G. K. Chesterton: A Forgotten Giant
If someone were to ask, “Who was the most influential writer of the twentieth century?” a host of authors may come to mind. Yet what if there was one who’s had such a far-reaching impact that he influenced C. S. Lewis’ conversion, Gandhi’s political reform, sparked inspiration for Mumford & Sons’ songs, and much more? Surely, we should be aware of such a prestigious writer.
In fact, there is such a writer: Gilbert Keith Chesterton, better known as G. K. Chesterton. Because many Christians and modern audiences alike are unfamiliar with this intellectual giant, we must consider who this man is and why he matters. Here we’ll survey his works, themes and, most importantly, his legacy.
Who Is Chesterton?
With tongue firmly in cheek, Chesterton writes, “Bowing down in blind credulity, as is my custom, before mere authority and the tradition of elders, superstitiously swallowing a story I could not test at the time by experiment or private judgment, I am firmly of the opinion that I was born on the 29th of May, 1874” [1]. Born in London, he was educated at St. Paul’s School, but never went to college. Instead, he attended art school. In 1900, he was asked to write a few articles on art criticism, and thus, a prolific writer was born [2]. Chesterton wrote 100 books, hundreds of poems, five plays, five novels, 400 newspaper articles and around 200 short stories, including the popular Father Brown detective stories. His writings covered a vast spectrum, including literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, theology, and everything in between.
Not only was his literary body substantial, but so was his physical body. Chesterton was a large man, standing nearly 6’4, and weighing about three hundred pounds. Truly a real life caricature of himself, he would usually have a cigar in his mouth, walking around wearing a cape and a crumpled hat, and glasses on the end of his nose with a swordstick for a cane. True to form, he was renowned for laughing at his own jokes and entertaining children at birthday parties by catching buns in his mouth [3].
However, this is the same man who debated with George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, and Clarence Darrow; and influenced C. S. Lewis, Michael Collins, Mohandas Gahndi, Ernest Hemingway, and many more [4]. Suffice to say, the world has rarely known a man that so flawlessly fused intellectual magnitude with childlike perception, wonder, and common sense.
Chesterton’s Writings—A Prolific “Prince of Paradox”
Though memorable for both his girth and humor, Chesterton is better known for his publications. Chesterton copiously wrote apologetics, mystery thrillers, poems, biographies, novels, essays, political theory, and much more—for example, see Orthodoxy, Father Brown, The Ballad of the White Horse, and Robert Browning and Charles Dickens, The Man Who Was Thursday, All Things Considered, and What’s Wrong with the World?, respectively. Chesterton wrote on virtually everything. He was, truly speaking, a renaissance man.
Chesterton’s writings were undoubtedly a major variable on his far-reaching sphere of influence. If authors could be guilty of creating long bibliographies, Chesterton would certainly be indicted. While there are many writers who could surmount a long list of publications, few can do so with such a wide-range of expertise. Chesterton wrote biographies on Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis of Assisi, and Chaucer, while at the same time crafting detective novels of the clerical sort. Etienne Gilson boasts about Chesterton’s work on Thomas Aquinas: “I consider it as being without possible comparison the best book ever written on St. Thomas” [5]—and that about a man who considered himself a journalist, rather than a biographer, philosopher, novelist, or theologian. While not all of his writings are worthy of such accolades, his wide spectrum continues to impress and influence across a variety of disciplines.
On top of his numerous writings, Chesterton used one literary device more frequently and, quite possibly, more efficiently than any other writer. For this, he is crowned the “Prince of Paradox.” He had the uncanny ability to take any phrase and turn it inside out, revealing the hidden truth found within. For example, “Thieves respect property; they merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it” [6]. It was this skill that made his logic and theology so concise and sharp, not to mention clever.
Chesterton’s Themes—The Apostle of Common Sense
Not only were his writings extensive, but so were his themes. Due to his abundant publications, attempting to list all his various themes would be exhausting. Nevertheless, one specific theme surfaces in every work: an emphasis on logic and common sense. Case in point, a quote from the protagonist of his detective stories comes to mind: “‘You attacked reason,’ said Father Brown. ‘It’s bad theology.’” Chesterton would almost always demonstrate the logic in an argument by first turning it on its head [7]. His close friend, Hilaire Belloc, wrote, “The whole meaning of his life was the discovery, the appreciation of reality. But his work was made up of bequeathing to others the reassure of knowledge and certitude upon which he had come” [8].
There was a marvel about the way Chesterton unpacked ideas. He insightfully noted, “I know it will be the general impression about this book [The Resurrection of Rome] that I cannot talk about anything without talking about everything” [9]. This may be one of the most prevalent themes in all of Chesterton’s writings. When writing on the particulars he explains via the universals. As one writer said, “[H]is many digressions are not really distractions at all—providing, of course, you know the theme” [10]. Therein is the beauty of Chesterton’s writings; readers will see the entire universe come to bear on the particulars of any subject.
Furthermore, one of the most profound themes of Chesterton’s writings was his imagination, combined with his constant amazement with God’s creative power. He writes in Orthodoxy,
A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we [11].
Chesterton tells us that he exercises the “most wild and soaring sort of imagination: the imagination that can see what is there” [12]. He saw the wonder in the ordinary. Chesterton, better than most, was able to explore the mundane in a way that seemed marvelous.
Chesteron’s Legacy—Everlasting Writings
But it wasn’t just his themes that kept readers in wonder. His legacy is proof of that. It was his entire body of work that has made an impact around the world. Chesterton was able to bring so many perspectives to bear on the most important subject of all. He has left a legacy that, unbeknownst to many readers, is far-reaching and deep-seeded.
If Tolkien was right and “the praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards,” then Chesterton has been awarded highest honors. C. S. Lewis wrote, “In reading Chesterton, as in reading [George] MacDonald, I did not know what I was letting myself in for.” He goes on to explain:
I read Chesterton’s Everlasting Man and for the first time saw the whole Christian outline of history set out in a form that seemed to me to make sense. Somehow I contrived not to be too badly shaken. You will remember that I already thought Chesterton the most sensible man alive ‘apart from his Christianity.’ Now, I veritably believe, I thought—I didn’t of course say; words would have revealed the nonsense—that Christianity itself was very sensible [13].
This too has been my journey with Chesterton. While I cannot claim that he influenced my conversion, he has been vital in my own life for making clever common sense of cosmic quandaries. It has been in his writings that I have seen how concise logic and child-like wonder can be engaged—that logic and imagination are not mutually exclusive.
In conclusion, Dale Alqhuist says it best, “Chesterton is indeed a teacher, and the best kind. He doesn’t merely astonish you. He doesn’t just perform the wonder of making you think. He goes beyond that. He makes you laugh” [14]. Chesterton’s imaginative, yet logical genius demands exploration. With current readers continuing to appreciate him, and new readers learning to embrace him, Chesterton’s legacy will continue to grow, shaping the thinkers of today and tomorrow alike. If you’ve never read Chesterton, please do so. If so, keep reading and keep his legacy alive.
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[1] G. K. Chesterton, The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 21.
[2] Dale Alqhuist, “G. K. Chesterton: Who is This Guy and Why Haven’t I Heard of Him?” The American Chesterton Society, http://www.chesterton.org/discover-chesterton/who-was-this-guy/ (accessed May 13, 2013).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Maise Ward, Gilbert Keith Chesterton (New York: 1953), 620; as quoted in G. K. Chesterton, The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 16.
[6] G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (Rockville: Serenity Publishers 2009), 38.
[7] G. K. Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown (New York: Penguin Books, 1911), 29.
[8] Hillaire Belloc, Saturday Review of Literature, July 4, 1936, p. 4; as quoted in G. K. Chesterton, The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 13.
[9] G. K. Chesterton, The Resurrection of Rome (London, 1937), 217; The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, 21: 407; as quoted in G. K. Chesterton, The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 13.
[10] Randall Paine, Introduction of G. K. Chesterton, The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
[11] G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York: Barnes & Noble 2007), 51.
[12] G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, in Collected Works, 2:148; as quoted in The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 16.
[13] C. S. Lewis as quoted in Kevin Belmonte, The Quotable Chesterton: The Wit and Wisdom of G. K. Chesterton (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011), xiv.
[14] Alqhuist.
June 17, 2013
Are you familiar with Chesterton’s defense of mysticism from an epistemological perspective:
http://santitafarella.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/g-k-chestertons-defense-of-mysticism-and-poetry/ (It was John Newton, not William Cowper, who wrote Amazing Grace, of course; but with that exception, the insights in the article seem valid to me.
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features/ahlquist_gk_pv.html
“The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic…He has always left himself free to doubt his gods; but (unlike the agnostic of to-day) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than for consistency. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. His spiritual sight is stereoscopic, like his physical sight: he sees two different pictures at once and yet sees all the better for that. Thus he has always believed that there was such a thing as fate, but such a thing as free will also.” — G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy