Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy is a 1908 book by G. K. Chesterton, whom he described as a "spiritual autobiography". It was written as a companion to Heretics, a collection of essays in which Chesterton had criticised the secular views prevalent in his time and defended Christian orthodoxy. The book was partly prompted by a challenge from the critic G. S. Street, who had complained that Chesterton had not set out his own theology. Chesterton answers by doing so, and states his aim in the preface: not to argue whether the Christian faith can be believed, but to explain how he personally came to believe it.

The work follows that personal path. Chesterton claims that, when he reflected on the nature of human life, he found his conclusions already matched Christian doctrine. Against a materialism he regards as coherent but narrow, he argues that the Christian can accept both the natural and the supernatural. He also attacks a scepticism that ends up defeating itself, and examines the paradoxes of Christianity, which for him are not contradictions but complementary virtues, such as the courage of the martyr and the peace of the monk. He presents faith as an answer to human needs, "the answer to a riddle", rather than an arbitrary truth received from outside human experience.

The book has nine chapters, from the introduction to the final chapter on authority and the adventurer. Its chapter on the "romance" of orthodoxy argues that Christianity offers adventure within a framework of rules, like walls that protect children so they can play without fear. Chesterton converted to Catholicism fourteen years later, while still an Anglican when he wrote the book. His focus on the Apostles' Creed made the work appealing to Christians of various denominations, and it helped sway some readers, including Theodore Maynard, towards Roman Catholicism.