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ORTHODOXYWritten by G.K. Chesterton
A man sets sail from South Wales in a yacht, ready to explore uncharted shores. But, pending a slight miscalculation, he lands on an island which he presumes to be newly discovered. Triumphant and slightly anxious, he sets off to explore it, and finds that he has simply sailed right back to Britain where he started from. Chesterton tells the story of this man in his introduction, entitled “In Defence of Everything Else.” It is meant to be a metaphor for how he found his faith and philosophy. Asking, “how can we contrive to be at once astonished in the world and yet at home in it?” he pens out the glory of the world we live in.
Shooting down all the arguments of agnostics, skeptics, and materialists, Chesterton goes one-on-many to argue for his findings. What did he find? Through his own philosophical journey, Chesterton came to the conclusion that orthodox Christian doctrine was indeed truth itself. He himself is at the heart of this book, and he calls it a “slovenly autobiography.” Beginning at age twelve as a pagan, he became a staunch agnostic by sixteen. He learned all the arguments of anti-Christian philosophy; his situation was such that he lived the life of a gentleman. He took years out of his life simply to read books, and then became one of the most prolific writers of his time. In originality of style and brilliance in both idea and argument, he puts forth his masterpiece, this book. Yet none of this is mentioned within the text; it is only background information.
What Chesterton really writes of is a maniac. He says that a man loses his wits by losing his imagination. Reason is what breeds insanity, and reason is just what is driving the modern world up the wall. Chess-players, mathematicians, and cashiers go mad while poets and artists do not! Reason, he says, is like a disease. His fact slides this direction:
“Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion… the poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”Fantastic. Yet, this is only the beginning! In “The Ethics of Elfland” he expounds on the fairytale theory. He makes a champion of the ordinary man, claiming that ordinary things are much more poetic than extraordinary things. Democracy is based on the principle that political penchant is something that exists in the common person, and it promotes tradition by extending the votes to those who are no longer on earth. Forefathers had a say, and in tradition we give them another say when we vote according to their standards. The least outstanding stories, says Chesterton, are those of the fairytale world. The world abounds with common sense. They communicate the best of morals, believing not in bodily miracles but in mental impossibilities. The ordinary man is sane only through his imagination, and it is one of the most venerated qualities related to earth.
This is the beginning of Chesterton’s tirade, and it ends in the most beautiful of orthodoxies. The book was written when he was only thirty-four, and before he had converted to Catholicism. It is an ecumenical book, and I should explain that by orthodoxy he doesn’t mean Eastern Orthodox Christianity, but Christianity in its general sense. He illustrates the simple beauty found in all of the general Christian doctrine, and shows the coldness and flaws of philosophies like agnosticism and materialism. For example, he also champions Christianity in time, knowing that it is a regenerative entity. There is always something new to be discovered in the revealing of truth from Christ. To Chesterton, Christianity is no stoic, stiff practice. It is romantic, adventurous and authoritative—and this is all man should wish for.
This is the funniest theology I have ever read, while at the same time being the most inspiring work for reverencing Christianity as a whole. I would recommend this for all who inquire about Christianity, all who firmly believe in it, and all who have questions about their own beliefs. There are concepts in this book that I have thoroughly fallen in love with, and readers will find them throughout. Most profound is in the conclusion, however. Chesterton says that joy is the “gigantic secret” of Christians. Using Christ as his model, he explains that tears were never concealed; they ran freely down Christ’s face. Rage wasn’t either; he “flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, asking men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell.” Yet he restrained something, a thing which we have to look closely to see. Chesterton’s theory is just this: “There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.”
I think he has something here.
- Tina Hegg
September 2002
September 2002
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