Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1598560514 ISBN 13: 9781598560510

Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2006

Gilbert Keith Chesterton called himself a "pagan" at 12 and was agnostic by 16. He then developed a personal, positive philosophy that turned out to be orthodox Christianity. First published in 1908, when he was 35, this intellectual and spiritual autobiography combines simplicity with subtlety in a model apologetic for those who face the same materialism and anti-supernaturalism as the "man at war with his times".

Review:

If G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith is, as he called it, a "slovenly autobiography," then we need more slobs in the world. This quirky, slender book describes how Chesterton came to view orthodox Catholic Christianity as the way to satisfy his personal emotional needs, in a way that would also allow him to live happily in society. Chesterton argues 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." Drawing on such figures as Fra Angelico, George Bernard Shaw, and St. Paul to make his points, Chesterton argues that submission to ecclesiastical authority is the way to achieve a good and balanced life. The whole book is written in a style that is as majestic and down-to-earth as C.S. Lewis at his best. The final chapter, called "Authority and the Adventurer," is especially persuasive. It's hard to imagine a reader who will not close the book believing, at least for the moment, that the Church will make you free. --Michael Joseph Gross

From the Publisher:

In the past few hundred years, some great Christian thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries have penned works of literature that continue to influence Christians today. Rediscover the cornerstones of the Christian faith with these classic works from some of the most influential Christian thought leaders.