Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton

Just finished Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton.

Took me a while to get the flow of his writing style and of course I could probably re-read it a hundred times and still not fully understand it.

Chesterton has been a big influence on me the past several years. His thoughts on distributism are a big reason why I started my own medical clinic. But that’s a discussion for another day.

I should note that the word “orthodoxy” in his writing was not intended to mean Orthodoxy as in the Orthodox Church. And it is not the reason I am converting to Orthodoxy. But it is quite amusing to me that the Prince of Paradox wrote a book called orthodoxy, not intending for it to be Orthodoxy and yet that may be just what he got. I’ll defer to the experts on that one.

This post is not intended as a full review or critique. I could no more critique Chesterton than a mosquito attempt to explain Shakespeare.

I will tell you how I see this book. First, it was his explanation of his Christian beliefs. An apologetic. And one of the most original apologetics I have ever read. But more than that, it gives a serious look into the emptiness of the opposite position. It brings the gun to the nihilist’s knife fight. In other words, a candle and an axe for the dark corners of the world.

Here’s a few of my favorite quotes:

“Joan of Arc was not stuck at the cross roads either by rejecting all the paths like Tolstoy or by accepting them all like Nietzsche. She chose a path and went down it like a thunderbolt.”

“I have spoken of orthodoxy coming in like a sword; here I confess it came in like a battle-axe”

“But only we of Christendom have said that we should hunt God like an eagle upon the mountains: and we have killed all monsters in the chase.”

There you go. If those quotes inspire you, then read the book.

But if you’re not interested in elves, fairies, and being born upside down….Then maybe it’s not for you.

Next, I’m gonna re-read The Silver Chair by CS Lewis.

p.s.

If you’d like to read Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton