To understand the nature of this chapter, it is necessary to recur to the nature of this book. The argument which is meant to be the backbone of the book is of the kind called the reductio ad absurdum. It suggests that the results of assuming the rationalist thesis are more irrational than ours; but to prove it we must assume that thesis. Thus in the first section I often treated man as merely an animal, to show that the effect was more impossible than if he were treated as an angel. In the sense in which it was necessary to treat man merely as an animal, it is necessary to treat Christ merely
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This is an important quote for the entire book, and one that could/should have been noted in the preface. Chesterton's approach to the entire book is interesting. I find it a lot more convincing because he spends a good deal of time highlighting the good and true outside of Christianity in order to prove Christianity itself. By not taking cheap shots or brushing aside the points made by opponents of the Church he reinforces his own positions. I've never liked books that only make good arguments for the side they're trying to argue, and I'm happy this book is not one of those.
