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Heretics

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As he himself affirmed, Chesterton was criticized on numerous occasions for maintaining a seemingly irreverent or flippant tone and attitude while writing about subjects that inherently demand the utmost sincerity. To superficially read Heretics might be to understand the apparent validity of such criticism. On the surface it seems as if Chesterton could not have cared much less about the philosophies of the prominent individuals that he attacks as heretical throughout this work, let alone the vague conception of orthodoxy that he utilizes as a basis of comparison. However, these claims against Chesterton only appear valid until the reader ascertains that the author's wit, jocularity, and jovial nature are not to be confused with insincerity. The light touch that Chesterton applies to heavy though is not an indication of indifference, but rather a testament to the acuity of his mind and subtle genius. It might not, it seems, have been possible for Chesterton, or anyone, to have been more serious and sincere. Chesterton cared very much, and that is what sheds light on Heretics' almost impossibly simple truth.

In Heretics, Chesterton outlines the popular philosophies of his day which stood in opposition to not only logic but also that which the author maintained as truth. Amazingly, more than a century later, the same truth is still available and apparent to those who seek it while the same philosophies, although perhaps slightly altered, still stand in direct contradiction to what Chesterton understood to be unmistakable truth. What might be the greatest truth so easily recovered from the pages of Heretics, yet which remains so hidden from the view of the masses, is the incomplete substance, as opposed to the mere falsity, of many philosophies. Chesterton's work, however, was, as he admitted, left unfinished with regard to Heretics and later fulfilled with the publication of Orthodoxy. If Heretics presented a problem, Orthodoxy presented the solution. Both are timeless classics, and both should be read if an understanding of Christianity in relation to apparent philosophical and ideological truths is sought.

Heretics is somewhat neglected in Chesterton's oeuvre, possibly because it is an early work (1905), and many of the writers discussed are out of fashion now. Yet, I believe Heretics contains not only his best writing, but it already establishes the main themes of his life's work.

Technically, it is a book of literary criticism, but from an unusual point of view, that of his subjects' philosophy.

"I am not concerned with Shaw as one of the most brilliant and one of the most honest men alive; I am concerned with him as a heretic--that is to say, a man whose philosophy is solid, quite coherent, and quite wrong." (p. 22)

Brilliant though he was, Shaw expected reality to conform to an inhuman ideal:

"He has all the time been silently comparing humanity with something that was not human, with a monster from Mars, with the Wise Man of the Stoics, with the Economic Man of the Fabians, with Julius Caesar, with Siegfried, with Superman. Now, to have this inner and merciless standard may be a very good thing, or a very bad one, it may be excellent or unfortunate. but it is not seeing things as they are." (pp. 62-63)

This is excellent writing, whether we entirely agree or not. It may be a little unfair to Shaw, but it is fair to life.

Chesterton is often called an optimist. But he knew the other side, as anyone reading Alzina Stone Dale's life, The Outline of Sanity, can find out. Joy in living, good beer, conversation, balance, sanity, these were achievements, not just nature.

I have managed to find a couple of books by George A. Moore, including his autobiographical novel portraying the Paris of the Impressionists of the 1870s and 1880s, Confessions of a Young Man. One tends to regard it as a memoir, and Chesterton did so. Chesterton attacks his egoism, the interest in the world as related to his own temperament:

"We should really be much more interested in Mr. Moore if he were not quite so interested in himself. We feel as if we were being shown through a gallery of really fine pictures, into each of which, by some useless and discordant convention, the artist had represented the same figure in the same attitude. 'The Grand Canal with a distant view of Mr. Moore," "Effect of Mr. Moore through a Scotch Mist,' 'Mr. Moore by Firelight,' 'Ruins of Mr. Moore by Moonlight,' and so on seems to be the endless series." (pp. 131-132)

That has to be one of the funniest sentences ever written, and I could barely type it for laughing. A bit later on the page, Chesterton gives his vision of originality:

"Thinking about himself will lead to trying to be the universe; trying to be the universe will lead to ceasing to be anything. If, on the other hand, a man is sensible enough to think only about the universe; he will think about it in his own way. He will keep virgin the secret of God; he will see the grass as no other man can see it, and look at a sun that no man has ever known."

There is no space to mention all the wonderful writing in Heretics. I will mention his often expressed view of the narrowness of the larger world, where one can choose one's companions, as opposed to the nation, the neighborhood or the family, where one has to take people the way they are, with all their foibles.

"The best way that a man could test his readiness to encounter the common variety of mankind would be to climb down a chimney into any house at random, and get on as well as possible with the people inside. And that is essentially what each one of us did on the day he was born." (p. 190)

As always, Chesterton's ideas are eminently discussable! No commentary of mine could do justice to the variety, wisdom, and good humour in this book. The best thing would be to find a copy and read it.

I have the John Lane edition, 1905.

I write this short summary because this book cries out for review. Why? Because we live in an age of conformity while we pretend to be free. We live in an age of indoctrination while we pretend to know. We are in the process of selecting a President while we are afraid to ask any real questions.

Chesterton was and remains one of the great literary heroes of our age. He stood above the crowd, both his own contemporaries and ours, and saw the deep answers to the deep questions. He stood for truth as truth has stood for the ages. He believed in the common man while the elites of his time condemned them to the indignities of patronage; and they still do today.

Chesterton wrote this book to challenge the "orthodoxies" of his time; materialism, socialism, militarism and racism. These are still with us in other forms. The book is still relevant and timely today.

In summary, this is a good read that will cause you to think, reflect and want to read more Chesterton. All to the good!

Enjoy!!

Heretics is basically a collection of essays written in response to the worldview, socio-political philosophies, and/or religious stances of G.K. Chesterton's contemporaries (like George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells). Chesterton enjoyed an ongoing and lively public debate with many of these fellows throughout his writing life. To that end, if you're a Chesterton-fan, you'll enjoy this as much as anything else you've probably read by the undefeated heavyweight champion of linguistic pugilism. If you're not a Chesterton fan (usually because you've yet to hear of the man), this is probably as good a place as any to start. Heretics is the book that sort of necessitated Orthodoxy; a more famous, much-beloved piece.

I would recommend this book for those interested in exploring the arena of worldview debate. It isn't a long book, at only about 150 pages. The essay are broken up into nice little chunks that you can read in a half-hour or so, spend some time mulling, and maybe read through again, if you'd like. I could attempt to describe the content of the essay's, but it would take way too long, and I'd fail to do it anywhere near as well the Big Man himself.

Book itself: unfortunately, I got to the introduction only after reading it through; knowing that this book came before Orthodoxy, and that it was written by 1905, would have been useful throughout the reading.

Nevertheless, Chesterton plows forward in this book in his unique style, often turning conventional wisdom on its head as he looks at things from a quite different perspective.

The book is loosely about the "heresies" of many of the popular figures of Chesterton's day-- G. B. Shaw, Kipling, and even many of the political figures of the day. Chesterton, as a Catholic, ventures forth with a creative defense of the Christian viewpoint/system in light of the growing influence of modernism.

Both Chesterton and C.S. Lewis have provided useful apologetic material for our present day, and Chesterton's material has one benefit-- he writes these things before either WWI or WWII, while Enlightenment triumphalism and modernism were reaching their full effect and not dented by the relativism that would seep in after the horrible years.

Many of his comments are quite good and worth hearing out; the reader will likely find many quotables in this text, since Chesterton, if nothing else, is eminently quotable.

Sometimes he goes a bit far; he is quite wed to English superiority, and the past century has proven some of his predictions wrong. Much of his material presupposes an understanding of turn of the century England and its empire, and thus many of his references lose a modern audience. Nevertheless, he clearly saw the challenges and the fallacies of Enlightenment triumphalism and the modernist movement afoot. As the last Romantic, Chesterton might just help us find a way forward through the philosophical wreckage of our own day.

Kindle edition: I had few difficulties with this ebook. A few spelling mistakes that might be on account of the OCR. Make sure that you go back to the beginning and read the introduction, since Chesterton's references are quite time-specific.

This collection of essays is 'Chesterton the Critic' at the top of his game, cutting through intellectual and artistic pretension to get right to the heart of the matter. Some of the people he wields his pen against are still well known names (like H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw); others will only be known to serious students of the late Victorian age. But, the book is surprisingly relevant nonetheless. Partly, this is because our own day is still deeply haunted by the errors of the 19th Century so it's not difficult to name for yourself modern proponents of the ideas that Chesterton rides out to do battle with. But it is also due to the fact that Chesterton's method is never just attack. His winsome, witty, warfare of words is ordered toward revealing the hidden or neglected truths that his interlocutors deny or reject or just miss.

And those turn out to be important truths about some of the biggest perennial questions:

Why should it matter what someone's philisophy is?

What's wrong with subjectivism?

What is the most secure ground for human rights like free speech, tolerance, and liberty?

What is the difference between good patriotism and bad patriotism?

Are human beings more than animals?

Can we build a great and just society without first addressing human selfishness?

Are human beings incorrigibly ritualistic?

If so, what is the difference between good ritual and bad?

What is the correct attitude toward drinking and other indulgences?

Why is sensationalist media so consistently boring?

What is the proper relation between the ideas of nation and race?

Is Christianity a benefit or a hindrance to society? and how so?

Is there any value in "low" entertainment like romance stories and action/adventure films?

Does humor have any place in serious debates about the most important things?

Is there any such thing as "good" art or is it all in the eye of the beholder? to name a few.

It's also important to note that Chesterton does not just denounce from on high; much more often he is explaining how he came to change his mind or notice something that he had missed before.

Not surprisingly, this book got under the skin of a number of Chesterton's contemporaries. One of them threw out the challenge that if he was so clever and all-knowing he should write down his own personal positive beliefs instead of just criticizing others. So he did. That's how Chesterton's little classic 'Orthodoxy' (1908) came to be.

G.K. Chesterton's book 'Heretics' is quite unlike any piece of literature that I have ever encountered. Normally, I enjoy books because of the criteria being discussed, or because of the story being told. I liked the criteria being discussed in this book, however it was the style in which it was written that made it so enjoyable. Just from reading the very first couple of pages, I immediately knew that Chesterton truly was a phenom when it came to writing literature. Furthermore, he succeeded in living up to his reputation as being a master of paradox. His writing style, as well as his views, set up for a very thought provoking text that was very entertaining. His book is hard to read and comprehend at times, so you must be patient. It will twist your mind at one point or another. However, I can get a more full review on it because I must first read its companion, 'Orthodoxy', before making my final assessment. Regardless, any person who loves good literature will find this entertaining, no matter what your religious views are.

Marcel Sahade

Barrister-at-Law

(Sydney NSW)

In "Heretics" G K Chesterton makes the point that to find an exceptional lawyer, one must find first an ordinary man. Chesterton's reasoning is impeccable:

"Whistler could produce art; and in so far he was a great man. But he could not forget art; and in so far he was only a man with the artistic temperament. There can be no stronger manifestation of the man who is a really great artist than the fact that he can dismiss the subject of art; that he can, upon due occasion, wish art at the bottom of the sea. Similarly, we should always be much more inclined to trust a solicitor who did not talk about conveyancing over the nuts and wine. What we really desire of any man conducting any business is that the full force of an ordinary man should be put into that particular study. We do not desire that the full force of that study should be put into an ordinary man. We do not in the least wish that our particular law-suit should pour its energy into our barrister's games with his children, or rides on his bicycle, or meditations on the morning star. But we do, as a matter of fact, desire that his games with his children, and his rides on his bicycle, and his meditations on the morning star should pour something of their energy into our law-suit. We do desire that if he has gained any especial lung development from the bicycle, or any bright and pleasing metaphors from the morning star, that they should be placed at our disposal in that particular forensic controversy. In a word, we are very glad that he is an ordinary man, since that may help him to be an exceptional lawyer."

How often the lay person is in search of an exceptional lawyer. The lay person would do better to search for a truly ordinary person with a practicing certificate. Those lawyers striving to be exceptional should strive first to be ordinary. Now that would be a socially desirable outcome. A Bar Association run by ordinary persons.

Marcel Sahade

Barrister-at-Law

(Sydney NSW)