G. K. Chesterton
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Everlasting Man
$12.95Add to cartIn The Everlasting Man, a humorous defense of Christianity which inspired C.S. Lewis, Chesterton shows that once man is reduced to animal, history becomes utterly meaningless.
What truly gives man his dignity is the fact that he is so different from the beasts. What makes Christianity so different is that it tells of the story of the true man, the final man, the everlasting man, who came down in history and transformed it.
“This sketch of the human story began in a cave; the cave which popular science associates with the cave-man and in which practical discovery has really found archaic drawings of animals.
The second half of human history, which was like a new creation of the world, also begins in a cave . . . It was here that a homeless couple had crept underground with the cattle when the doors of the crowded caravanserai had been shut in their faces.
And it was here beneath the very feet of the passers-by, in a cellar under the very floor of the world, that Jesus Christ was born.” ~ From The Everlasting Man
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Orthodoxy
$11.95Add to cartIn this brilliant book, the enormously fat and jolly G.K. Chesterton gives a stirring defense of Christianity. Chesterton fought against the reductionist materialism with laughter, joy, and gratitude for the beauty of the world God has given us. We usually think of orthodoxy and the tenets of the Christian faith as dry, arbitrary, and perhaps even nonsensical. Chesterton shows that orthodoxy is beautiful and fits perfectly the strange, quirky world. For those of us who do not pay any attention to the strangeness of the world, this book is essential reading. The world may not have fairies, but it does have the sun, rivers, trees, and the sky, and they are as strange as anything we will find in a fairy tale. Read this book, then go outside and marvel.
“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.” ~From Chesterton’s Orthodoxy.
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Heretics And Orthodoxy
$18.99Add to cartTwo of G. K. Chesterton’s most important and well-known works are contained in this volume: Heretics, and Orthodoxy. In the first of these, Chesterton addresses the intellectual movements of his time that he considered most prominent and destructive. Chesterton confronts relativism, individualism, neo-paganism, and other trends of the modern period, paying special attention to the artists and intellectual elite of his time. He writes in detail about events of his time that were affected by these viewpoints. Heretics begins and ends with chapters on orthodoxy, anticipating the content of his most famous book-Orthodoxy, a classic that is part memoir, part apologetic. It exhibits Chesterton at his finest-a combination of literary wit, theological acumen, and pointed cultural critique. The two works complement each other perfectly, providing an accessible entry point to the battleground of truth and falsehood. Lexham Classics are beautifully typeset new editions of classic works. Each book has been carefully transcribed from the original texts, ensuring an accurate representation of the writing as the author intended it to be read.
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Orthodoxy
$14.99Add to cartIn response to G. K. Chesterton’s book Heretics, H. G. Wells said, “I will begin to worry about my philosophy…when Mr. Chesterton has given us his.” And that is what Chesterton set out to do. But, like any good theorist, he truly believed that he could not undertake this task without first articulating what he did not agree with. Having completed this act and receiving many responses to it, he set out to articulate the philosophy he had come to believe.
In a personal way, Chesterton uses “a set of mental pictures” to describe his journey in discovering the truth. Among his key points is the role of reason and fantasy in helping him to discover true orthodoxy. They led him to see that this was not a product of chance but was fashioned by a divine Creator. His timeless wisdom is relevant to the struggles of many Christians today.
Chesterton was surprised to find that what he discovered about orthodoxy was not unique to him at all; rather, it had been passed down through many generations. And he admitted, after much struggle and in much humility, “I will not call it my philosophy, for I did not make it. God and humanity made it; and it made me.”
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Heretics
$14.99Add to cart“The word heresy not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word orthodoxy not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong.”
-G. K. Chesterton, HereticsThe “modern” world of G. K. Chesterton’s day was one that often celebrated the independence and courage of heretics, while decrying the rigidity of conservative orthodoxy. In this classic collection of twenty essays, Chesterton uses wit and paradox to take on the popular philosophers of his day, including Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde, and Friedrich Nietzsche.
In taking on the “heretics”-modern thinkers who considered their views to be superior to “antiquated” conservative thought-Chesterton called out their tendency to focus on evils, such as segregation and slavery, without pointing men and women toward any idea of what is good. Chesterton criticized those who rebelled against traditional Christian beliefs-those who proudly defied the Word of God. With biting prose and incomparable wit, Chesterton exposes the heretics as not only wrong but also dangerous.
Written more than a century ago, Heretics remains a remarkably relevant work for today’s modern culture.
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Innoncence Of Father Brown
$14.99Add to cart“He thought his detective brain as good as the criminal’s, which was true. But he fully realized the disadvantage. ‘The criminal is the creative artist; the detective only the critic,’ he said with a sour smile, and lifted his coffee cup to his lips slowly, and put it down very quickly. He had put salt in it.” -G. K. Chesterton, The Innocence of Father Brown, “The Blue Cross”
In 1911, G. K. Chesterton published this first collection of twelve short stories featuring Father Brown, a priest-turned-detective who combines philosophical and spiritual reasoning with scientific observation to solve crimes. In doing so, Chesterton laid the foundation for future fictional detectives, such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Ellery Queen, and Nero Wolfe.
Unlike other writers of his time, who concocted outlandish crimes and intricate puzzles for the protagonist to solve, Chesterton pioneered the cozy mystery, narrowing the scope of the investigation to limited time, limited space, and a limited number of suspects, with all the clues revealed to the reader as well as to the detective.
Chesterton is highly regarded as a biting social commentator, and his humorous and insightful comparisons leave readers reeling. These tales are short, easy reads with strong plots, all connected by the clever detective with an above-average understanding of human nature.
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Man Who Was Thursday
$14.99Add to cartPart detective story, part surreal thriller, and part social commentary, The Man Who Was Thursday is a masterpiece of literary fiction by the brilliant G. K. Chesterton. The story centers around seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the days of the week. Fearing an impending act of terrorism, Gabriel Syme is sent by Scotland Yard to infiltrate their ranks by becoming “Thursday.” Elected undercover into the Central European Council of anarchists, Syme must avoid discovery and save the world from future bombings.
Beyond the excitement of an elephant chase, duels, elaborate disguises, and a hot-air balloon pursuit through the streets of London, Chesterton is most interested in the battle of ideas. Indeed, his real agenda is to expose the moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believed them to be in the world of his day. Chesterton’s classic novella tackles anarchy, social order, God, peace, war, religion, and human nature, somehow managing to combine them all into a delightful tale full of biting social commentary that is still relevant today.
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Man Who Knew Too Much
$14.99Add to cartFrom the creator of the Father Brown mysteries come eight short stories that trace the activities of Horne Fisher, “the man who knew too much,” and his trusted friend, political journalist Harold March. Horne is a socialite who uses his keen mind and powerful gifts of deduction to investigate crimes committed on the sprawling country estates of the aristocracy. Much loved for their wit and sense of wonder, these stories offer a fascinating portrait of upper-crust society in pre-World War I England.
Highly regarded as a biting social commentator, Chesterton fully displays his humorous and insightful comparisons through his colorful and poetic prose.
