Orthodoxy (book)

The book chronicles Chesterton's personal journey to adopting a Christian worldview. Rather than rationalizing alleged paradoxes, Orthodoxy instead embraces them as evidence for the worldview's validity. The first chapter establishes the view that human needs innately conflict, and, along with Chapter 8, "The Romance of Orthodoxy", it explains Chesterton's belief that the Christian worldview is most effective in both explaining and satisfying those disparate needs. == History ==

Chesterton began writing the book in response to Street's 1905 challenge, titled "Mr. Chesterton", and it was first published in 1908. The book was written when Chesterton was an Anglican. He converted to Catholicism 14 years later. Chesterton chose the title, Orthodoxy, to focus on the plainness of the Apostles' Creed, though he admitted the general sound of the title was "a thinnish sort of thing". == Popular reception ==

Orthodoxy was influential in the conversion of Theodore Maynard to Roman Catholicism, as well as in the ordination of Canon Bernard Iddings Bell. In the magazine The Atlantic, critic James Parker recommends the book thus: "If you've got an afternoon, read his masterpiece of Christian apologetics Orthodoxy: ontological basics retailed with a blissful, zooming frivolity, Thomas Aquinas meets Eddie Van Halen." ==Notes==