Orthodoxy Summary | Chapterly
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton: A Complete Summary "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried." Overview Orthodoxy (1908) is G.K. Chesterton's witty, paradoxical account of how he came to embrace Christian orthodoxy. Writing against the modern assumption that Christianity is dull and oppressive, Chesterton argues it's the most exciting, balanced, and humane philosophy available. The book is not systematic theology but intellectual autobiography - how Chesterton found that the "odd shape" of Christian doctrine fit the odd shape of reality. The Argument The Maniac The madman is not the person who has lost reason but the person who has lost everything except reason. Pure logic, untempered by imagination and mystery, leads to insanity. The materialist who explains everything mechanically has a perfect system - and misses everything important. The Suicide of Thought Modern philosophy undermines itself. Skepticism about reason uses reason to doubt reason. Evolution used to explain thought explains it away. The free thinker ends up unable to think: "The new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist." The Ethics of Elfland Chesterton learned...