whiteknight247 's review for:

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

1.0

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Chesterton is considered by many to be one of the quintessential writers of the late 19th early 20th century in religion and philosophy. I found his work to be overall troubling for the style and langue he used to attempt to support his claims and to discount those he opposed. Much of his language is steeped in casual dismissive rhetoric without clearly articulating the logic and reasoning behind his claims, both in support of his own positions and in his dismissal of alternative perspectives. Granted there are chapters and even whole paragraphs where Chesterton makes compelling arguments for traditional Orthodoxy which can be quite helpful for framing ones belief or reliance on tradition. However, Chesterton fails to overall create a comprehensive support for the idea of Christian Orthodoxy which is disappointing considering his reputation and considering the whole purpose of this book is to argue exactly that. I sense a large measure of his language and style is a product of the cultural, educational, and social circumstances of the world he resided, but even then I feel that some measure of objective criticism of ones own arguments would still apply. Even accounting for that I was disappointed.