The Everlasting Man

Title: The Everlasting Man
Author: G. K. Chesterton
Published: Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1974 (Originally 1925)

There are two parts of this book, “On the Creature Called Man,” which points out how special mankind is in relation to all other creatures, and the second part, “On the Man Called Christ,” which points out how special Christianity is to all other religions and myths. Now I believe Chesterton did not write this with the aim of instructing those that are already enlightened and members of the Christian way. But rather, he had in mind those lost souls who were bored, confused, or perhaps even intolerant of Christianity. He understood that they may be too close to the issue and their senses had become deadened and that they no longer were able to feel wonderment at what is truly wonderful. It is also written to the crowd that may have been caught up in Darwinism or those that just couldn’t see mankind as special anymore. So, he provided a path by starting outside and looking in. If one is having trouble understanding something it is usually best to try a different angle or paradigm.

On reading this I thought I would have loved to have seen a dialogue between Thomas Henry Huxley and G. K. Chesterton. I have read a bit of Huxley’s works, including volumes 1-5 of his 9 volume set Collected Essays; Man’s Place in Nature and Other Anthropological Essays; and the three volume biography, Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley collected by his son Leonard Huxley, and as for Chesterton I have read The Collected Poems of G. K. Chesterton; The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quips, Quotes, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton, edited by Dave Armstrong; The Autobiography of G. K. Chesterton; Orthodoxy; and St. Francis of Assisi. This being said, I have a lot of respect for both men and feel that an honest discussion between these two could have resulted in a productive conversation. Both are honest, intelligent, and seeking for answers. They also both really wanted to help other people understand their position and why they came to believe in it. Huxley with his agnosticism and bulldoggedness and Chesterton with all the fervor and insight into paradoxes would have been a truly interesting sight.

When talking about the past, that is prehistoric man, Chesterton questions the creativeness of those that assume too much (or perhaps not enough) of what that ancient man was thinking and doing back then. But in the building of mankind we may not know of any certainty what happened, but we can understand the style of it.

“We can say that the family is the unit of the state; that it is the cell that makes up the formation. Round the family do indeed gather the sanctities that separate men from ants and bees. Decency is the curtain of that tent; liberty is the wall of that city; property is the family farm; honour is but the family flag. In the practical proportions of human history, we come back to that fundamental of the father and the mother and the child.”[1]

In other words, we must assume some sort of moral and ethical standard that had to exist in order to have a society.

I found a quote I thought significant in today’s battle between the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. “People would understand better the popular fury against the witches, if they remembered that the malice most commonly attributed to them was preventing the birth of children.”[2] Whether it is witches or the Carthaginians sacrificing their children to appease their god for financial success, we should take a long look in the mirror and think about our own motivations, responsibility, and eventual outcome of a society that slaughters our unborn and our future for our present desires.

Overall, I really enjoy reading the works of Chesterton. I hope to come back and read this one again soon. Perhaps a conversation will start, and I will refresh myself by reading it again. Reading a book is like having an encounter, some part of it changes us. Something to think about.

About the Author

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer born May 29, 1874 in London and died June 14, 1936 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. He married Frances Blogg in 1901. He converted to Catholicism and was a noted lay theologian and Christian apologetic.

[1] Chesterton, G. K.. The Everlasting Man. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1974. P. 44

[2] Ibid., p. 137