Dale Ahlquist (born June 14, 1958) is an American author and advocate of the thought of G. K. Chesterton. Ahlquist is the president and a co-founder of the American Chesterton Society and the publisher of its magazine, ''Gilbert''. He is also a co-founder of Chesterton Academy, a Catholic high school in Minneapolis.

Background and education

Ahlquist received his B.A. from

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota and Rice County, Minnesota, Rice counties in the U.S. state, state of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 U ...

, and a M.A. from

Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...

in St. Paul, Minnesota. Ahlquist received an honorary doctorate from the University of Mary in 2024.

Conversion to Catholicism

Dale Ahlquist was raised in a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

household observing the developing fragmentation of

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

denominations. Reading G. K. Chesterton’s '' The Everlasting Man'' during his honeymoon in Rome led to research into the

Early Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

and the history of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Ahlquist saw his objections to Catholicism on matters of the

papacy The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, the sacraments of the Catholic Church, and the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

be refuted. In 1996 he founded the American Chesterton Society. He converted to Catholicism in 1997, along with his two oldest children Julian and Ashley. His wife, Laura, who had not been a practicing Catholic when they met, also returned to the church.

American Chesterton Society

The American Chesterton Society (ACS) is a non-profit organization co-founded by Dale Ahlquist in 1996 with the mission of promoting interest in English author, G. K. Chesterton. The ACS supports scholarly research on Chesterton, hosts annual conferences across the United States and abroad, international pilgrimages, and offers guidance to more than 60 local societies dedicated to Chesterton around the world. In 2000, Ahlquist quit his job as a political lobbyist to run the American Chesterton Society full-time.

Chesterton Academy

In 2008, Dale Ahlquist and Tom Bengtson founded the Chesterton Academy, a high school in Hopkins, Minnesota, based on G. K. Chesterton’s ideas of integrated learning.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahlquist, Dale 1958 births Living people 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Roman Catholics American male non-fiction writers American religious writers American Roman Catholic writers Carleton College alumni Catholics from Minnesota Converts to Roman Catholicism from Baptist denominations Distributism Hamline University alumni People from Mendota Heights, Minnesota Writers from Saint Paul, Minnesota