HERETICS by Gilbert Chesterton Part 6

Thomas Allsteadt reads Gilbert Chesterton’s HERETICS. Chesterton was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. Chesterton loved to debate, and often engaged in friendly public disputes with such men as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Bertrand Russell and Clarence Darrow. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it." As a Christian apologist he is widely admired throughout many religious denominations, as well as by many non-Christians. As a political thinker, he cast aspersions on both Liberalism and Conservatism, saying, "The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." He routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox Christian.” Chesterton is noted as contributing to C. S. Lewis's conversion to Christianity and Chesterton's writings have been praised by such authors as Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Jorge Luis Borges, Agatha Christie, Andrew Greeley, Anthony Burgess, Orson Welles, Dorothy Day, Tim Powers, and Franz Kafka.