The Everlasting Man / Edition 1

by G. K. Chesterton

Overview

Considered by many to be Chesterton's greatest masterpiece of all his writings, this is his whole view of world history as informed by the Incarnation. Beginning with the origin of man and the various religious attitudes throughout history, Chesterton shows how the fulfillment of all of man's desires takes place in the person of Christ and in Christ's Church.

Chesterton propounds the thesis that "those who say that Christ stands side by side with similar myths, and his religion side by side with similar religions, are only repeating a very stale formula contradicted by a very striking fact." And with all the brilliance and devastating irony, so characteristic of his best writing, Chesterton gleefully and tempestuously tears to shreds that "very stale formula" and triumphantly proclaims in vivid language the glory and unanswerable logic of that very striking fact. Here is the genius of Chesterton at its delightful best.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780898704440
Publisher:	Ignatius Press
Publication date:	05/01/1993
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	276
Sales rank:	91,054
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Widely known as the "Prince of Paradox," G. K. Chesterton was one of the most influential English writers and thinkers of the 20th century. Chesterton's prodigious talents embraced a wide range of subjects, from philosophy and religion to detective fiction and fantasy. And while his writings are light and whimsical, they are filled with direct and honest truths.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Hendrickson Publishers Edition     vii
Preface to the First Edition     xiii
Introduction: The Plan of This Book     3
On the Creature Called Man
The Man in the Cave     17
Professors and Prehistoric Men     34
The Antiquity of Civilization     49
God and Comparative Religion     74
Man and Mythologies     92
The Demons and the Philosophers     107
The War of the Gods and Demons     128
The End of the World     142
On the Man Called Christ
The God in the Cave     159
The Riddles of the Gospel     175
The Strangest Story in the World     188
The Witness of the Heretics     203
The Escape from Paganism     221
The Five Deaths of the Faith     238
Conclusion: The Summary of This Book     249
On Prehistoric Man     259
On Authority and Accuracy     261

Editorial Reviews

Derek Perkins’s accessible delivery perfectly suits this dense work, which is said to have converted C.S. Lewis to Christianity from atheism. Although written in 1925, THE EVERLASTING MAN sounds surprisingly contemporary. Perkins's style deftly captures Chesterton's quest to identify what, if anything, makes a human uniquely human. Audio is the ideal format to fully appreciate Chesterton's complexity. The book’s two parts—"On the Creature Called Man" and "On the Man Called Christ"—are made more understandable with Perkins's intelligent delivery and elegant pronunciation. Chesterton also rebuts gently, and sometimes humorously, H.G. Wells's OUTLINE OF HISTORY, a work that some consider anti-Christian. Listeners will be pleased to hear that the wit and wisdom found in the author's Father Brown mysteries are also present here. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2016 - AudioFile