The Everlasting People

G.K. Chesterton and the First Nations

By: Matthew J. Milliner

Narrated by: Matthew J. Milliner

First Things Book of the Year Award

What does the cross of Christ have to do with the thunderbird? How might the life and work of Christian writer G. K. Chesterton shed light on our understanding of North American Indigenous art and history?

This unexpected connection forms the basis of these discerning reflections by art historian Matthew Milliner. In this fifth volume in the Hansen Lectureship Series, Milliner appeals to Chesterton's life and work―including The Everlasting Man, his neglected poetry, his love for his native England, and his own visits to America―in order to understand and appreciate both Indigenous art and the complex, often tragic history of First Nations peoples, especially in the American Midwest.

The Hansen Lectureship series offers accessible and insightful reflections by Wheaton College faculty on the transformative work of the Wade Center authors.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Matthew J. Milliner (P)2022 Oasis Audio

Worth the short hours.

Recommended to me by colleague-friends, this book is the first step toward a cohesive expansion of GK Chesterton’s physical philosophical anthropology into First Nations/Indigenous lcultural studies.

Fascinating concepts

Slightly longer summary: Using the life and work of GK Chesterton to grapple with North American Indigenous art, history, and Christianity. 

Every review of The Everlasting People is required to say how unique of a project this is. I am not equipped to evaluate the project because I am not deeply familiar with either Native American history and art or GK Chesterton. I have some familiarity with both, but not enough to know if Milliner is distorting the record, only enough to be able to follow along with the argument of the book. This is one of the weaknesses of truly original conceptions. That isn't to say I think that this is distorting, only that I do not have the background to evaluate it.

I like books based on lecture series. They are often short, usually based on 3 or 4 lectures, sometimes with a response. But they are often thoughtful about unique topics and designed for a general readership.

If I had to summarize what The Everlasting People, a book that is hard to categorize, is about, I would say it is attempting to give people, generally categorized as white, tools to grapple with their personal and communal cultural history so that there can be a way to move forward in more than just guilt. White guilt, when it is limited to just guilt, does no one any good. The way forward needs to be centered on some type of process of restoration of relationship (personally and communally). This isn't "forgive and forget", this is "remember, process, and work to restore."

Dr. Matthew Milliner is using his tools as an art historian to tell not just the story of the way that we have forgotten (intentionally) our history in the US around Native American subjugation using art, cultural icons, geography, and local history but also using the theological and cultural thinking of GK Chesterton.

The Everlasting People is an example of a book that tries to grapple with what it means to escape from whiteness (in the sense of a belief in the cultural superiority of a white racial hierarchy). I am not sure I would agree with all aspects, in part because I am not sure I have the background to understand some of the nuances, but the importance is an example of Milliner trying to grapple with his own area.