A review by dmacy
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
4.0
Thought-provoking, hilarious, a little too dense, and devastatingly true.
I did not expect so much out of such a small book. Chesterton here succeeds in touching on several huge mountains in the Land of Apologetics in very few pages, all while maintaining a joyous and witty tone. In conversations with fellow Christians during the past few weeks, quotes and ideas from this book come up far more often than I anticipated. I have struggled in not bringing up this book in every conversation with the people around me. This book is (still) that relevant.
With so much insight in so few pages, it is easy to lose the forest for the trees, however the forest is worth mentioning. Chesterton structures the book by first summarizing his main arguments against modern philosophies and for Christianity. He then spends a few chapters pulling the modern philosophies apart before spending the rest of the book detailing why Christianity is the most life-giving religion, as well as the only religion to have gotten life right. The first chapters are good; the latter chapters make this book a classic.
My only complaint about this book, and the only reason it hasn’t earned a 5th star, is because this book is quite dense. Only after acting upon the advice of a friend to read a synopsis of this book first did I finally start to comprehend and enjoy this book. It is for this reason that I don’t recommend the book to everybody, though I do believe it can offer everybody quite a bit of good.
I cannot summarize Chesterton’s greatest points without restating the book or butchering his thoughts. Suffice it to say that Chesterton has given us a robust, compelling defense of the Christian faith. I will be thinking about this book for a long time, and will revisit it often.
I did not expect so much out of such a small book. Chesterton here succeeds in touching on several huge mountains in the Land of Apologetics in very few pages, all while maintaining a joyous and witty tone. In conversations with fellow Christians during the past few weeks, quotes and ideas from this book come up far more often than I anticipated. I have struggled in not bringing up this book in every conversation with the people around me. This book is (still) that relevant.
With so much insight in so few pages, it is easy to lose the forest for the trees, however the forest is worth mentioning. Chesterton structures the book by first summarizing his main arguments against modern philosophies and for Christianity. He then spends a few chapters pulling the modern philosophies apart before spending the rest of the book detailing why Christianity is the most life-giving religion, as well as the only religion to have gotten life right. The first chapters are good; the latter chapters make this book a classic.
My only complaint about this book, and the only reason it hasn’t earned a 5th star, is because this book is quite dense. Only after acting upon the advice of a friend to read a synopsis of this book first did I finally start to comprehend and enjoy this book. It is for this reason that I don’t recommend the book to everybody, though I do believe it can offer everybody quite a bit of good.
I cannot summarize Chesterton’s greatest points without restating the book or butchering his thoughts. Suffice it to say that Chesterton has given us a robust, compelling defense of the Christian faith. I will be thinking about this book for a long time, and will revisit it often.