Posted on 05/08/2006 11:25:39 AM PDT by blitzgig
Chesterton's reputation as one of the key figures in Christian literature during the 20th century is linked inextricably with the concept of "orthodoxy." His book of that title, published in 1908, was, according to Wilfrid Ward, a major milestone in the development of Christian thought.
Wilfrid Ward was certainly not alone in his flattering praise of Chesterton's book. Its influence on the intellectual development of a whole generation was summed up by Dorothy L. Sayers. She had first read Orthodoxy as a schoolgirl when her faith had been threatened by adolescent doubt. In later years she confessed that its "invigorating vision" had inspired her to look at Christianity anew, and that if she hadn't read Chesterton's book she might, in her schooldays, have given up Christianity altogether. "To the young people of my generation," Sayers wrote in 1952, "G.K.C. was a kind of Christian liberator."
-snip-
In the wake of the publication of Orthodoxy, he was no longer tolerated as a young and precocious writer, but was considered provocative and a threat to the agnostic status quo.
Chesterton was acutely aware of this change of attitude:
"Very nearly everybody . . . began by taking it for granted that my faith in the Christian creed was a pose or a paradox. The more cynical supposed that it was only a stunt. The more generous and loyal warmly maintained that it was only a joke. It was not until long afterwards that the full horror of the truth burst upon them; the disgraceful truth that I really thought the thing was true . . . Critics were almost entirely complimentary to what they were pleased to call my brilliant paradoxes; until they discovered that I really meant what I said."
(Excerpt) Read more at catholiceducation.org ...
And besides that, The Man Who Was Thursday is simply a fantastic read.
You can say that again. It was one of the most creative and insightful novels I ever read.
Kept me on the edge of my chair and surprised me at the end. A great book. I think of it in these days of terrorism.
ping
G.K. Chesterton's little book on Thomas Aquinas is excellent. There's some revisionist history that needs to be, uh, unrevised, and Chesterton is a good resource.
Ping
Hah!
I've read Orthodoxy a couple of times. Once you get used to his style, it's a great read.
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