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ummaries Volume 1 . Issue 11

ORTHODOXY Classics
From the

COUNCIL OF REFERENCE
COLLECTION
Dr. Richard Averbeck

Dr. Bill Bright

Dr. Paul Cedar

Mr. Dave Coleman A Quick Focus

Dr. Larry Crabb

Mr. Roger Cross The Book's Purpose

Rev. Samuel Farina
Dr. Kenneth O. Gangel
Rev. Lud Golz
Dr. Howard G. Hendricks
Mr. Olan Hendrix
Dr. David Jeremiah
Rev. Knute Larson
Dr. John C. Maxwell
Dr. Bruce McNicol
Mr. Dean Merrill
Mrs. Elisa Morgan
Dr. Ray Ortlund
Dr. Luis Palau
Dr. Gilbert A. Peterson
Articulate a response to the
prevailing secular mindset
Elucidate a positive and
romantic defense of the
Christian faith
Relate the author's personal
journey of faith by G.K. Chesterton (1874~1936)
Published by Harold Shaw Publishers
Communicate the sufficiency
of orthodox Christianity as Substituting Christianity for a secularized
the best response to modern world view, we can recover a sane imagina-
tion, an authoritative framework for reason,
man's intellectual concerns a proper patriotism for the world, and a com-
mitment to progress. And when we do, we
The Book's Message will delight to discover once again what
Christianity discovered so long ago. CB
Modern philosophy insists on a S
materialistic universe devoid of the
Eight Main Points

8
supernatural. But man cannot live by
Rev. Wes Roberts
this bread alone. We crave the security
Mr. Jim Warren and adventure of a divinely-ordered The Mariner and the Madman .................. 2
world, and our souls are homeless The Suicide of Thought ............................ 2
Dr. Rick Warren
on the streets of the new secular city. Imagination and Remnants of the Wreck .... 3
This, then, becomes our argument Optimism, Pessimism, and the Cosmic Patriot 4
Publishers
for the truth of Christianity. The ortho- The Paradox of Christianity ...................... 5
David A. Martin dox Christian faith, as encapsulated in
John S. Martin, III the Apostle's Creed, gives us what The Eternal Revolution ............................. 5
Editor
modern philosophy cannot~real mean- The Romance of Orthodoxy ........................ 6
Michael J. Chiapperino ing, real joy, and real humanity.
Authority and the Adventurer ................... 7

THE MARINER
There was once a
AND THE
mariner who set sail
in search of uncharted lands, but due
to a miscalculation, he ended up land-
ing on his own shores. Ignorant of
MAD
his error, he proudly planted the
flag, claiming his very own homeland
on behalf of the same. Ironically, he
was quite pleased when he discover-
MAN
ed his mistake, for he had experienced
all the thrill of discovery without
sacrificing the familiarity.
This is what we seek: a life
which is both secure and poetically
picturesque~one part fairy tale and
one part fireside. Only Christianity
can fulfill these two spiritual needs
of man. If we are fortunate, we will
be like the silly sailor who rejoiced
in his discovery of the familiar. Search-
ing for a truth to call our own, we
will finally plant our flag in the well-
trodden soil of the Christian faith.
"...I tried to be some ten minutes
in advance of the truth. And I
found that I was eighteen hundred
years behind it...I was punished
in the fittest and funniest way, for
I have kept my truths: but I have
discovered, not that they were not
truths, but simply that they were
not mine."
For ages the central undeniable
fact of human existence was the
reality of sin. Now, however, modern
thinkers have proposed alternative
explanations for the human condi-
tion. Many no longer believe that
man is bad. Yet we can agree that he
may be crazy.
So let us begin with the insane
asylum. Some believe that people
end up there because of the debili-
tating effects of imagination. But
poets and mystics do not go crazy;
the great thinkers frequently go mad~
because they cannot reconcile the
world to their ways of explaining it.
Many lunatics, however, are excel-
lent reasoners. They order their entire
world in a hyper-logical though un-
enlightened manner, a perfect but
contracted circle.
2
Oddly enough,
the same height-
ened logic and
diminished spir-
ituality which
we observe in
the halls of the
asylum is often
present in the
halls of learning.
Modern thinkers live in a determi-
nistic universe in which everything
is logically connected. But it is a puny
cosmos. Life (which is concerned
with conflict, pride, love, and adven-
ture) remains a riddle to them, be-
cause it cannot be reduced to a
mechanistic process.
“The poet
only asks to get
his head into
the heavens. It is
the logician who seeks
to get the heavens
into his head.
And it is his head
that splits.”
This sort of unhealthy thinking
is extraordinarily limiting as well.
A Christian may believe in an or-
dered world of causation, but the
smallest crumb of miracle will
crumble the materialist's philosophy.
By denying the reality of the will,
fatalism destroys our freedom to
curse, thank, justify, or resist temp-
tation. Materialists can change the
environment which governs their
responses, but they cannot change
themselves.
The alter ego of materialism, the
belief that the world is merely a pro-
jection of the individual imagination,
suffers from the same defect. This
position is eminently logical but
false. You cannot prove that we are
not dreaming, but the person who
cannot believe his own senses is,
nevertheless, crazy. And this is the
principle mark of insanity, not that
it is illogical, but that its reason is
not rooted in reality.
If this is true, mysticism is the
only remedy which will allow us
to protect our sanity. Mystery leads
to a healthy life. The ordinary man
has always been mystical, free to
doubt his gods but free to believe
in them as well. He is more interest-
ed in truth than in consistency.
He accepts both fate and free will,
embracing the contradiction. And
he lives happily ever after.
"The morbid logician seeks to
make everything lucid, and suc-
ceeds in making everything mys-
terious. The mystic allows one
thing to be mysterious, and
everything else becomes lucid...
The one created thing which we
cannot look at is the one thing
in the light of which we look at
everything~Like the sun at noon-
day, mysticism explains every-
thing else by the blaze of its own
victorious invisibility..." C
SB
THE
SUICIDE OF
THOUGHT
Some champion
truth but have no mercy. Others
dispense mercy~at the expense of
truth. But perhaps the greatest
damage done by disconnected
virtues is the skewing of our sense
of humility. Modesty is no longer
related to ambition, but to convic-
tion. We were intended to doubt
ourselves but not the truth, but
humility now seems to imply that
one cannot believe he possesses
the truth.
continued

THE SUICIDE OF THOUGHT continued
“The
modern world
is full of
the old
Christian
values gone
mad.”
Our day is marked by misplaced
goodness, righteous sentiments
which are all out of proportion.
The danger we now face is the self-
destruction of intellect. If there is
no validity in human thought, then
there is nothing to be gained by
thinking. Reason requires us to be-
lieve that our thinking is truly related
to reality, a conviction which the
modern skeptic has lost. And this
loss of faith reduces all thinking to
a pointless exercise.
The role of religious authority
was to defend reason, to keep man-
kind from spiraling into this nothing-
ness of skepticism. The reason for
the creeds and the crusades was to
protect reason, not to obliterate it.
Religion and reason are intimately
connected because both are founded
on a faith which cannot be proven.
When the former was rejected, a
dynamic was set in motion which
would destroy the latter as well.
Current philosophy, then, is more
than insane; it is suicidally insane.
Even as it heralds the coming of free
thought, it writes its epitaph. We
cannot move on to a greater skepti-
cism than that which questions our
own existence and the reality of
reality. This is not a beginning.
It is an end, a dead end.
CB
S Yet the fairy-tale philosopher delights
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3
IMAGINATION AND
REMNANTS OF THE
WRECK
through magic. The witch says,
"Blow the horn, and the ogre's castle
will fall." She does not know why,
but she has seen many castles go
We all mastered the down in this way. Hers is not a
fundamentals of philosophy in grade mysterious view of life. It is cold,
school, for that is when we learned rational agnosticism. The scientist
to believe in fairy tales. Far from is the one who purports to know the
fantasy, fairy tales are entirely reason- magic formula for reality.
able tidbits of common sense.
Cinderella shows how the humble "Compared to them [fairy tales]
are exalted. Sleeping Beauty pictures religion and rationalism are both
mankind, bestowed with all natural abnormal, though religion is ab-
blessing, then cursed with death, normally right and rationalism
but ultimately finding that death abnormally wrong."
reduced to a sleep from which one
may awake. Fairy tales also teach us all about
conditional joy. There is always some-
This elfin world bestows upon thing wonderful to be had if we can
us a vision of reality which is subse- only learn to say no to its alternative.
quently confirmed by the facts. For One could live in a jeweled palace
the world of fairies is one of neces- if only he did not say the word "rabbit."
sary logic, of things which must be. Cinderella had to be back by mid-
Rationalists, however, no longer be- night. Man could live forever if only
lieve in fairy tales, and their unbelief he did not eat the fruit of the garden.
is their undoing. They speak as if
the particular events of life were
Both in elfland and on earth,
rationally necessary. But the fact bliss is probationary. Happiness
that trees bear fruit is not necessary. depends on not doing that which
The fact that two trees plus one tree we could do but should not, even
equals three trees is necessary.
if we don't understand the prohibi-
tion. If Cinderella wants to know
Fairy tales are governed by the why she must be back at 12:00, her
real laws of mental relations, where- fairy godmother might quite rightly
as physical science is governed by question why she should be allowed
the non-law of weird repetitions.
to go the ball at all. And the same
Miracles involve no mental impossi- question might be put to us as well.
bility. We can believe that the bean- If the world is a wonderfully surpris-
stalk grew up to stratospheric ing place, which didn't have to be
heights, but we know that only this way but nevertheless is, then
one quantity of beans equals five. submitting to certain mysterious con-
ditions is quite a meager price to pay
The rationalistic world of science for the privilege of being part of it.
treats natural "laws" as if there is
some reason why things should have The modern world is opposed to
to be that way. They pretend to know the ethics of elfland. A mechanistic
why one thing leads to another, world view says that everything is
when in reality they merely observe just as it had to be. Leaves are green
that it does so. because they could be no other color.
Fairy tales, on the other hand, in the green of the leaf, because for
preserve the wonder of the world him it might have been red.
continued on page 4
IMAGINATION AND REMNANTS continued from page 3
4
The pessimist, however, is surely
the cosmic anti-patriot. Though he may
play the role of the candid friend, the
“I had always felt life first pessimist does not tell the truth. He
as a story; and if there is a story announces doom and gloom as if he
were sorry for it, but in reality he finds
there is a story-teller.” a perverse pleasure in our failure. He
is not to be trusted, for he does not love
the object of his criticism.
Modern thought cannot tolerate a surprisingly wonderful world, nor That is not to say that all optimists
assent to the notion of conditional joy. It diminishes man by pointing out are pure of heart. They are all loyalists,
that he is just a speck in the monstrosity that is the universe. But the but their loyalty may be either natural
materialist, like the madman, is walled in by the prison of his reductionist (rational) or supernatural (irrational).
principles. He thinks nothing of it, claiming that his jail, this materialistic Ironically, those who love without a
universe, is so very big. Yes, it is grandly large, but it is pitifully dim, lack- reason will improve their world, while
ing the decorative touch of anything interesting such as forgiveness or free those who must justify their affection
will. And it is still a jail, even if the corridors are long. constitute a destructive force. The
mystic patriot will make things better
But why think of the universe as large in the first place? If it is the only at any cost, for he loves the world quite
thing that is, we could just as easily consider it cozy as vast. And if we see apart from it merits. But a mere rational
it as small, then all of its elements immediately become the more precious.

Ortho
loyalty, if it judges the world unworthy,
will allow it to rot.
Remember Robinson Crusoe? Marooned on a small island, his existence
was limited to those few priceless items preserved from the wreck. Even "...The fanatic can be a skeptic. Love
his kitchen utensils became ideal because they might have been lost but is not blind... Love is bound, and the
were saved for his use. more it is bound the less it is blind."
Consider how wonderful the universe would be if we saw it as the rem- We say that allegiance must precede
nant of a cosmic wreck. The fact that we have trees and sun and mountains, reform. Others maintain that it would
when we might not, would transform the world into a precious commodity. be more reasonable to see the world for
Life would be more like magic than like necessity, a work of art created what it is, a mixed bag of good and evil.
by someone. We would show our gratitude by a humble and proper use That attitude, so pervasive in our time,
of it. We would owe our obedience to whatever created such a world. And is disastrous. For in that case our happi-
we would see our good as a sacred remnant, saved from the wreck. CB ness and anger cancel out one another,
S producing a discontented contentment.
Rather, we need an extra dose of both

OPTIMISM, PESSIMISM,
delight and disgust that only an irrational
optimism, a cosmic patriotism, can
provide.

AND THE COSMIC Christianity supplies the answer

to the unhappy pessimist and the even
more dissatisfied optimist. The trans-
cendence of God, his separation from

PATRIOT
To worry
about being an
optimist or a pessimist
is to miss the point. We do not
evaluate the world in a dispassion-
to its merit. Therefore,
we must accept the
universe as it is in a
more patriotic and less analytical
manner.
his very creation, is the heart of the
Christian message. When God put the
universe in motion, the poet was sepa-
rated from his poem.

ate fashion, as if sent by some alien The world is the purposeful and
For the patriot all roads lead to
race to decide whether or not this cozy place which God created for us.
love. We love our land for all that
would be a good place to settle. Therefore, we should feel at home here.
is good about it, and we love it all
Whether we see it as mostly won- However, we must love the world with-
the more for its deficiencies, for
derful or mostly grim, we belong out being worldly, for the rebellion of
loyalty precedes judgment. We might
to the world long before we are creation means that the world is not as
call this kind of proper optimism
capable of forming an opinion as it should be. Optimism is turned upside-
about the world cosmic patriotism. down. We are not optimistic because
Published by Christian Book Summaries, Inc., 4654 Winery Way, Gahanna, Ohio all is right. We are optimistic because,
43230-4231, March 2000. Published monthly. Subscription $59.95 in the compared to the supernatural, all is
United States; $64.95 in Canada; and, by airmail, $79.95 in all other countries. askew, and therefore it is right to feel
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Christian Book Summaries,
1550 Lewis Center Rd., Suite G, Lewis Center, OH 43035-9925 homesick at home. CB
S
 5
THE PARADOX OF THE
CHRISTIANITY ETERNAL
“...Whenever we feel that there is something odd in Christian
theology, we shall generally find that there is something odd
in the truth."
REVOLUTION
Everyone is interested
in making things better. But what
The world is a tricky place, for it is almost logical. Its regularities are mani- does "better" mean? Nature can-
fest even to the simple, but its irregularities surprise even the sage. Imagine not answer this question, for
that some creature unfamiliar with our human race began to observe our ana- nature accepts things as they
tomy. It would find us strikingly symmetrical, one side of our bodies being are without making value judg-
the mirror image of the other~two arms, two legs, two eyes, two nostrils. If ments. Nor does the mere pas-
mathematically minded, this creature might surmise that we had two shoulder sage of time guarantee progress.
blades or even twin lobes of the brain. But if it concluded that we have a single Any meaningful sense of progress
heart placed just off center, we would deem the stranger something more than must come from a definite vision
a mathematician.

odoxy
of how things should be, a point
Christianity goes beyond logic for precisely this reason; it is able to predict toward which we can move.
the unpredictable but true. Demonstrating the merits of Christianity, however,
is not easy. It would be much easier to defend a theory which is proven by this Mankind today cannot be
or that than to defend a philosophy which is proven by everything. truly progressive. It cannot re-
form the world to fit the vision,
To be sure, Christianity's rationalistic detractors attack it from all sides. for it is too busy changing the
It is at once too optimistic and too pessimistic. One claims that it is a nightmare, vision. We have found it easier
another a utopian fantasy. Some see it as the mother of all wars, while others to alter the ideal than to attain
belittle its impractical pacifism. Is this faith so vile as to sport so many contra- it. If we decide that the world
dictory vices, or might there be something wrong with the rationalism of the should be blue, then we can set
critics? about changing everything to
that color. But if this year we say
Given the contradictory criticisms to which the Christian faith has been blue and the next year red and
subjected, one must conclude that it is either quite grotesque or quite perfect. later yellow, then we will end up
For even the ideal man would undoubtedly be criticized by those who were with much vacillation and little
not. The short would think him too tall, and the tall too short. The stocky progress, because we don't know
would insist that he was too thin, while the thin considered him overweight. where we are headed.
In the case of Christianity we find that this explanation fits the problem
just as a key fits a lock. Those who criticize Christianity for being restrictive "...Ours is only an age of con-
turn out to be too unhealthily hedonistic. Those who criticize Christianity's servatism because it is an age
faith turn out to be unhealthily pessimistic. of complete unbelief. Let be-
liefs fade fast and frequently,
But is orthodoxy really the perfect point of equilibrium in these matters? if you wish institutions to re-
Aristotle found virtue in a balance. But Christianity suggests a more surprising main the same. The more the
and even paradoxical answer, based on a collision of two apparently conflicting life of the mind is unhinged,
passions. Christian courage juxtaposes a passion for life with a willingness to the more the machinery of the
die. Christian modesty pits the exaltation of man in the created order against matter will be left to itself."
his brokenness. Christian charity means pardoning the unpardonable and lov-
ing the unlovable. By contrast, pagan attempts to achieve balance do so by dilut- When ideals evolve, there can
ing the opposing elements, leaving us with only a deflated shell of passionless be no progressive revolution.
passions. That happens only when people
are convinced that what they
Orthodoxy, then, is a thrilling romance, not the ponderous yawn-spawner perceive as an inequity will be
which many people imagine. It is dynamic and often paradoxical, but that is as wrong tomorrow as it is today.
precisely how it maintains its truth and its vitality. The easier path is that of There is no point in risking one's
the critical modernists who fashion Christianity in their own image. Had the well-being to achieve a goal
Church fallen into this same trap, it would thereby have been tamed. Instead, which may turn out not be a goal
it continues to ramble wildly through history, proving itself uniquely capable at all. Progress requires a fixed
of predicting the unpredictable. CB vision of the ideal.
S continued on page 6

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THE ETERNAL REVOLUTION continued from page 5
Not only must our ideal of pro-
gress be fixed, it must also be com-
plex. It must involve an entire series
of elements in their exact proportion.
For this reason the vision of an in-
evitable natural progress will not
do, for without a mind behind the
vision we will have impersonal
change toward no particular goal.
Not every sort of change leads
to a better world, even if directed
toward a given end. Human happi-
ness is predicated on a principle of
proportionality. For instance, we
must be humble enough to be in
awe of the world and yet haughty
enough to defy it when necessary.
A measure of faith in ourselves is
necessary for an adventure, yet we
must at the same time doubt our-
selves in order to enjoy it.
A belief in the inevitability of
progress is the best reason not to be
progressive. For in that case we need
do nothing at all. The best reason
for being progressive is that things
tend to get worse. Conservatism
doesn't work, because when you
leave something as it is, it is, none-
theless, subjected to change and will
deteriorate. If this is true of inani-
mate objects, it is all the more true
of human institutions. We must
always guard against corruption and
the abuse of power. An eternal revol-
ution is called for to counteract the
insidious effects of man's fallenness.
Christianity
answers these
three challenges
of progress.
1. It fixed the ideal before the
foundation of the world.
2. It can give us the complex
picture of life toward which
we should move.
3. And its doctrine of original
sin alerts us to the need to
work toward that ideal.
CB
S By attacking God they have destroyed humanity instead. CB
6
THE ROMANCE
There are words
which sound like
they ought to mean some-
thing very different than
what they actually denote.
Take for instance, the term
liberal as applied to those OF ORTHODOXY
theologians who believe in the material origin of that which exists, the
impossibility of the miraculous, the improbability of personal immortality,
etc. We shall demonstrate how the freedom which such ideas pretend
to introduce into the Church end up promoting tyranny in the world,
making it the least liberal ideology imaginable.
Take the example of miracles. The liberal churchman rejects miracles,
not due to his liberal Christianity but to his rigid materialism. In fact,
liberalism (as classically understood~relating to freedom), if it comes
down on either side of the miracles question, would prejudice us in favor
of them. Miracles represent freedom in the universe, the freedom of God
to act.
Liberals are also fond of pantheism. How often do we hear phrases
like, "All religions teach essentially the same thing, although they may
differ in their rites and forms?" But the fact of the matter is just the
opposite. There is significant similarity in their systems of priests, scrip-
tures, altars, and feasts. But their messages are clearly different. All human-
ity believes that we are caught in sin's trap, but there is disagreement
about how to get out of it.
Some have suggested that all faiths are just manifest versions or per-
versions of the one true religion, the foundation of which is the universal
self. But if we are all just one person, then we cannot love our neighbor
but only ourselves. Love demands personality and particularity. Christian-
ity is the only philosophy which depicts God as glad that the universe
is something outside Himself, for only in this way can we love Him.
It is this distinction between subject and object which makes moral
action possible. The pantheist has no motivation and, indeed, no possibility
of changing reality. But the Christian keeps before him an ideal into which
reality may be conformed. It is for that reason that in the West tyrants
have been dethroned, while in the East there is no particular rationale
for doing so.
Modernists may insist on the inevitable salvation of all men, but it
is the possibility of perdition which motivates man to moral action. For
the Eastern fatalist, everything works out mathematically according to
the structures of fate. But for the Christian, free will plays out like a story
with any number of possible outcomes. The fact that things can go wrong
is the reason we must make them go right.
The modernist also attempts to dismiss the divinity of Christ. Quite
apart from the truth of the matter, consider what a revolutionary thing
it is for God to become an outcast for a righteous cause. A God who re-
belled lends credence to the notion of rebellion.
"Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipo-
tence 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."
Far from destroying orthodoxy, those who rail against it merely
succeed in destroying society. Trying to eliminate Adam's responsibility
before God, they prove that man is not responsible to man. Denying God
the right to punish, they deny it to man as well. Rejecting man's eternal
personality, they do not make heaven less joyous but earth less interesting.
S
 7
AUTHORITY AND THE ADVENTURER
We have shown of elements such as human sacrifice, from, the belief that miracles have,
how orthodoxy supports those prin- not their carry-over from antiquity. in fact, occurred is not based on
ciples fundamental to the promotion Legends of a Fall abound, but leg- speculation but rather on solid evi-
of a just and happy society. But now ends of progress are unknown. dence. Those who reject miracles
the critical question: Why not just maintain that they do so based on
accept the principles and refuse the And what of the priests? Look facts, whereas the Christian accepts
orthodoxy? Perhaps the simplest at Europe and see which countries them for dogmatic reasons. Quite
reason is that we are drawn to have open-air singing and dancing, the opposite is true, however. There
rational thought. If we are to treat art and color. Catholicism erects is overwhelming evidence for all
man as fallen, it seems logically con- barriers, but they are the barriers kinds of supernatural occurrences.
venient to believe in the Fall. If which surround the playground.
we are to treat him as a free moral Within them we may enjoy the pleas- If a peasant claims that he saw
creature, it stands to a ghost, the materialist
reason that he does, will not believe him.
in fact, have free will. Why? Either out of a
“All other philosophies decidedly anti-demo-
Rationalists cannot
consent to these truths,
say the things that cratic disdain for the
common man or be-
however. Note three plainly seem to be true; cause his dogma does
of their principle ob- not permit it. Christ-
jections. only this philosophy ians, on the other hand,
are free to examine the
has again and again said evidence. After doing
Humans beings are
merely a form of the thing that does not so, we conclude that
many miracles have,
animal life. seem to be true, but is in fact, happened.
Religion finds its
basis in ignorance
true. Alone of all There is no way to
and fear. the creeds it is organize a controlled
scientific experiment
Priests have held convincing where it for supernatural pheno-
mena; but the facts have
back the happiness
and well-being of
is not attractive.” somehow conspired
with common sense
society. to make believers out
of us. It is not just
All of these arguments mystics who encounter
are logical and legitimate. elves and angels, not
The only valid objection which we ures of paganism. Remove them and just spiritualists who experience the
can offer is that they are false. fun becomes a threat. paranormal. Normal and level-headed
folks sometimes cross paths with
Both men and monkeys have There is yet another matter of the miraculous.
hands, but that physical coincidence central importance to the reasonable-
is not nearly as striking as the fact ness of orthodoxy. That is whether As a response to materialism, it
that men perform marvels with or not the supernatural does, in fact, is important to maintain the reality
theirs, whereas monkeys do nothing exist. Materialism sees order in the of the supernatural. But the Christian
noteworthy. universe and concludes that it must, may find an even higher and more
therefore, be impersonal. It is very personal reason for faith~that the
The assertion that religion was difficult to discuss why we believe Church instructs our souls as a living
born in a dark and terrible corner exactly the opposite to be true, for teacher. Plato expressed some wis-
of human existence has no basis it is a foundational conviction like dom, but no more. Shakespeare ex-
in fact. What we know of human the certainty of self. cited us with literary images, but he
history points to the introduction is gone. Through our contact with
Wherever the inclination to a living Church, however, we learned
accept the miraculous may come
continued on page 8

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AUTHORITY AND THE ADVENTURER continued from page 7
yesterday and will learn again to-
morrow. It guides us much like our
mothers did when we were young.
The fundamental reason for accept-
ing religion is not that it tells the
truth with regard to specifics, but
that it, like a parent, shows itself
to be a truth teller.
Competing voices try to entice
us with the idea of reincarnation,
but consider its consequences. It
legitimizes class distinctions based
on the merits of past lives. Christian-
ity, on the other hand, presents us
with the unattractive idea of original
sin, but if we accept it we are then
able to pity the poor and distrust the
powerful.
Christianity offers us a rigid ex-
terior which protects an inner core
of joy and abandonment, whereas
modern philosophy offers us all of
the beauty of emancipation on the
outside, but the inner void is deep
and dark. Materialism finds no mean-
ing or romance in the universe, for
Visit the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website
sponsored by Calvin College to browse or download
a free copy of Orthodoxy: www.ccel.org
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)
was a successful novelist, journalist,
lecturer, and radio personality. Perhaps
he is best known for his Father Brown
series of detective stories.
Published when Chesterton was 35,
Orthodoxy is his argument for
the simple plausibility of
traditional Christianity. C.S. Lewis
and Philip Yancey are among the many
Christian thinkers who have found
this book a pivotal step in their
adoption of credible faith.
8
I II II II II II II
without limits there can be no danger.
III
Adventure exists only in the land of
authority, but never in the land of
intellectual anarchy.
This brings us to a final but im-
portant thought. The great paradox
of our faith is that we are not our-
selves. Due to the Fall, our normal
condition is not normal at all. We
can appreciate this truth, however,
only when we begin to recover our
true selves. Orthodoxy leads us to
that recovery, and that recovery leads
us to joy.
Most men find happiness in little
things but despair in the big ones.
This situation, however, is all upside-
down. Joy should be the norm and
melancholy the exception. When we
embrace orthodoxy and find meaning
in the universe, we also find joy. And
once that joy is ours, we know that
we are finally right-side-up.
CB
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stian
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Chriook
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IIIIIIII II II II II II II II I I I I
ummaries
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Volume 1, Number 11
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David A. Martin
John S. Martin, III
Editor
Michael J. Chiapperino
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Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.
Originally published in 1908. This
edition, copyright C 1994 by Harold
Shaw Publishers as part of the Wheaton
Literary Series. Used by permission
of Harold Shaw Publishers Box 567,
Wheaton, Illinois. 60198.
ISBN 0-87788-630-X. $14.99
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