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Cover of Orthodoxy by Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Orthodoxy

  • 156 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 1908
  • 551 editions
  • Free to read

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1 About this book

Orthodoxy is G. K. Chesterton’s response to his critics’ assertion that his earlier collection of essays, Heretics, had “merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy.” In his intellectual journey from pagan to agnostic to positivist philosopher, he had attempted to build a philosophy “some ten minutes in advance of the truth.”

But when he compared his modern philosophy with Christian theology, he realized that he was “the man who with the utmost daring discovered what had been discovered before.” Thus, Orthodoxy is a work of Christian apologetics, where Chesterton tries to show that Christianity is a universal answer to the everyday needs of humanity, and not just an arbitrary philosophy handed down from on high.

Good for readers who want: history, essays, a true life story, and a short read.

  • History
  • Religion & Spirituality
  • Essays
  • Philosophy and religion
  • Religion, philosophy
  • Biography
  • Apologetics
  • Essence, genius

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3 About Gilbert Keith Chesterton

1874–1936

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English journalist, novelist, essayist, poet, and Christian apologist. Chesterton's wit, paradoxical style, and defence of tradition made him a dominant figure in early 20th-century literature. Chesterton created the fictional priest-detective Father Brown and wrote on apologetics in works such as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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