; Daniel Callam, the Canadian Editor, reviews a number of books about Flannery O'Connor, including the recent biography by Brad Gooch. He also writes the film reviews that have become a regular feature of the journal.  

The bulky "News and Comments" are devoted to a variety of Chesterton themes:  obituaries of notable writers and Chestertonians; reports about the work of the Chesterton Institute; pieces on Christopher Dawson, Malcolm Muggeridge, Muriel Spark and other writers of the Catholic literary revival. These nicely complement the articles and book reviews. The ecumenical dimension of the journal is represented by a major talk given by Jonathon Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the British Commonwealth, as the 2009 Annual Theos Lecture. Theos is a London think tank founded by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Westminster. Its purpose is to promote faith as a means of transforming society, a purpose that Chestertonians can heartily endorse. As usual, the illustrations are scenes from traditional landscapes and townscapes that were dear to Chesterton.

– Ian Boyd, C.S.B.