G.K. Chesterton
Well, it’s been a pretty frantic weekend, so I don’t think I’ll write much. Rather, I’ll direct you to this thoughtful musing on G.K. Chesterton, perhaps my favorite Christian writer of the last century or so.
Chesterton, for those who aren’t familiar with him, was one of England’s greatest wits at the turn of the last century. He wrote endlessly on a huge variety of topics (he authored the still popular “Father Brown” series of mystery stories), but his musings on Christianity are, I think, incredibly relevant today — far more relevant, in some ways, than I expect they were in his own time: He has a talent for the soundbite and a gift for charming self-deprication. And “Orthodoxy,” which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, I believe, sounds like a clarion call to Christianity in a postmodern world.
I’d encourage you to pick up “Orthodoxy,” if you’ve never read it. But, barring that, check out this page of quotations that hint at Chesterton’s wit but barely brush the surface of his wisdom. My favorite: “You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.”
