The Everlasting People: G. K. Chesterton and the First Nations (Hansen Series)

First Things Book of the Year Award

"This book is filled with contemplative insights, soul-searching questions, and generous footnotes for further reading. It is my hope that books like this will create cultural bridges that will foster further conciliatory opportunities." – Terry M. Wildman, lead translator and general editor of the First Nations Version

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 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.

About the Series

The Hansen Series celebrates the literary and spiritual contributions of seven British authors whose works have captivated readers across generations: Owen Barfield, G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Dorothy L. Sayers, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. These seven authors were all deeply involved in the friendships and intellectual exchanges that shaped the Inklings, a mid-twentieth-century group of Christian writers and thinkers in Oxford, England. This series invites readers to deepen their engagement with these timeless voices and their enduring influence on literature, faith, and the life of the imagination.

Matthew J. Milliner (PhD, Princeton University) is associate professor of art history at Wheaton College. He has written for publications ranging from The New York Times to First Things. He was awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia to complete his book Mother of the Lamb.

Amy Peeler is the Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and Associate Priest at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Geneva, IL. She is the author of Women and the Gender of God and a commentary on Hebrews.