Heretics, by G. K. Chesterton
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Heretics, by G. K. Chesterton
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The opening salvo in G. K. Chesterton’s war against vagueness, affectation, and group think in life and art Part literary criticism, part jeremiad, and part metaphysical inquiry, Heretics is G. K. Chesterton’s groundbreaking attempt to cull the values, belief systems, and moral peccadilloes of his day. The twenty articles and essays included in this seminal work shed a brilliant light on the most profound mysteries of human nature. From the works of H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, and Rudyard Kipling to “The Fallacy of the Young Nation” and “The Mildness of the Yellow Press,” Chesterton casts a critical eye on the prevailing attitudes of the early twentieth century. He is at the height of his lucidity and sardonic power in Heretics, formulating a highly influential worldview that he would continue to develop in the acclaimed companion volume, Orthodoxy. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
Heretics, by G. K. Chesterton- Amazon Sales Rank: #1408690 in eBooks
- Published on: 2015-09-22
- Released on: 2015-09-22
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Review Heretics is one of Chesterton s most important books. It is also one of his most neglected books. Perhaps the reason has to do with the title. The word heretic conjures up frightful images of controversial characters being barbecued for their beliefs. It smacks of intolerance. The very word dogmatic is perceived as being intolerant. But Chesterton says that man is the animal who makes dogmas. Trees have no dogmas. Turnips are singularly broad-minded. There is something ironic about tolerance being an ideal, and that it is connected to religious freedom. In reality, tolerance has done more to suppress religion than has any persecution. It has left us not only afraid to debate about our beliefs, it has made us afraid even to discuss them. As Chesterton says, We now talk about the weather, and call it the complete liberty of all creeds. This strange silence about religion leaves the impression that religion is not important. There is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit of saying his philosophy does not matter, and this is done universally in the twentieth century... A man s opinion... on Botticelli matters; his opinion on all things does not matter. Chesterton says that we can t get away from the fact that we have a general view of existence, whether we like it or not. It affects and involves everything we say or do, whether we like it or not. And our general view of things is based on our ultimate view of things. Religion is never irrelevant. This book is not an attack but a defense, a defense of the ancient truths that are under attack by modern heretics. Chesterton claims to have gained a deeper appreciation of the Christian Faith through the simple exercise of defending it. He says he never realized the great philosophic common sense of Christianity until the anti-Christian writers pointed it to him. Heresy, it turns out, is usually a distinct lack of common sense. A heresy is at best a half-truth, but usually even less than that. A heresy is a fragment of the truth that is exaggerated at the expense of the rest of the truth. The modern world praises science and hygiene and progress. These are all very well and good, but they have been elevated at the expense of larger truths, such as faith and tradition and permanent ideals. In this book, Chesterton takes on George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and other heretics whose names may not be familiar, even if their heresies are still exceedingly familiar. The original objection to Heretics, which in fact compelled Chesterton to write Orthodoxy, is that his own criticisms of others were not to be taken seriously unless Chesterton himself declared what he stood for. This is perhaps why Heretics is considered the negative for which Orthodoxy is the positive. But any reasonable reader can see that Chesterton s criticisms are a defense of a well-defined position. By criticizing moral and artistic relativism, he is defending identifiable and absolute standards. By criticizing egoism and the cult of success, he is defending humility. By criticizing skepticism, morbidity and muddle-headedness, he is defending faith, hope, and clarity. Clarity. The truth which Chesterton is defending should be obvious. But because Chesterton has to defend it, it obviously isn t obvious. The heretics have obscured the truth, they have distracted us, they have won us over with lies. The first lie is that truth doesn t matter. --Dale Ahlquist, American Chesterton Society
About the Author G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was a prolific English journalist and author best known for his mystery series featuring the priest-detective Father Brown and for the metaphysical thriller The Man Who Was Thursday. Baptized into the Church of England, Chesterton underwent a crisis of faith as a young man and became fascinated with the occult. He eventually converted to Roman Catholicism and published some of Christianity’s most influential apologetics, including Heretics and Orthodoxy.
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46 of 47 people found the following review helpful. Sparkling Chesterton By Xenophanes Heretics is somewhat neglected in Chesterton's oeuvre, possibly because it is an early work (1905), and many of the writers discussed are out of fashion now. Yet, I believe Heretics contains not only his best writing, but it already establishes the main themes of his life's work.Technically, it is a book of literary criticism, but from an unusual point of view, that of his subjects' philosophy."I am not concerned with Shaw as one of the most brilliant and one of the most honest men alive; I am concerned with him as a heretic--that is to say, a man whose philosophy is solid, quite coherent, and quite wrong." (p. 22)Brilliant though he was, Shaw expected reality to conform to an inhuman ideal:"He has all the time been silently comparing humanity with something that was not human, with a monster from Mars, with the Wise Man of the Stoics, with the Economic Man of the Fabians, with Julius Caesar, with Siegfried, with Superman. Now, to have this inner and merciless standard may be a very good thing, or a very bad one, it may be excellent or unfortunate. but it is not seeing things as they are." (pp. 62-63)This is excellent writing, whether we entirely agree or not. It may be a little unfair to Shaw, but it is fair to life.Chesterton is often called an optimist. But he knew the other side, as anyone reading Alzina Stone Dale's life, The Outline of Sanity, can find out. Joy in living, good beer, conversation, balance, sanity, these were achievements, not just nature.I have managed to find a couple of books by George A. Moore, including his autobiographical novel portraying the Paris of the Impressionists of the 1870s and 1880s, Confessions of a Young Man. One tends to regard it as a memoir, and Chesterton did so. Chesterton attacks his egoism, the interest in the world as related to his own temperament:"We should really be much more interested in Mr. Moore if he were not quite so interested in himself. We feel as if we were being shown through a gallery of really fine pictures, into each of which, by some useless and discordant convention, the artist had represented the same figure in the same attitude. 'The Grand Canal with a distant view of Mr. Moore," "Effect of Mr. Moore through a Scotch Mist,' 'Mr. Moore by Firelight,' 'Ruins of Mr. Moore by Moonlight,' and so on seems to be the endless series." (pp. 131-132)That has to be one of the funniest sentences ever written, and I could barely type it for laughing. A bit later on the page, Chesterton gives his vision of originality:"Thinking about himself will lead to trying to be the universe; trying to be the universe will lead to ceasing to be anything. If, on the other hand, a man is sensible enough to think only about the universe; he will think about it in his own way. He will keep virgin the secret of God; he will see the grass as no other man can see it, and look at a sun that no man has ever known."There is no space to mention all the wonderful writing in Heretics. I will mention his often expressed view of the narrowness of the larger world, where one can choose one's companions, as opposed to the nation, the neighborhood or the family, where one has to take people the way they are, with all their foibles."The best way that a man could test his readiness to encounter the common variety of mankind would be to climb down a chimney into any house at random, and get on as well as possible with the people inside. And that is essentially what each one of us did on the day he was born." (p. 190)As always, Chesterton's ideas are eminently discussable! No commentary of mine could do justice to the variety, wisdom, and good humour in this book. The best thing would be to find a copy and read it.I have the John Lane edition, 1905.
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful. Peculiar to his time and applicaple to ours By Derek M. Foster This book is a sort of prequal to Chesterton's most famous apologetic work, "Orthodoxy." "Heretics" is a collection of papers that Chesterton wrote to expose what he considered to be the unhealthy philosophies of his day. A critic later wrote of this work, "I will begin to worry about my philosophy...when Mr. Chesterton has given us his." Chesterton then wrote the book "Orthodoxy" in response to that comment.With that said, it is well to note that "Heretics" and "Orthodoxy" should be read almost as a single work. From the viewpoint of Chesterton, "Heretics" is the critique of bad philosophy and "Orthodoxy" is the defense of good philosophy.The trouble with "Heretics" is that it is such a local book. What I mean is that this book is a series of analytical criticisms of specific men during that specific time period (late 19th century to early 20th century) and it is easy to miss the points Chesterton makes if you are not familiar with the philosophies and views of the men he is critiquing. That isn't to say this book isn't one Chesterton's finest works. Yet, I would certainly reccomend "Heretics: The Annotated Edition" to anyone who is not very familiar with these particular early 20th century English writers which he is referring to in this book. The annotated edition makes it much easier to see what Chesterton is saying. For although people change over time, philosophies generally remain the same; and that is why Chesterton's criticisms of these philosophies are still relevant. And as stated earlier, this book, in a way, sets up the groundwork for "Orthodoxy," which is still considered a masterpiece; and almost certainly worth reading for anyone who does not understand or sympathize with the sentiment and romance of the Christian faith.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful. And still undefeated . . . By B. Sherman Heretics is basically a collection of essays written in response to the worldview, socio-political philosophies, and/or religious stances of G.K. Chesterton's contemporaries (like George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells). Chesterton enjoyed an ongoing and lively public debate with many of these fellows throughout his writing life. To that end, if you're a Chesterton-fan, you'll enjoy this as much as anything else you've probably read by the undefeated heavyweight champion of linguistic pugilism. If you're not a Chesterton fan (usually because you've yet to hear of the man), this is probably as good a place as any to start. Heretics is the book that sort of necessitated Orthodoxy; a more famous, much-beloved piece.I would recommend this book for those interested in exploring the arena of worldview debate. It isn't a long book, at only about 150 pages. The essay are broken up into nice little chunks that you can read in a half-hour or so, spend some time mulling, and maybe read through again, if you'd like. I could attempt to describe the content of the essay's, but it would take way too long, and I'd fail to do it anywhere near as well the Big Man himself.
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