G.K. Chesterton's Uncommonly Common Sense

the Holies

Jun 12

By Mary Frances Myler

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien are beloved Christian writers and intellectuals—men who have touched millions of hearts through both vivid fantasy and engaging theology. But Narnia and Middle Earth would be unrecognizable without the influence of G.K. Chesterton. In fact, they likely wouldn’t exist. Tolkien read Chesterton’s works as a boy and was heavily influenced by Chesterton’s philosophy of myth, fairy stories, and magic. While convalescing in a field hospital during World War I, Lewis read Chesterton’s theological work The Everlasting Man, which proved pivotal for Lewis’s subsequent conversion from atheism to Christianity. But who was Chesterton?

In short, Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a writer who addressed the cultural milieu of turn-of-the-century Britain, a convert to Catholicism with a winding path to the Church, and a man with great personality and influence. It is impossible to fully capture his larger-than-life personality, but even a rough sketch endears Chesterton to any who encounter him.

THE CHESTERTONIAN WORLDVIEW

Often referred to as the “apostle of common sense,” Chesterton advocated for natural simplicity in all aspects of life. Whereas contemporary philosophy engaged in a self-referential conversation divorced from the commonplace reality of human life, Chesterton believed that an average, hard-working, faithful man or woman knew more about life than a philosopher could. Instead of studying life, everyday people lived it, and thereby understood natural law and common sense.

Chesterton championed the common man, the poor, and the blue-collar Christian. He called everyday people “the million masks of God,” rejecting the trendy elitism that sought to improve upon common life by destroying it. He loved the family and the home, saw magic and fairy tales in all areas of life, and approached serious topics with intensity and childlike joy.

Chesterton’s perspective is characterized by wonder—wonder at the many everyday miracles such as a budding flower, a baby’s laugh, or a drink shared with friends. He once wrote, “People forget how to be grateful unless they learn how to be humble,” and presented gratitude as the key to happiness.

Eventually, Chesterton’s philosophy would lead him to Christianity. Filled with a deep love for Christ and his mother, Chesterton contemplated the miraculous intersection of the human and divine. The following passage from Orthodoxy captures his wonder-filled perspective on life and faith, which finds deep beauty in the quotidian reality of sunrise:

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.

Chesterton offers a fresh theological perspective drawn from mundane life. While repetition can seem boring, he imbues it with a divine quality. There is beauty to be found in the simple monotony of daily life, for God himself embraces repetition, just as children do. Chesterton displays a remarkable talent for bringing together the common and the divine, sanctifying everyday life in the process. But this ability was shaped over many years of Chesterton’s life.

MODERN MALAISE

G.K. Chesterton was born in London in 1874. Although his family was Christian, they rarely attended services, and Chesterton was raised without formation in the faith. He received poor grades in school and never attended college, but studied illustration at art school.

During art school, Chesterton acutely felt the insidious influence of popular philosophy. Skepticism, nihilism, and materialism were in vogue, and Chesterton soon spiraled into the darkness lurking behind these philosophies. He later wrote in his Autobiography, “I was not mad, in any medical or physical sense; I was simply carrying the skepticism of my time as far as it would go.” These trains of thought unanimously led to despair.

Exhausted by the instability of nihilism, Chesterton decided to ground himself in a counter-cultural gratitude for existence. He realized the disconnect between popular philosophy and the beauty found in life—nihilism could not appreciate the miracle of each new day. For the rest of his life, Chesterton would write against these philosophies, tirelessly advocating for wonder and an appreciation of the mundane.

A STEP TOWARDS FAITH

After leaving art school, Chesterton began writing weekly columns for a popular newspaper. Despite poor academic performance early in life, Chesterton was a brilliant writer with a flair for wit. His columns allowed him to explore the dimensions of his new wonder-filled perspective on life and existence, and he became an incredibly popular columnist.

In 1901, Chesterton married Frances Blogg, the love of his life. Frances was, in many ways, the still point around which Chesterton’s world turned. Chesterton was fairly absent-minded and would often lose track of time and place while writing. This was especially problematic, as he often wrote while taking the train. One anecdote tells of a time he disembarked at an unfamiliar station and sent a telegram to Frances asking, “Am here. Where ought I to be?” The reply came: “Home.” He was so horribly forgetful that Frances found it easier to simply start him off all over than to course-correct in the middle of a trip.

Frances not only steered Chesterton towards the proper earthly destination; Chesterton credited his wife with leading him back to Anglicanism, as Frances was a devout Christian. Her influence led to his gradual conversion, which manifested itself in his book Orthodoxy, published in 1908. Still unnerved by the dominant philosophies of his day, Chesterton set out to write a competing personal philosophy based on common sense.

Where other philosophies often relied on convoluted logic or the rejection of reality, Chesterton’s “common sense” was rooted in the common experience of reality. It recognized man’s instinct for a higher power, appreciated the innate beauty of life, and rejoiced in the familial structure of society. While other philosophies of the day distanced themselves from ancient and medieval beliefs, Chesterton believed that thousands of years of human life had generated a valuable tradition that should not be abandoned for illogical modern whims. While writing Orthodoxy, Chesterton realized that his proposals were not new; in fact, they were contained in centuries of Christian tradition. By writing, he realized his own unconscious assent to the truths of Christianity.

Thus began Chesterton’s journey towards the Church—a journey which would result in countless books, essays, short stories, and even a popular detective fiction series. He was a hugely prolific writer, and he tirelessly explored and defended the traditions of Christianity through endless genres, in addition to his popular literary criticism and fiction in the form of poems, plays, and novels.

COMING TO THE CHURCH

In 1922, Chesterton converted to Catholicism, bringing his wife Frances into the Church with him. Chesterton was so intent on Frances’s conversion that he delayed his own entry so that the two might become Catholic together. Following their conversion, Chesterton published a collection of apologetic essays titled The Thing: Why I Am a Catholic. He wrote of Catholicism, “The Faith gives a man back his body and his soul and his reason and his will and his very life.” In Christ, Chesterton found wholeness and newness of life. In Catholic Tradition, Chesterton found mountains of wisdom and common sense.

He immersed himself in this tradition and became a valuable contributor in his own right. Admittedly, Chesterton’s eccentric brilliance led to unorthodox approaches to writing. The Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton passes down a beloved Chestertonian anecdote: “[Chesterton] was a man who, when commissioned to write a book on St. Thomas Aquinas, had his secretary check out a stack of books on St. Thomas from the library, opened the top book on the stack, thumbed through it, closed it, and proceeded to dictate a book on St. Thomas.” The society goes on to say that a renowned Thomistic scholar of the day praised the book as “being without possible comparison the best book ever written on St. Thomas.”

Chesterton died in 1936. While he is not a canonized saint of the Church, his example of faith, apologetic witness, and extensive writings have had far-reaching influence. From J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis to millions of unknown Christians, Chesterton’s characteristic wit and common sense have offered relief and guidance for those plagued by the modern “-isms” of life.

Chesterton perceived the greatness of humility, and he affirmed the beauty of the mundane and ordinary. Christ did not die just for the successful and powerful, but for every person. Chesterton recognized this universal call to holiness and relationship, tirelessly advocating for the dignity and worth of each individual as a child of God.

To learn more about G.K. Chesterton, explore the resources compiled by the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton at https://www.chesterton.org/.

Or his books:

Orthodoxy is highly recommended for an introduction to Chesterton’s worldview.
The Everlasting Man offers a brilliant exploration of Christ’s historical legacy.
His biographies on St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi offer insight into the lives of the saints. In terms of fiction, The Man Who Was Thursday and the Father Brown detective stories are among Chesterton’s best-known works.