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The Everlasting Man
What, if anything, is it that makes the human uniquely human? This, in part, is the question that G.K. Chesterton starts with in this classic exploration of human history. Responding to the evolutionary materialism of his contemporary (and antagonist) H.G. Wells, Chesterton in this work affirms human uniqueness and the unique message of the Christian faith. Writing in a ti
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Paperback, 260 pages
Published
June 15th 2006
by Regent College Publishing
(first published 1925)
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(showing 1-30)
Men and women have become Christians solely from reading this one book. If you are not a Christian, beware this book. It will possibly convert you. If it does not, then it will probably irreparably harden your heart. A book to save you eternally or to damn you to hell forever. Amazing.
Jul 22, 2008
Edward Waverley
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
people with a profile on MySpace.
Recommended to Edward by:
CS Lewis
Was Jesus the son of God? I think one of the most fascinating attempts to answer that question was mounted in the early 20th century by the two famous friends and literary rivals HG Wells and GK Chesterton, respectively the agnostic extraordinaire and the Catholic par excellence. For Wells, so emphatic was his need to debunk the notion of Christ's divinity that he took a break from his novels and switched to a series of writings on history, the most famous of which ws his "Outline of History." C
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Mar 03, 2008
shaun mccormick
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
every single person on earth
Shelves:
christian
The best book I have ever read.
A wonderful chronicle of how the entirety of history reaches its pinnacle in Jesus. From the start, Chesterton takes the poetic road; he swipes at the theory of evolution by asserting the necessity of art, the desire to create, and the noticing of beauty in unattractive things.
Sweeping into the mythologies, he shows how civilizations actually decline into polytheism from monotheism, rather than the generally-accepted opposite. He then shows how the Roman empire was ...more
A wonderful chronicle of how the entirety of history reaches its pinnacle in Jesus. From the start, Chesterton takes the poetic road; he swipes at the theory of evolution by asserting the necessity of art, the desire to create, and the noticing of beauty in unattractive things.
Sweeping into the mythologies, he shows how civilizations actually decline into polytheism from monotheism, rather than the generally-accepted opposite. He then shows how the Roman empire was ...more
Jan 12, 2014
Jonathan
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
personal-favourites,
classic-literature,
own,
non-fiction,
historical,
faith,
g-k-chesterton
The Everlasting Man is not your typical Christian apologetics classic. I say this because G.K. Chesterton is not aiming to write a pure 'defence of the faith' as it were, but to write a work that better explores the relationship of Christianity to history. It has become something of a fashionable statement to ignore the relevance of Christianity as it pertains to history and so Chesterton sets out to first explore the concept of God and his role as more than merely just another aspect of mytholo ...more
A brilliant study of comparative religion from earliest known human history to recent times. Chesterton looks at the essence of each religion and what makes them different to Christianity, so that you gradually realise that there is very little in which they can be compared, much less considered similar. There is no political correctness is what he says, if there were, the differences would have been neutralised until everything tasted more or less the same.
However, Chesterton may be best read ...more
The Spiritual History of Humanity
9 June 2016
It was quite ironic that as I was reading this book I noticed that a friend of mine was regularly updating his Facebook status with quotes from G.K. Chesterton. Mind you, they weren't any old quotes, they were no doubt quotes that particularly struck him. It is a real shame that he isn't on Goodreads (or has made any mention on Facebook what book he is reading) because no doubt he is reading some Chesterton at this time, I just am not really sure whic ...more
9 June 2016
It was quite ironic that as I was reading this book I noticed that a friend of mine was regularly updating his Facebook status with quotes from G.K. Chesterton. Mind you, they weren't any old quotes, they were no doubt quotes that particularly struck him. It is a real shame that he isn't on Goodreads (or has made any mention on Facebook what book he is reading) because no doubt he is reading some Chesterton at this time, I just am not really sure whic ...more
Aug 14, 2007
Brian
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
To Any Open Minded Person (but any Catholic it is a must)
Chesterton is a genius. Period.
This book, more than most others that are on the subject of Christian apologetics, blew me away. I can't really put into words anything more than that. Maybe until I read it again. My mind was just stretched to its limits in the scope and density of his arguments.
Chesterton covers every argument for Christ & Christianity and its need and place in history.
I recommend this book to any Christian and most especially to any Catholic to read in their lifetime. At ...more
This book, more than most others that are on the subject of Christian apologetics, blew me away. I can't really put into words anything more than that. Maybe until I read it again. My mind was just stretched to its limits in the scope and density of his arguments.
Chesterton covers every argument for Christ & Christianity and its need and place in history.
I recommend this book to any Christian and most especially to any Catholic to read in their lifetime. At ...more
The Everlasting Man is a strange kind of Christian apologetics, which relates the story of man from the beginning of time. Chesterton gives a delightful thrashing to the anthropologists who draw amazing conclusions from minimal evidence; emphasizes that whether or not evolution is true, it offers absolutely no reasonable explanation for the vast divide between man and the animals; pokes some fun at the silliness of comparative religion; and teases the historical critics who draw insupportable cl
...more
There are some writers you must read them to learn what it means to think,what it means to argue,how to keep your guns intact at all moments.Nietzsche,Adorno,Lawrence,Chesterton are few among them.Reading Adorno and Chesterton and Nietzsche are an exercise to mind to learn how to think.As far i know Chesterton was a most potential opponent of Nietzsche and a strong defendant of Christianity.Its very hard not to be absorbed by him whenever you read him.Only when i read Chesterton and Nietzsche to
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The first thing I ever read of Chesterton's was a chapter from this book titled "God in a Cave", so I have a great fondness for this books and my introduction to Chesterton.
As this is another re-read of this, my love of this goes much farther than fondness. His "outline of history" in response to his friend H.G. Well's book still pertains as much today as ever. This sweeping birds eye view of history presents a rather odd apologetic and a way of seeing things so simple that you pass over them. M ...more
As this is another re-read of this, my love of this goes much farther than fondness. His "outline of history" in response to his friend H.G. Well's book still pertains as much today as ever. This sweeping birds eye view of history presents a rather odd apologetic and a way of seeing things so simple that you pass over them. M ...more
I've now read "The Everlasting Man" for the second time. It has some of the drawbacks other reviewers have noted--racial epithets that don't go down well in the twenty-first century, Eurocentrism (more below), a style that sometimes obscures the main point.
However, these are superficial criticisms. For the most part, it presents an examination of certain logical fallacies about the Christian faith that you sometimes hear today. The science of evolution may have moved on from what it was in Chest ...more
However, these are superficial criticisms. For the most part, it presents an examination of certain logical fallacies about the Christian faith that you sometimes hear today. The science of evolution may have moved on from what it was in Chest ...more
Christendom needs a new Chesterton. Written 90 years ago, "The Everlasting Man" confronts several fallacies popular in GK's day, including Christian Science ("Science and Health," 1875), Darwin's "triumph" ("On the Origin of Species," 1882), the reduction of Christianity to mythology by Frazer's "Golden Bough" (1890), and the post-Christian vision of H. G. Welles in "The Outline of History" (1910). Chesterton uses wit and common sense, proposing that Christianity not only would but already had t
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I mean it was C. S. Lewis who said: "for me a book is of no use if I don't read it at least two or three times".
Well, I only can agree to the uttermost with Lewis.
Particularly "the everlasting man" by G. K. Chesterton is a classic candidate for rereading it several times....
The book himself enjoys a classic status. Here Chesterton displays masterfully his keen, winning and engaging wit, and tantalizes us trough his amazing and eloquent gift as one of the best Christians apologetics writer ever!! ...more
Well, I only can agree to the uttermost with Lewis.
Particularly "the everlasting man" by G. K. Chesterton is a classic candidate for rereading it several times....
The book himself enjoys a classic status. Here Chesterton displays masterfully his keen, winning and engaging wit, and tantalizes us trough his amazing and eloquent gift as one of the best Christians apologetics writer ever!! ...more
Chesterton writes this book to fend off the same arguments that continue today -evolutionist philosophy, materialism, comparative religion.
He brings out a point I had not considered before. Humanism would have us believe that society is evolving to ever higher civilization. Chesterton points out that history does not bear this out. Egypt, Babylon, the Mayans; all had advanced civilizations that disintegrated because of the nature of man. It brought to mind a conversation I had with a young man i ...more
He brings out a point I had not considered before. Humanism would have us believe that society is evolving to ever higher civilization. Chesterton points out that history does not bear this out. Egypt, Babylon, the Mayans; all had advanced civilizations that disintegrated because of the nature of man. It brought to mind a conversation I had with a young man i ...more
Having finished Chesterton's book about St. Francis of Assisi, I looked for a copy of this one, which I've always found the most intriguing concept of all his books: a study of comparative religion against the backdrop of history, as compared to Christianity.
I was really surprised to find the first chapter meshing incredibly well with Jurassic Park, which I am just finishing up for the umpteenth time. This was made by Chesterton's point about what scientists of the day said was typical caveman b ...more
I was really surprised to find the first chapter meshing incredibly well with Jurassic Park, which I am just finishing up for the umpteenth time. This was made by Chesterton's point about what scientists of the day said was typical caveman b ...more
This is a masterpiece. It is a focused walk through the story of mankind.
I think that I will use this with my beginning scholars as an orientation to world history.
I will forever understand that man always begins in a cave. Chesterton has given me a powerful understanding of why Christ was born in a stable (rather than A field, the woods, a home or a palace).
I have a new confidence and peace and sense of hope for my own time knowing that it is only natural that Christendom will go through a g ...more
I think that I will use this with my beginning scholars as an orientation to world history.
I will forever understand that man always begins in a cave. Chesterton has given me a powerful understanding of why Christ was born in a stable (rather than A field, the woods, a home or a palace).
I have a new confidence and peace and sense of hope for my own time knowing that it is only natural that Christendom will go through a g ...more
A masterpiece among many fine works of Chesterton, “The Everlasting Man” brings an everlasting change to the whole notion of “comparative religions”; and reading this great and challenging book will give you a new perspective on the history of the world. In fact, Chesterton wrote it, in part, as a theological rebuttal to H. G. Wells’ “Outline of History”. More specifically, it is a deep and beautifully written essay to describe, as the Boston Transcript notes, “How the fulfillment of all man’s d
...more
I've read this twice now, and I continue to think this is a vastly overrated book. Pieces of it are beautiful and rather brilliant, but only slight pieces. There's the argument about not dismissing ideas simply because they fell out of fashion - were they actually disproved? The answer is, yes, and the book falls short because the author's intelligence was strangled by his Euro-centric, racist, sexist beliefs. He is entirely blind to the crimes of Western Culture, and he seems to have sincerely
...more
Dec 16, 2013
Douglas Wilson
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
church-and-culture
Magnificent.
This is an incredible read, and it will take some work to grasp it all. But it’s worth it, especially for Christians who are questioning their faith, or skeptics who want to throw Christianity out with the bathwater of religious bad behavior.
Chesterton is not like anyone else
Chesterton has a good reputation for being the master of the turn-of-phrase. He does this well in small essays (I read “All Things Considered” earlier this year, and it’s full of great quotables and short nuggets), going fr ...more
Chesterton is not like anyone else
Chesterton has a good reputation for being the master of the turn-of-phrase. He does this well in small essays (I read “All Things Considered” earlier this year, and it’s full of great quotables and short nuggets), going fr ...more
A few months ago I read an anthropology book in which the author took the position that because there are particulars (particular religions, particular moral codes), we are justified in believing this means we have imagined all universals (God, good and evil). God does not exist and all of these elaborate and competing theologies more or less popped up simultaneously over the planet as we spread across it. From these particulars, we then imagined a universal: an actual Creator behind it all. How
...more
Apr 21, 2013
Daniel Wright
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history,
other-history,
old-books,
meta-history,
modernist-era,
religion,
christianity,
christian-belief
Such is the peculiarity of my shelving structure that I must put all books by G. K. Chesterton on a shelf called 'modernist-era'. How did the very scourge of modernity in person end up on a such an oddly named shelf? Especially such a book as this, where he lays into everything modern with all his formidable eloquence. He is at his best at the beginning, critiquing contemporary unfounded speculation about primitive humankind. In this, he has very much been vindicated by events - palaeoanthropolo
...more
Wow that was bad. Chesterton is the master of the pithy statement; unfortunately his ability to construct larger arguments is non-extistent. I have read some of Chesterton's other works that had been recommended to me and was always ill-struck by his misanthropic views and bluster. I read this because C.S. Lewis cites the book as one of the reasons for his conversion. I now understand. Chesterton's writing is as unnecessarily convoluted and filled with specious reasoning as Lewis' Mere Christian
...more
I read The Everlasting Man, an apology of Catholic theology because I wanted to understand how G. W. Chesterton influenced C. S. Lewis. As I began it, I found Chesterton's arrogant arguments childish and weakly supported. By the time I finished it I decided he ought to have titled it, In Defense of Catholic Inquisitions . His initial arguments defending the proposition that one cannot understand history without understanding that Christ was the son of God incarnate were ad homina arguments. tha
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This book is basically an extended argument for the truth of Christianity's central doctrine of the Incarnation. Chesterton crafts his arguments with style, grace, humor, and deep intelligence. It requires patience -- the book demands attention and work and Chesterton's use of schemes and tropes is scintillating to the point of maddening -- but it is a thoroughly rewarding read.
...There's this one part at the end where he talks about the dawn as 'God kindling the morning fires for the world' -- ...more
...There's this one part at the end where he talks about the dawn as 'God kindling the morning fires for the world' -- ...more
I think Chesterton might be an acquired taste, but with three of his books under my belt, I'm finally a fan. This is an apologetic and history of sorts, but his writing is so lyrical, almost poetic, that it's easy to get hypnotized by the originality, rhythm, and imagery and not notice whether his logic holds. Fascinating book on the history of man, the origin of religion, and a critique of the attempt to compare religions, that I hope to re-read some day.
Chesterton's most mature and complete work of history and theory, The Everlasting Man verily bristles with insight, marvel, delight of the mind.
Everything Chesterton writes is fruitful. I say this as a writer myself. There is nothing better to read than Chesterton when you are having difficulty thinking and writing.
Everything Chesterton writes is fruitful. I say this as a writer myself. There is nothing better to read than Chesterton when you are having difficulty thinking and writing.
Chesterton is always an enjoyable and challenging read. I wrestled with a lot of what he has to say here, but there's no disputing his wordplay and argument are strong. Whether strong enough or no, each reader must decide.
Having finally read my first Chesterton non-fiction, finally I say again, I am encouraged and relieved his reputation is well-deserved. Not that there was any doubt, truly, but the satisfaction of experiencing Chesterton is enhanced by knowing I am finally aligning myself with one of the great minds of the modern world (if not all-time). The book was not wholly overwhelming, of course, and it does seem to pick about mid-way through the second half, and Chesterton's style does take a bit more get
...more
'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.' The civilisation of antiquity was the whole world: and men no more dreamed of its ending than of the ending of daylight. They could not imagine another order unless it were in another world. The civilisation of the world has passed away and those words have not passed away. In the long night of the Dark Ages feudalism was so familiar a thing that no man could imagine himself without a lord: and religion was so woven into that
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Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was born in London, educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, fi
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“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.”
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