Other editions of book Orthodoxy

This book is meant to be a companion to “Heretics,” and to put the positive side in addition to the negative. Many critics complained of the book called “Heretics” because it merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy. This book is an attempt to answer the challenge. It is unavoidably affirmative and therefore unavoidably autobiographical. The writer has been driven back upon somewhat the same difficulty as that which beset Newman in writing his Apologia; he has been forced to be egotistical only in order to be sincere. While everything else may be different the motive in both cases is the same. It is the purpose of the writer to attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian Faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it. The book is therefore arranged upon the positive principle of a riddle and its answer. It deals first with all the writer’s own solitary and sincere speculations and then with all the startling style in which they were all suddenly satisfied by the Christian Theology. The writer regards it as amounting to a convincing creed. But if it is not that it is at least a repeated and surprising coincidence. Gilbert K. Chesterton.

'Heretics' (1905), 'Orthodoxy' (1908) and 'The Everlasting Man' (1925) form a trilogy of Christian apologetics, chronicling Chesterton's journey to faith, and his reasons for it. Using endless paradox to whip the complacency of rationalism, here is both sweeping argument and comic turn that is at once generous and savage; engaging and furious. In 'Heretics', Chesterton starts from his belief that the most important thing about a person is their view of the universe, as this determines all else; and he decries the rationalist view for having no vision of ultimate good. Such failure of nerve is expressed in George Bernard Shaw's epigram: 'The golden rule is that there is no rule.' Taking on Ibsen, HG Wells, Kipling, Oscar Wilde and Nietzsche, Chesterton rails against 'the great mental destruction', in which everything is denied, and nothing affirmed. It is a plea for people to believe in something, but not to believe in anything. 'Orthodoxy' describes Chesterton's discovery of faith - a journey which is compared to an English adventurer who gets lost and unknowingly, discovers England all over again. Here he is doubly blessed, enjoying both the excitement of exploration, and the security of being home. Again, modernist blind spots are exposed, as the reader is invited into 'the thrilling romance of Orthodoxy...there was never anything so perilous or so exciting.' 'The Everlasting Man' is a slightly denser work, an outline of history, which sets itself against the view of comparative religion that Christianity is just one belief amongst many; and that all of them are equal. For Chesterton, Christ is not as others, but restores sanity to the world through being both an historical figure and an ideal figure; with the church, 'a winged thunderbolt of thought and everlasting enthusiasm; a thing without rival or resemblance and still as new as it is old.' Here is exuberant writing that turns all things on their head; to be enjoyed, put aside and returned to.

The only possible excuse for this book is that it is an answer to a challenge. Even a bad shot is dignified when he accepts a duel. When some time ago I published a series of hasty but sincere papers, under the name of "Heretics," several critics for whose intellect I have a warm respect (I may mention specially Mr. G.S. Street) said that it was all very well for me to tell everybody to affirm his cosmic theory, but that I had carefully avoided supporting my precepts with example. "I will begin to worry about my philosophy," said Mr. Street, "when Mr. Chesterton has given us his." It was perhaps an incautious suggestion to make to a person only too ready to write books upon the feeblest provocation. But after all, though Mr. Street has inspired and created this book, he need not read it. If he does read it, he will find that in its pages I have attempted in a vague and personal way, in a set of mental pictures rather than in a series of deductions, to state the philosophy in which I have come to believe. I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me.

G. K. Chesterton was a journalist, playwright, poet, biographer, novelist, essayist, literary commentator, editor, orator, artist, and theologian. Orthodoxy is his great apologia for the Christian faith, which was prompted by a serious attack in 1903 against Christianity by well-known newspaper editor Robert Blatchford. Published just five years later, Chesterson's famous reply took the form of an autobiographical account of his own indoctrination into the faith. Rather than attempt to explain how Christianity can be believed, he emphasizes what fulfillment in this life can come from believing. His argument is that people in western society need a life of "practical romance, the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure. We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome."

Why buy our paperbacks? Standard Font size of 10 for all books High Quality Paper Fulfilled by Amazon Expedited shipping 30 Days Money Back Guarantee BEWARE of Low-quality sellers Don't buy cheap paperbacks just to save a few dollars. Most of them use low-quality papers & binding. Their pages fall off easily. Some of them even use very small font size of 6 or less to increase their profit margin. It makes their books completely unreadable. How is this book unique? Unabridged (100% Original content) Font adjustments & biography included Illustrated About Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton Orthodoxy (1908) is a book by G. K. Chesterton that has become a classic of Christian apologetics. Chesterton considered this book a companion to his other work, Heretics. In the book's preface Chesterton states the purpose is to "attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it." In it, Chesterton presents an original view of Christian religion. He sees it as the answer to natural human needs, the "answer to a riddle" in his own words, and not simply as an arbitrary truth received from somewhere outside the boundaries of human experience. The book was written when Chesterton was an Anglican. He converted to Catholicism 14 years later. The title, Orthodoxy, is meant to avoid such sectarian questions.