Orthodoxy: A Modern Translation Paperback – 22 Feb. 2023

Excellent adaptation...before reading this I was already a fan of G.K.C. and was sceptical of the notion of an 'adaptation'...but now, having read it alongside the original, I have to say that 'nothing was missed'...and my vote goes with the 'adaptation' for the ease and pleasure it offers in reading one of Chesterton's greatest books.

“If you argue with a madman, it is more than likely you will lose that argument. In many ways his brain operates faster because it isn’t bogged down by the mental operations that come with having a healthy mind. He isn’t hampered by a sense of humor or by love or by simple, common experiences. He is actually more logical for losing some of his mental health. And because of this, the common phrase used to describe insanity is a misleading one in this case. The madman isn’t the man who has lost his ability to think. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his ability to think.’’I’ve noticed this. Lying, deceit, slander, etc., can be presented so clearly, logically, reasonably. Truth, reality, genuineness is hazy, puzzling, difficult.(Recalls Solomon . . .“The proverbs of Solʹo·mon,To learn wisdom and discipline;To understand wise sayings; To acquire the discipline that gives insight, Righteousness, good judgment, and uprightness;To impart shrewdness to the inexperienced;To give a young man knowledge and thinking ability. A wise person listens and takes in more instruction; A man of understanding acquires skillful directionTo understand a proverb and a puzzling saying,The words of the wise and their riddles.’’)Wisdom difficult. Madness easy.For example . . .“First, let’s take the more obvious case of materialism–the idea that nothing exists except physical matter. As an explanation of the world, materialism is almost insanely simple. It feels very similar to how a madman would think. In one sense it seemingly explains everything. And, in another sense, it leaves everything out.’’So true! Where is love/hate, good/bad, right/wrong?“Whether right or wrong, our earlier argument against the complete and logical theories of the madman is that it slowly destroyed his humanity. Now, whether right or wrong, our main argument against a man believing only in physical matter is that it gradually destroys his humanity, too. And I don’t mean it only destroys his kindness. It destroys hope, courage, poetry, motivation–all that is human. This materialism generally leads to total fatalism–to believing the future is inevitable. And when this process happens, it is quite useless to pretend that it is freeing in any way. It is ridiculous to say you are encouraging freedom when you use your free thought only to destroy a person’s free will.’’Chesterton writing in 1908. Current culture confirms his insight.Another one . . .“What we suffer from today, however, is humility in the wrong place. Humility has moved from the place of inward ambition to the place of outward conviction, where it was never meant to be. We were meant to have doubts about ourselves, but never to have doubts about the truth. This has been completely reversed. Nowadays the thing in which a person does believe in is exactly the thing he shouldn’t–himself. And the thing he doubts is exactly the thing he shouldn’t doubt–his God-given ability to think. The new kind of skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can learn anything at all.’’Mon-o-man! So true!“Healthy humility makes a man doubt himself and his own efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubt his work, which will make him stop working altogether.’’Modern society indeed.What else did he see?“Similarly, one generation of thinkers can, to some degree, prevent future thinking by teaching the next generation that there is no validity in human thought.’’Yes, he nailed it!“There happens to be one thought a person can have that stops all other thought, and that thought is the only thought that should be stopped. That thought is the ultimate evil that all religious authority defends against. It only appears at the end of morally bankrupt times like our own, and already H.G. Wells has raised its ruinous banner. He has written a piece in which he questions the brain itself, claiming his thoughts have no relation to reality at all. It is this destruction of the brain that all the organized efforts of religion were originally formed against. The creeds and the crusades, the church hierarchies and horrible persecutions were not organized to suppress reason, as some may say. They were organized for the difficult defense of reason.’’What!“Even now we can hear skepticism crashing through those old walls of authorities, and at the same time we can see reason shaking on her throne. Just as religion is gone today, reason is gone tomorrow. Because both religion and reason are foundational and authoritative. They are both used to prove things, but neither of them can be proven themselves.’’‘Neither reason or religion can be ‘proven’. He understood this obscure idea. Most don’t.“ And while we have been undermining religious authority, we have also to a great extent undermined that human authority that allows us to solve two plus two. With a long, hard tug we have tried to pull the hat off the Pope, and his head has come off with it.’’Yep, now mathematics under attack.What else?“Evolution is a good example of that modern idea that, if it destroys anything, it destroys itself. Evolution is either an innocent scientific explanation for how certain things on earth came to be, or, if it is anything more than this, it is an attack on thought itself. Evolution doesn’t destroy religion. If it destroys anything, it destroys rationalism.’’If humans just animals, why assume any thought or conclusion valid?What about objective truth?“I agree with the pragmatists that objective truth–the truth regardless of personal feelings, perspectives, opinions, etc.–isn’t all that matters, and that we humans have a foundational need to believe whatever is necessary for our minds to function. But I think that one of those necessary things is a belief in objective truth. The pragmatist tells a man to think what he needs to think in order to get on with his life and to disregard the objective or Absolute. But one of the things he really needs to think about happens to be the Absolute.’’Great!I hope these slices indicate the keen insight and fascinating presentation of Chesterson’s thought.Started out as bright atheist. Ended as devout Christian.Huge impact on many.Still significant.I didn’t agree with all his opinions.I didn’t understand all his opinions.I skipped some opinions.I rejoiced in many opinions.RecommendedNo indexNo photographsNo notes.