The Logical Vegetarian
From The Flying Inn, a satirical romp in which Chesterton inveighs against the forces of dreary and oppressive modernity
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Gloria in Profundis
The unlikely and startling truth of the Incarnation
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The Song of the Strange Ascetic
Chesterton can’t understand the heathen who isn’t even having any fun
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Tolstoy and the Cult of Simplicity
A Chesterton essay on the work and thought of Leo Tolstoy
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Why I Believe in Christianity
I will try and explain why I think a religious philosophy necessary and why I think Christianity the best religious philosophy.
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Why I Am A Catholic
The Church is not merely armed against the heresies of the past or even of the present, but equally against those of the future, that may be the exact opposite of those of the present.
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Skepticism and Spiritualism
An impartial person is a good judge of many things, but not of all. He is not (for instance) a good judge of what it feels like to be partial.
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St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Thomas confronts other creeds of good and evil, without at all denying evil, with a theory of two levels of good.
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The Religious Aim of Education
The deepest of all desires for knowledge is the desire to know what the world is for and what we are for.
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Miracles and Modern Civilisation
For, obviously, the mere fact that a thing happens seldom, under odd circumstances and with no explanation within our knowledge, is no proof that it is against natural law.
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Introduction to the Book of Job
The modern habit of saying, “This is my opinion, but I may be wrong” is entirely irrational.
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Buddhism and Christianity
It is no disgrace to Christianity, it is no disgrace to any great religion, that its counsels of perfection have not made every single person perfect.
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The Revival of Philosophy – Why?
Why the world needs metaphysics
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The Philosophy of Islands
To isolate a thing is to identify it
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Philosophy for the Schoolroom
The sanities and certainties of human free thought
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On Thoughtless Remarks
The corrupting effect of casual and conversational scepticism
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Child Psychology and Nonsense
Putting nonsense in the wrong place
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The Orthodoxy of Hamlet
Chesterton’s essay on Shakespeare’s Hamlet
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The greatest of Shakespeare’s comedies, in Chesterton’s opinion
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History Versus the Historians
On the benefits of studying history by reading the actual text of the time
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Getting to Know the Middle Ages
Modern ignorance about the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
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Anti-Religious Thought in the Eighteenth Century
On the eclipse of Christian theology during the rationalist advance
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The Meaning of the Crusade
An analysis of one of the most misunderstood events in Christian history
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Government and the Rights of Man
Lamenting the intrusion of government on the rights of man
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Democracy and Industrialism
The fading vision of democracy in our time
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Reflections on a Rotten Apple
A one-chapter explanation of Distributism
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A Misunderstanding about Method
A sketch of the first principles of Distributism
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The Ideal Detective Story
Did Shakespeare write the ideal detective story?
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How to Write a Detective Story
The fundamental principles of a great mystery story
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Errors about Detective Stories
Where do detective writers go wrong?
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A Defence of Detective Stories
On the detective story as a legitimate form of art
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The Song of Right and Wrong
The poem that got Chesterton fired from The Daily News.
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Elegy in a Country Churchyard
Chesterton’s “Elegy in a Country Churchyard” is one of the greatest anti-war and anti-government poems of all time.
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A Hymn: O God of Earth and Altar
A Chesterton poem you can sing in church
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The Rolling English Road
This is a poem that begs to be recited aloud
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A Child of the Snows
A great Christmas poem, which has inspired numerous song writers
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Negative and Positive Morality
Salvation is not negative, but highly positive
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On Mending and Ending Things
Two opposite methods to reform
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A Defence of Baby Worship
With each new baby, the whole universe is again put on trial
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