The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Vol. 3: Where All Roads Lead / The Catholic Church and Conversion / Why I Am a Catholic / The Thing / The Well and the Shallows / The Way of the Cross [Paperback]

G. K. Chesterton (Author), James J. Thompson (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1990

The Catholic Church and Conversion; Where All Roads Lead; The Well and the Shallows; and others

A collection of five powerful essays by Chesterton in defense of Catholicism and the Catholic Church. Unique because most of his writings do not deal specifically with religion or the Catholic Church. However, here he directly addresses the teachings of the Church and objections to them. It also includes his inspiring and moving commentary on the Stations of the Cross, along with the drawings of the stations he used for his meditations. Another essay explains why he converted to Catholicism.

As with all of his writings, these are just as germane today as they were in his time. Today's reader can revel in the same delight GKC's contemporaries felt, for he always presented the Church's best face to an antagonistic and indifferent world. The introduction and footnotes are written by another convert and author, James J. Thompson, Jr.

Product Details

• Paperback: 550 pages
• Publisher: Ignatius Press (November 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898703115
• ISBN-13: 978-0898703115
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #472,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Answers the question of why Chesterton became Catholic, April 17, 2000

By 

Tim Drake "Author and Journalist" (Saint Joseph, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Vol. 3: Where All Roads Lead / The Catholic Church and Conversion / Why I Am a Catholic / The Thing / The Well and the Shallows / The Way of the Cross (Paperback)

That answer is summed up by Gilbert's own words, "To get rid of my sins." Indeed, he writes..."For there is no other religious system that does really profess to get rid of people's sins. It is confirmed by the logic, which to many seems startling, by which the Church deduces that sin confessed and adquately repented is actually abolished; and that the sinner does really begin again as if he had never sinned."

And this beauty is found only on page 9. 540 delightful pages follow.

Ignatius Press has done a wonderful deed in reprinting the collected works of Chesterton. This is Volume III, and it deals exclusively with Chesterton's writings on Christ and His Church.

Like all of Chesterton's work it is a delight to read. In it he tries to answer an unanswerable question - that of his conversion.

In the end, Chesterton is left to say, "I might treat the matter personally and describe my own conversion; but I happen to have a strong feeling that this method makes the business look much smaller than it really is.... I would say chiefly of the Catholic Church that it is catholic. I would rather try to suggest that it is not only larger than me, but larger than anything in the world; that it is indeed larger than the world."

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chesterton on Catholicism..., March 31, 2002

By 

Donald J. Uitvlugt (Dorr, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Vol. 3: Where All Roads Lead / The Catholic Church and Conversion / Why I Am a Catholic / The Thing / The Well and the Shallows / The Way of the Cross (Paperback)

Many people don't realize that Chesterton wrote his most famous work, _Orthodoxy_ *long* before he had officially converted to Catholicism. _Orthodoxy_ was published in 1908, and Chesterton was received into the Catholic Church in 1922.

If _Orthodoxy_ was written as a defense of Christian sanity against the heresies of the modern world that were driving men mad, the works contain in this volume are Chesterton's defense of the Catholic Church as the bastion of that Christian sanity.

This volume would be worth the purchase just for the short essay, "What Do They Think?" -- or even for the reminder that "Christianity is not a religion; it is a Church." I *highly* recommend this book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Magnificent, May 17, 2004

By 

Brad Shorr "Brad Shorr" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, Vol. 3: Where All Roads Lead / The Catholic Church and Conversion / Why I Am a Catholic / The Thing / The Well and the Shallows / The Way of the Cross (Paperback)

This volume contains essays revolving around GK's conversion to Catholicism. As always, GK is illuminating and entertaining--several parts of these essays had me laughing out loud. GK has a marvelous talent for utterly dismantling an argument, an attitude, or a belief, while remaining so good natured about it that even his intellectual enemies must have liked him at least a little. Here, he mainly takes on Protestantism, modernism, secularism, Liberalism, and several other "isms" of the day that challenged the Catholic Church--some of which at one time or another had even attracted GK himself. In the end, he makes as convincing an argument for Catholicism that anyone could make. In the process, he throws much light on many political and social trends that were just gearing up in the 1920's, like birth control, divorce, moral relativism and secular humanism. GK offers grave predictions for these insufficient ideas, many of which sadly have come true beyond probably even his imagination.