Orthodoxy

G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy was published in 1908 as an awaited follow-up to his acclaimed essay collection entitled Heretics, which was published three years earlier. A short and pithy volume, Orthodoxy lays out the author’s philosophical convictions aligning with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the Christian religion. Chesterton questions the resonance and popularity of Christianity, and he attempts to answer this question by saying that it is the perfect blend of the familiar and unfamiliar: Christianity recognizes that life is meaningful and offers its followers certainty, but it also recognizes that the world is mysterious and incorporates that seriously into its core beliefs. Since its publication, Orthodoxy has become a classic of Christian apologetics in the phenomenological style, focusing on literary and imaginative arguments rather than arguments that would be considered more theological or dogmatic.

This guide refers to the digital edition published by B&H Academic in 2022 and edited by Trevin Wax.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide include discussions of suicide and death, both contextualized as reality and used as metaphors and illustration. This guide also refers to the author’s stigmatizing language regarding mental illness and suicide.

Summary

Orthodoxy breaks down Chesterton’s perspectives on human nature and how Christianity encourages a path of humility, discipline, and virtue. He uses common notions and long-held opinions to justify his philosophy. For example, in Chapter 2, he confronts the false idea that all we need is self-belief to succeed. Chesterton argues that the opposite is true—we need humility, not self-belief. He claims that self-confidence is a precursor to pride, which always comes before a fall.

Chesterton further questions the reasoning of people who solely and whole-heartedly believe in themselves. Self-confident people, he claims, are confident about the wrong things. We should doubt ourselves and our abilities, but we should never doubt God, as it is the assertion of Christianity that we only exist because God allows us to exist. Chesterton criticizes modern philosophers for erasing religion. He asserts that modern philosophies encourage people to over-analyze everything, including religion, and when we question something too deeply, we stop believing in it. He suggests that Christianity is simple enough to answer life’s questions while mysterious enough to keep us guessing.

Chesterton dedicates the early chapters to critiquing these contemporary philosophies and ideologies. He is deeply interested in paradoxes and picking apart old ideas. He begins by critiquing fairy tales, but he explains why they are so useful.

Chesterton believes that fairy tales mirror the world around us. In fairy tales, writers blend reason and worldly elements with fantastical ones that the reader is meant to take in stride. Life is like a fairy tale because it’s both certain and mysterious. He claims that there’s magic around us that we can’t—and shouldn’t—fully comprehend. We exist because of a divine miracle that we can’t explain, but there must be some meaning behind our existence in the first place. The author hopes that this perspective he invites others to ascribe to is a comfort.

In Chesterton’s opinion, God doesn’t mean for us to understand why we exist. We must only acknowledge that his reason exists. Returning to fairy tales, the logic is the same—we accept that fairy tales often don’t make sense, but we accept the rules of the story. Life is both real and fantastical, a potent mixture of both. Chesterton expands this argument by noting that fairy tales are sometimes comfortable dealing with extremes: extreme hope, despair, optimism, or pessimism. He finds a common ground between any extremes by offering spiritual blessings to be optimistic about while advocating humbleness and an acceptance of worldly difficulties.

In terms of these extremes, Chesterton uses the example of martyrs and suicidal people. The martyrs are loyal, optimistic, and dedicated to a cause, while he sees suicidal people as pessimistic and caught in cycles of despair. Christianity, according to Chesterton, discourages these extremes and allows us to be simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic about the world. There are enough pure or good things in the natural world and humanity for Christians to have a sense of loyalty to other people; however, there is enough trouble, viewed as sin, for followers of Christ to desire to change society wherever possible.

Christianity encourages us to make the world a better place than we found it out of an unyielding spiritual love for the world. Put simply, Chesterton explains, we’re living in our own fairy tale. God is our creator, the architect of our story. He gave us a world to play in, but we’ve destroyed this world with sinful behavior. God doesn’t take the world back from us because he loves us.

Chesterton concludes Orthodoxy by considering why rationalists and philosophers reject Christianity. They can stand on opposite sides of the spectrum: The religion is too hopeful or it’s hopeless, it’s boring or it’s outlandish. It either teaches everyone to believe in one thing or teaches them to believe in nothing.

Every rationalist relies on an extreme position; Chesterton says that extremes are a problem because they mean choosing only one outcome and denying everything else. Christianity, on the other hand, exists at the juncture of everything. Christianity reconciles all points of view and answers all questions Chesterton finds worthy of asking. He challenges others to set aside more contemporary philosophies and ideologies and open themselves up to his own.