Heretics
Books | Religion / Essays
4.1
G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton, the "Prince of Paradox," is at his witty best in this collection of twenty essays and articles from the turn of the twentieth century. Focusing on "heretics"—those who pride themselves on their superiority to conservative views—Chesterton appraises prominent figures who fall into that category from the literary and art worlds. Luminaries such as Rudyard Kipling, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and James McNeill Whistler come under the author's scrutiny, where they meet with equal measures of his characteristic wisdom and good humor.In addition to incisive assessments of well-known individuals ("Mr. Rudyard Kipling and Making the World Small" and "Mr. H. G. Wells and the Giants"), these essays contain observations on the wider world. "On Sandals and Simplicity," "Science and the Savages," "On Certain Modern Writers and the Institution of the Family," "On Smart Novelists and the Smart Set," and "Slum Novelists and the Slums" reflect the main themes of Chesterton's life's work. Heretics roused the ire of some critics for censuring contemporary philosophies without providing alternatives; the author responded a few years later with a companion volume, Orthodoxy (also available from Dover Publications). Sardonic, jolly, and generous, both books are vintage Chesterton.
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Author
G. K. Chesterton
Pages
176
Publisher
Courier Corporation
Published Date
2013-05-09
ISBN
0486121283 9780486121284
Community ReviewsSee all
"<strong>an interesting, able, and insightful critique of old ideas still in vogue today </strong><br/><br/>Chesterton is a particularly insightful and witty writer, and fully winsome in the good and proper sense of that word (unlike the TGC ilk who constantly want to co opt that word for their own purposes). He doesn’t mince words, he’s not afraid to call something out as heretical, or in other words, flat out wrong, and he’s not afraid to actually put his money where his words are and back his claim up. <br/>But there is a jolly, jubilant, joyful nature to him, he is happy, he is not incensed, well they are to call him the joyful fighter, and he knows very well the truth that more often than not, a heart is won before a head is won, and we must win people’s hearts to the beauty and glory and goodness of our opinion before they see the rightness of it (in fact it’s beauty is its rightness). <br/>Now this doesn’t mean that Chesterton is right on every matter in this book, indeed I think he is quite wrong on certain matters, being a Catholic, but being generally of the Christian worldview, he is imminently right about many many things, the vast majority of what he writes about even. And much like every able-minded Christian owes it to himself to read C. S Lewis and Will be much the better for it, understanding more about the world and man as a whole, despite C.S Lewis serious theological deficiencies, every Christian worth his salt, particularly the Protestants, owe it to themselves (and everyone else) to read and wrestle with, fight with, learn from, agree with, interact, and vehemently disagree with Chesterton, he will make you a better man, a better pastor, a better friend, a better thinker, even if you do agree with him in all places…particularly when you do not agree with him in all places. <br/>What he will definitely do is help you understand the world as it actually is better, and how all the heretics out there sommaire there novel ideas are distorting our image of how the world is."
James Mongeau