|
Orthodoxy | 
 enlarge | Author: G. K. Chesterton
Publisher: Wilder Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $8.99
Buy New: $8.88
You Save: $0.11 (1%)
New (13) Used (6) Collectible (1) from $7.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  84 reviews
Sales Rank: 29575
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 108
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.1
ISBN: 1604591625
Dewey Decimal Number: 282
EAN: 9781604591620
ASIN: 1604591625
Publication Date: January 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW STILL FACTORY SEALED
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
If G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith is, as he called it, a "slovenly autobiography," then we need more slobs in the world. This quirky, slender book describes how Chesterton came to view orthodox Catholic Christianity as the way to satisfy his personal emotional needs, in a way that would also allow him to live happily in society. Chesterton argues that people in western society need a life of "practical romance, the combination of something that is strange with something that is secure. We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome." Drawing on such figures as Fra Angelico, George Bernard Shaw, and St. Paul to make his points, Chesterton argues that submission to ecclesiastical authority is the way to achieve a good and balanced life. The whole book is written in a style that is as majestic and down-to-earth as C.S. Lewis at his best. The final chapter, called "Authority and the Adventurer," is especially persuasive. It's hard to imagine a reader who will not close the book believing, at least for the moment, that the Church will make you free. --Michael Joseph Gross
Product Description
In Orthodoxy, Gilbert K. Chesterton explains how and why he came to believe in Christianity and more specifically the Catholic Church's brand of orthodoxy. In the book, Chesterton takes the spiritually curious reader on an intellectual quest. While looking for the meaning of life, he finds truth that uniquely fulfills human needs. This is the truth revealed in Christianity. Chesterton likens this discovery to a man setting off from the south coast of England, journeying for many days, only to arrive at Brighton, the point he originally left from. Such a man, he proposes, would see the wondrous place he grew up in with newly appreciative eyes. This is a common theme in Chesterton's works, and one which he gave fictional embodiment to in Manalive. A truly lively and enlightening book!
Download Description
This book is meant to be a companion to "Heretics," and to put the positive side in addition to the negative. Many critics complained of the book called "Heretics" because it merely criticised current philosophies without offering any alternative philosophy. This book is an attempt to answer the challenge. It is unavoidably affirmative and therefore unavoidably autobiographical. The writer has been driven back upon somewhat the same difficulty as that which beset Newman in writing his Apologia; he has been forced to be egotistical only in order to be sincere. While everything else may be different the motive in both cases is the same. It is the purpose of the writer to attempt an explanation, not of whether the Christian Faith can be believed, but of how he personally has come to believe it. The book is therefore arranged upon the positive principle of a riddle and its answer. It deals first with all the writer's own solitary and sincere speculations and then with all the startling style in which they were all suddenly satisfied by the Christian Theology. The writer regards it as amounting to a convincing creed. But if it is not that it is at least a repeated and surprising coincidence. --G. K. Chesterton.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 79 more reviews...
 Orthodoxy August 1, 2008
Chesterton is difficult to read because he makes references to things and places that I do not know about but his work is still good reading.
If you don't get his point just keep reading and you soon will because he gives so many examples that sooner or later you will understand one and it becomes clear.
 Prolix but worth the effort July 23, 2008
Chesterton is hard to take at times; his irritating metaphors and play on words can grind one down. But, what is extraordinary is that this book is so relevant to the "now". He has grasped the nettle of modern relativism and said: "no, accipio crucem Christi; I believe in the Trintiy of princely might": "it is utterely rational for me to so believe". A definite "must" for anyone who wishes to deal with the issues of modernity and faith.
I'll Be Brief May 19, 2008
There are so many reviews here. I'll be brief.
I've read this book many times (though not this edition, which someone said is poorly formatted) and it's a whirlwind of provocative thought. Clever beyond what most any other writer can achieve. A defense of his faith that could almost convince the faithless, and if not, at least it will entertain them.
At least read the chapter on THE PARADOXES OF CHRISTIANITY. It's a kick, and could get you hooked on Chesterton.
The Paradoxes of Christianity May 3, 2008
"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die."
Orthodoxy is filled with insightful information regarding some of the most poignant critiques against the Christian faith. This book should serve as a starting point for all exploration into the topic. What's more frightful than arguing with someone who has a lot of answers? Probably arguing with someone who can generate just as many questions and can argue your side of the issue better than you can. We usually only think on one side of the issue (our position), but Chesterton expounds both.
It isn't necessarily a very easy read, but it is still very relevant for today's skeptic. Begin here: "The sense of the miracle of humanity itself should be always more vivid to us than any marvels of power, intellect, art, or civilization." Any book that looks to refute something must begin with awe in the fact that there is an intellect which makes it even possible to toil in the world of ideas and fact. A great follow up book would be Mere Christianity.
Defending the format April 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A common criticism of Orthodoxy is the format, and while people are entitled to criticize the rambling nature of Chesterton's exploration as aesthetically displeasing, there are plenty of rigidly organized explorations of faith; all neat and tidy with headings even. If you read his introductory comments on why he wrote the book, you should be able to see that the whole work focuses on how he stumbled unintentionally into seeing the beauty and reason of orthodoxy through the accumulation of a thousand little things that all pointed in the same direction: God. The book purposely models this, and frankly I find the joy of the book is how he expresses faith this way.
I admittedly found it very confusing my first read, but each time I read it again more and more of it starts to connect. Give the book a second chance if you stumble at first Soon you'll start to see the pattern of thought in his "rambling" observations, an intentional metatphor for the divine pattern and purpose that escapes us in our everyday "rambling" lives.
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 - RailroadBookstore.com
| |
