The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Vol. 1: Heretics, Orthodoxy, the Blatchford Controversies (Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton) (Volume 1)

If you're Christian, interested in Christianity, or even an intellectually honest atheist, you should not go through your entire life without reading this book. Heretics is a good warm-up, where Chesterton takes on the Rationalists and "Free-Thinkers" of a hundred years ago one chapter at time - some more entertainingly than others.But Orthodoxy is where the meat really hits the grill in this volume. Why so? Well, it's best to let Chesterton do the talking. Sink your teeth into this:"That a good man may have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already; but that God could have his back to the wall is a boast for all insurgents for ever. Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipotence made God incomplete. Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king. Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator. For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point--and does not break.[I]n that terrific tale of the Passion there is a distinct emotional suggestion that the author of all things (in some unthinkable way) went not only through agony, but through doubt. It is written, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." No; but the Lord thy God may tempt Himself; and it seems as if this was what happened in Gethsemane. In a garden Satan tempted man: and in a garden God tempted God. He passed in some superhuman manner through our human horror of pessimism. When the world shook and the sun was wiped out of heaven, it was not at the crucifixion, but at the cry from the cross: the cry which confessed that God was forsaken of God. And now let the revolutionists choose a creed from all the creeds and a god from all the gods of the world, carefully weighing all the gods of inevitable recurrence and of unalterable power. They will not find another god who has himself been in revolt. Nay, (the matter grows too difficult for human speech,) but let the atheists themselves choose a god. They will find only one divinity who ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist."There are stretches of exposition where Chesterton has to set up passages like those above, but they are necessary, and well worth the time to get to something as good as this.I'm a very big C.S. Lewis fan, and it's obvious that Lewis absorbed Orthodoxy, and put his own special brand of apologetic touch on "Mere Christianity."If you like having to go back and read a paragraph over because the language and the content were *that* good, you will enjoy this volume.

Chesterton's books were influential in C.S. Lewis's conversion from atheism. I found this out while reading Lewis's correspondence from the 30's through the early 50's Letters of C. S. Lewis . Chesterton's name has been frequently raised in conversations with intellectual Christians over the years, so I decided I'd familiarize myself with his works. I read a dozen books at a time, lying one down with a bookmark to read another until something draws me back to finish one or put it on the shelf to be finished in an indefinite future. Less than half the books I start get finished. This is a big book, containing several of his works (Heretics, Orthodoxy,and the Blatchford newspaper articles), and I put it down many times finding the way ponderous. However, I kept coming back to pick up at the bookmark because there is a unique, original chain of reasoning here that grew more convincing and attractive as I read on. Chesterton's writing and reasoning styles are heavy going, but I highly recommend this to anyone willing to invest the time. You will understand his influential viewpoint on Christianity if you finish the book, and understand his writing and reasoning style if you only read a third. C.S.Lewis's tribute is a good enough reference to give it a go.

Take some time for this and probably a good idea to do some biographical reading of GK first. Worthwhile guy and a blood genius. He does this wonderful job of turning things inside out and making us look at the normal and natural as the important track in life. He takes on modernity and makes us look at what matters. Never read anyone quite like him and I have read a lot .....I liked the book of quotations by Chesterton as helpful and useful to get the gist of his approach to thought and life. Give him some time though and not a book to skim, takes some work!

If one were to say to Chesterton that he "thought outside the box." He would probably ask you "What box?"I've decided to read books that not only give some information, but also give clues in how to think. This is the best book (really three books) so far. C.S. Lewis will do the same; not only teach you what to think in many cases, but HOW to think. This book and those by C.S. Lewis, even for atheists and agnostics, are treasures, even if they weren't convincing as apologetical works.Highly recommend reading anything you can by Chesterton, though I've not read any of his fiction yet (well, In Defense of Sanity could be seen in some instances as fiction, containing a vast collection of essays). I'm highly confident it is top-notch, however.

GK Chesterton is an amazing author. We have the original copies of these books, but thought this would make a wonderful gift idea for my sister. I would highly recommend everyone to read Chesterton.

All Christians should read Chesterton. He had an uncanny way of putting his finger on the pulse of reality, often showing that the negative of a common assertion was the true reality. For me, reading Heretics and Orthodoxy provided endless delights -- not only in the arguments made by Chesterton, but in his clever use of English.More than one person has found Orthodoxy in particular to be a life-saver. If you struggle with a lack of joy, doubts in your Christian convictions, or morbid introspection, reading Orthodoxy is likely to feel like a healing balm.

Chesterton was a master wit and a deep thinker, one of the great Christian writers of the modern age. Orthodoxy is a masterpiece!

Buy a notebook, pen, highlighter, etc., because you will want to remember and meditate on Chesterton's writing. Chesterton wrote in "sound bytes" 100 years before people knew what sound bytes were. Most of what Chesterton writes about applies to our age and time as well as his own.

Essencial!

This book is difficult to read and or understand.It requires a good deal of thought, interpretation and study.

This book is more for the educated than just a regualr person trying to read and understand. Perhaps I should have boughta easier book of his to read

The quality of the book is excellent and G K Chesterton as usual is delightful.

One can never be disappointed with Chesterton. This nice edition is printed on good paper and includes a few added footnotes (limited to what is absolutely necessary to know in order to understand the context). It is perfect to read these two books properly. I would recommend.