Gilbert Keith Chesterton has become synonymous with modern Christian apologetics. But his impact goes beyond just those interested in a defense of Christian thought. His writings have influenced such diverse authors as C.S. Lewis, Marshall McLuhan, and Jorge Luis Borges, and remains a subtle and unseen presence in contemporary Catholic thought.

At his funeral, Ronald Knox said “All of this generation has grown up under Chesterton’s influence so completely that we do not even know when we are thinking Chesterton.” Before his conversion from atheism to knowing God, C.S. Lewis, the author of Mere Christianity & The Great Divorce, said “in reading Chesterton, as in reading MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for. A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere —"Chesterton wrote in a time when materialism and new forms of political theory were soon to cause havoc in the western world. His was a voice calling for restraint - pointing back to the fundamentals of Christian doctrine, the purpose and value of which was being lost in the noise and commotion of the post industrial age.

Describing the rush towards less familiar and attractive ideologies, Chesterton wrote: “In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, ‘I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.’ To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: ‘If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away.