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 desires takes place in the person of Christ and in Christ’s Church.”

Chesterton’s writing is elegant, rich, and filled with thought provoking paradoxes that beg to be re-read and pondered:

“It is exactly when we do regard man as an animal that we know he is not an animal.”

“There was nothing left that could conquer Rome, but there was also nothing left that could improve it.”

“Just as they became unnatural by worshipping nature, so they actually became unmanly by worshipping man.”

“Divinity is great enough to be divine; it is great enough to call itself divine. But as humanity grows greater, it grows less and less likely to do so. God is God, as the Moslems say; but a great man knows he is not God, and the greater he is the better he knows it. That is the paradox; everything that is merely approaching to that point is merely receding from it.”

Any lover of history will gain fresh insight from this book; an agnostic or atheist will find much to ponder; Christians will treasure it as a great apologetic and faith builder; followers of other religions may discover that all paths don’t necessarily lead where they might expect.

Enjoy exploring the mind of a master wordsmith, and a writer who crafted incomparable sentences and sublime thoughts!