Term
| According to the preface, what is the “purpose of the writer”? (p. 9) This a positive (and legitimate) use of which informal “fallacy”? |
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Definition
| To offer an explanation of how he came to his personal beliefs. Ipse dixit and Bulverism. |
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Term
| How does Chesterton attempt to state the philosophy in which he believes? (p. 13) |
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Definition
| That it is not his philosophy but that God and humanity made it and it made him. |
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Term
| What is the “main problem” of this book? What answers this double spiritual need? (p. 14) |
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Definition
| That people simultaneously need a mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Chesterton believes that his faith fulfills both these needs. |
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Term
| What does Chesterton mean when he uses the word “orthodoxy”? (p. 17) |
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Definition
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Term
| How does he contrast the poet and the logician? (p. 22) |
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Definition
| The poet tries to get his head into the heavens, while the logician tries to get the heavens into his head. The logician loses. |
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Term
| Explain the madman. What is the nearest we can get to expressing his error? (p. 24) |
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Definition
| That madman is the one who has lost everything but his reason |
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Term
| What is the chief mark of insanity? What keeps men sane? (p. 32) |
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Definition
| Reason in a void. Mysticism. |
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Term
| Explain the dislocation of humility. What is this new modesty? (pp. 36-37) |
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Definition
| It has moved from ambition to conviction. Because of this, rather than working harder, a man stops working altogether. |
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Term
| How is reason related to faith? (p. 38) |
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Definition
| Because it is an act of faith to assert that our thoughts have any relation to reality at all. |
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Term
| How can Chesterton say that democracy and tradition are the same idea? (pp. 52-53) |
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Definition
| Because Chesterton considers tradition to simply be democracy extended through time. |
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Term
| Chesterton says he learned “the whole spirit of [elfland’s] law”, “a certain way of looking at life” (55). What is this way of looking of looking at life? In other words, how do we answer when someone asks us why eggs turn to birds or why fruits fall in autumn? (p. 57) Why does water run downhill? (p. 58) |
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Definition
| Because it is magic. Because it is bewitched. |
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Term
| Fairytales gave Chesterton what “first two feelings”? (pp. 59-60) |
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Definition
| Wonder/admiration and gratitude. |
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Term
| What is the second principle of the fairy philosophy? (pp. 60-61) |
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Definition
| The doctrine of conditional joy. |
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Term
| What is the fairytale philosopher’s reaction to the view of scientific fatalism? (pp. 64-66) This leads to what “first conviction” on Chesterton’s part? (p. 67) |
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Definition
| He finds it cold, dead, and intentionally un-wonderful. Fact are miracles because because they are willful. |
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Term
| What are Chesterton’s five ultimate attitudes towards life? (p. 70) |
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Definition
1. The world does not explain itself.
2. Magic must have meaning and meaning must have had someone to mean it, and that is personal.
3. That purpose is beautiful in spite of defects
4. The proper form of thanks is in humility and restraint.
5. All god is remnant, meant to be stored and held sacred out of some primordial ruin. |
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Term
| Chesterton’s acceptance of the world is like what? (p. 72) What is the “only right optimism”? (p. 73) |
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Definition
| Patriotism, Universal Patriotism. |
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Term
| What is the evil of the pessimist? (pp. 74-75) |
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Definition
| They are cosmic anti-patriots. They do not love what they chastise and therefore there is no loyalty in their criticism. |
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Term
| “We want a fiercer delight and a fiercer discontent” (77). Explain. |
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Definition
| It is a desire to be a simultaneously a opportunist and pessimist without a neutralization of either. |
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Term
| How is a suicide the opposite of a martyr? (pp. 78-79) |
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Definition
| A martyr is one who cares so much for what is outside him that he forgets his personal life. A suicide is one who cares so little for anything outside himself that he wants to see the last of everything. |
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Term
| Christianity destroyed which doctrine? What did it leave in its place? (p. 81) |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the “hole” in the world? What is the “projecting feature” of Christianity that fit this hole and made everything come together? (p. 84) |
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Definition
| That we must somehow love the world without trusting it. The insistence that God is personal and had made a world separate from himself. |
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Term
| Christian optimism is based on what? (p. 85) |
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Definition
| The fact that we do not fit in the world. |
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Term
| What is the point of chapter six? (p. 88) |
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Definition
| To show that whenever we feel there is something odd in Christian theology we will typically find that there is something odd about the truth. |
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Term
| What illustration does Chesterton give of “this odd effect of the great agnostics”? (pp. 90-91) |
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Definition
| How no sooner was Christianity convicted of being one extreme (e.g. too angular) it was then accused of also being the exact opposite extreme (too round). |
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Term
| What did he (trying to be fair) conclude about Christianity? About Jesus? (p. 96 |
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Definition
| That Christianity was wrong and that Jesus must be the antichrist. |
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Term
| What thunderbolt hit Chesterton? What key fit the lock? (pp. 96-97) |
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Definition
| That the fact that Jesus was simultaneously “wrong” in every extreme actually indicated that he was right. |
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Term
| How does he describe courage? This “duplex passion” is the key to what? (pp. 99-100) |
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Definition
| “Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.” The Christian key to ethics everywhere. |
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Term
| What is the “new balance” discovered by Christian ethics? Be able to explain it in turns of red/white and lion/lamb. (pp. 103-105) |
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Definition
| The balance of keeping two things side by side without overlapping each other. Red and white are side by side without ever turning pink. The lion lays down with the lamb without losing its royal ferocity. |
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Term
| What is the thrilling romance of orthodoxy? (pp. 106-107) |
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Definition
| Orthodoxy is not heavy, boring, or humdrum. It is perilous and exciting. It is a precise balance of truth for which the smallest deviation would turn everything wrong. |
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Term
| What is the next question “so obviously in front of us”? (p. 109) And why can’t we get our ideal from nature? (pp. 109-10) |
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Definition
| What do we mean by making things better? Because there is no principle in nature. |
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Term
| What two things must we be fond of to change the world? (p. 112) |
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Definition
| We must be fond of the world as well as fond of another world in order to have something to change it into. |
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Term
| What is the “whole collapse and huge blunder of our age”? (p. 112) |
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Definition
| We have mixed up two opposite things. Progress and vision. |
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Term
| Progress is moving towards an ideal; what should our first requirement be of that ideal? (pp. 115-116) |
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Definition
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Term
| “If we suppose improvement to be natural, it must be fairly simple” (117). What should we conclude if the “end of the world is to be a piece of elaborate and artistic chiaroscuro”? (p. 118) |
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Definition
| There must be design and there must be an artist. |
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Term
| What is our second requirement for the ideal of progress? How does Christianity enter with the exact answer Chesterton was looking for? (p. 121) |
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Definition
| It must be composite. By exactly fulfilling all of the requirements |
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Term
| Chesterton concludes that “things naturally tend to grow worse” (122). How does orthodoxy come in (“like a battle-axe”) and say the same thing, but more? (p. 123) |
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Definition
| Christianity shows the worsening to be true and shows its root cause to be “the fall.” |
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Term
| What should we therefore be prepared for “in the best Utopia”? (p. 126) |
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Definition
| For the moral fall of any man, in any position at any moment. |
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Term
| What does Chesterton want to point out “as rapidly as possible”? (p. 132) |
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Definition
| That every matter most strongly insisted upon by liberalizes would actually end up having an illiberal effect. |
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Term
| What worldview is behind the denial of miracles—the worldview that “leaves nothing free in the universe” (134)? |
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Definition
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Term
| If a man believes in miracles, how he is “the more liberal for doing so”? (p. 135) |
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Definition
| Because he believes in the freedom of the soul and its control over the tyranny of circumstances. |
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Term
| What opinion by Mrs. Besant does Chesterton disagree with? (p. 138) |
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Definition
| Mrs. Besant believes everyone is one, and you should be kind to your neighbor because he is you. Chesterton wants to love his neighbor not because he is his neighbor but because he is not his neighbor. |
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Term
| Describe the “intellectual abyss” between Buddhism and Christianity. (pp. 139-40) |
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Definition
| Buddhism is one the side of modern pantheism and immanence. Christianity is on the side of humanity, liberty, and love. |
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Term
| What must we adhere to if we want reform? Why? (pp. 141-42) |
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Definition
| Orthodoxy. Because by insisting on the transcendence of God we get wonder, curiosity, and moral and political adventure, righteous indignation. |
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Term
| If “to hope for all souls…is not specially favorable to activity or progress”, what should we insist on instead? (p. 143) |
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Definition
| The danger that everybody is in. |
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Term
| How is the divinity of Christ “terribly revolutionary”? (pp. 144-45) |
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Definition
| Because it is the only religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist |
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Term
| What is the chief merit of essentials of old orthodoxy? What is its main advantage? (p. 145) |
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Definition
| The natural foundation of revolution and reform. It is the most adventurous and manly of all reforms. |
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Term
| What is Chesterton’s conclusion (“this last and most astounding fact”) about the enemies of the faith? (pp. 146-47) Orthodoxy is untouched, but what is destroyed instead? (p. 147) |
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Definition
| That in their attempts to attack Christianity they end up fighting themselves. Political and common courage sense. |
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Term
| What “crucial question” does the reasonable agnostic ask in this refutatio? (pp. 148-49 |
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Definition
| “Why can’t you take the truth without the doctrine.” |
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Term
| Why does Chesterton believe in Christianity? (p. 150) |
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Definition
| “For the same reason the intelligent agnostic disbelieves in Christianity.” Because he believes it quite rationally upon evidence. |
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Term
| What three converging convictions have pressured many sensible modern men into abandoning Christianity? (p. 150) What explanation covers all three? (p. 152) |
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Definition
1. That men are like beasts
2. that religion arose from ignorance and fear
3. that priests have blighted societies with bitterness and gloom
The theory that the natural order was twice interrupted by some explosion or revelation. |
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Term
What three anti-Christian thoughts create the impression that Christianity is weak and
diseased? (p. 153) How does Chesterton respond to each of these misconceptions? (pp. 153-56) |
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Definition
| That Jesus was a gentle creature, that Christianity arose from the dark ages of ignorance, that the church will drag us back to such ignorance, and that the strongly religious are weak, impractical, and behind in the times.That a careful look into the New Testament will show that Jesus was not a puppy. That Christianity was actually the one path through the dark ages which was not dark and overtaken by ignorance. That this is factually inaccurate/wrong. |
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Term
| Why does Chesterton believe in miracles? Why do the disbelievers deny them? (p. 157) |
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Definition
| Because there is evidence for them. Because have a doctrine against them. |
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Term
| What fallacy do the anti-miracle debaters commit? (p. 158) |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the greatest disaster of the 19th century? (p. 160) |
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Definition
| Men started using the word “spiritual” to mean good. |
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Term
| What is the far more solid and central ground for Chesterton’s submission to the faith? (p. 161) |
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Definition
| The Christian Church is a living teacher. |
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Term
| How did Chesterton view the world after he accepted Christendom as a mother? (p. 163) Note how this ties in with the title chapter. |
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Definition
| With old elvish ignorance and expectancy. A combination of childhood daring and curiosity missed with parental guidance. |
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Term
| What (in conclusion) is Chesterton’s reason for accepting Christianity and not simply its truths? (pp. 163-64) |
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Definition
| Because it has not merely told the truth about this or that, but because it has proven itself to be a truth telling thing. |
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Term
| What is the despair of modern philosophy? Where does a man find adventure? (p. 164) |
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Definition
| That is does not believe there is any meaning in the universe; and therefore there is no romance. In a land of authority. |
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Term
| What is the primary paradox of Christianity? (p. 165) |
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Definition
| That man in his ordinary condition is neither sane nor sensible. |
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Term
| What is the fundamental difference between the joy of the pagan and the joy of the Christian? (p. 166-67) What does it mean to be “born upside down”? (p. 167) |
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Definition
| That pagan is happy on earth and sad as he moves toward heaven. The Christian works in the opposite direction. To have your feet dancing toward heaven while your head is in the abyss. |
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Term
| What is Chesterton’s concluding point about “the tremendous figure which fills the Gospels”? (pp. 167-68) |
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Definition
| That there was one thing too great for God to show us when he walked upon earth, and perhaps it was His mirth. |
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