Heretics

2011 Reprint of 1905 Edition. This work was written as a companion to Chesterton’s more famous work, “Orthodoxy’. In “Heretics”, Chesterton makes the point that Westerners live in a world that celebrates rebels who step out of the norm and critique long held traditions and beliefs. In some cases, these rebels call attention to wrongs and abuses such as segregation and slavery, but there is a dark side to celebrating rebels. The ranks of those who rebel against traditional Christian beliefs grow increasingly vocal and proud of their defiance of God’s Word. This is not a new phenomenon, but was noticed, documented, and critiqued in 1905 by G. K. Chesterton in his work “Heretics.” The eccentric Englishman employs his biting wit to expose heretics as wrong and dangerous. Although over 100 years old, “Heretics” is remarkably relevant to today’s culture. Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an “orthodox” Christian, and came to identify such a position with Catholicism more and more, eventually converting to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism. George Bernard Shaw, Chesterton’s “friendly enemy” said of him, “He was a man of colossal genius”. Biographers have identified him as a successor to such Victorian authors as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, John Henry Cardinal Newman, and John Ruskin.