The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton Volume 01: Heretics, Orthodoxy, the Blatchford Controversies by
G.K. Chesterton My rating:
5 of 5 stars
Absolutely breathtaking. I wish I had read this years ago.
G.K. Chesterton first starts out in Heretics critiquing and working with the thoughts of all the main thinkers and trends of early 20th century England, it was good, although parts of it were dated or outside of my knowledge; so Wikipedia became my friend.
However, Orthodoxy was written as a positive sequel, to expound upon what he considered the Christian faith (summed up nicely in the Apostles Creed). Orthodoxy stunned me, page after page, and I even forgot to go running as I couldn't put the book down.
Think of wild eyed wonder in a young boy, he finds simple stories amazing, such as what is behind that door. An older boy would not find that story as exciting, he needs more, so he finds out there is a dragon behind the door. As adults we just yawn; and in this manner we have sinned, by growing old and not seeing the world through the wonderful, wild eyed astonishment of children. Absolute humility, because of our sin, should lower us to nothing, and from the pit all we can do is look up, look out, and be thankful for God's grace and be amazed at absolutely everything. When all you have is evil, every drop of grace is amazing, stories that rivers flow with wine are to point us to the amazing reality that they, in fact, flow with water. Strange suns, green skies, and foreign alien species should point us back to the reality that we have a blue sky, mists of water, a white bright moon, and a mankind as varied and stranger than we could ever create in science fiction. All of the endless stories of the cosmos can be found in our own towns and neighborhoods. Our God does endless repetition, and as he is omnipotent, he does not tire of making daisy after daisy, sending wind after wind, making child after child, lifetime after lifetime. God's story is always fresh and lively.
Chesterton's theme is that men must love others and deny themselves, for to love life, we must have loyalty to the world and vision of mankind that was created good, discontent with its sin, and with a solid vision of the New Jerusalem as we go forward. He sees the new Jerusalem as the Christian Church, a bride to be perfected in holiness, so as such, there is a great lesson in the story of the Beauty and the Beast, to quote Chesterton, in that a thing must be loved before it is lovable. This quote rang true, and it is true for everything we do. Christ loved us first, he changed us, his blood shed for our sins, and therefore we love him and are changed. We, the body of Christ, are the bride being perfected for the groom.
The reality of this, is the conclusion that joy is the uproarious labor by which all things live, and that melancholy should be fleeting. We are to dance and sing before the Lord. We must not be content with the sin, but content with God's goodness, striving by love, mercy, and justice to overcome evil, while remembering joy. The real things of the earth, to paraphrase, are of fighting peoples or proud mothers, of first loves, or of fear upon the sea. The earth that was created is incredibly large, and the cosmos so very small.
Life is an adventure, a desperate romance. We should be eternally grateful that God brought us into this story, to glorify Him, and that we get to be a part of it. Strongly recommended for reading, at least Orthodoxy.
Serviam,
