By Dr. Douglas Groothuis
I found this while rummaging around amidst the file labyrinthine on my hard drive. I do not know if it was published. It was written at least twenty-five years ago. Perhaps it will introduce someone to this marvelous writer from whom I have gained so much.
Prolific British Christian author whose huge corpus of writings includes works of literary criticism, biography, journalism, poetry, autobiography, novels, and Christian apologetics. Chesterton also worked as an editor and lecturer. His writings are known for their endless wit, insight, and humor, as well as their intellectual depth and force. As a master of aphorism, paradox, and pithy argument, Chesterton uniquely combines entertainment, education, and edification--and is exceptionally quotable on many topics. He converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1922, but remains a favorite writer of many Protestants as well as Catholics.
His apologetic work, particularly The Everlasting Man (1925), significantly influenced C.S. Lewis to embrace Christianity. Many Chestertonian themes--such as Christianity as the fulfillment of pagan mythology and the life of the imagination as vital to Christian faith--can be found in Lewis’ writings as well. Besides his popular Father Brown detective novels, his most well-known and best books include Orthodoxy (1908), a wringing defense of Christianity, which takes on the prevalent non-Christian philosophies of the day (such as Nietzsche’s philosophy, scientism, pantheism, and pragmatism). It remains a powerful argument for Christianity even in postmodern times.
Chesterton stressed the objective truth and reasonableness of the Christian faith by saying, “I will not call it my philosophy; for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me.” His work on Thomas Aquinas, The Dumb Ox (1933), was a popular treatment of the great medieval philosopher and theologian. Nevertheless, the eminent Thomist, Etienne Gilson, said of it, “I have been studying Saint Thomas all my life, and I could never have written such a book.” Saint Francis of Assisi (1923) is a warm and appreciative biography of the noteworthy Catholic saint who was a source of constant inspiration for Chesterton. Because of the breadth of his knowledge and the productivity of his pen (and despite some of his intellectual idiosyncrasies), Chesterton remains a rich source of Christian insight into the Third Millennium.
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