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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Chesterton not claim this new-found philosophy as his own?
(a) It belongs to God and humanity.
(b) He did not really find or invent it.
(c) He is too modest to claim his own work.
(d) It is a way of living rather than a philosophy.

2. What does Chesterton name as the second principle of democracy?
(a) Protection of private property is one thing men hold in common.
(b) Men's actions have meaning only by their own standards.
(c) Men's actions have meaning only when they relate to the cultural standards.
(d) Political instinct is one thing men hold in common.

3. Why does Chesterton assert that tall towers are an example of humility?
(a) A man must be small to appreciate their size.
(b) They remind man how far he still must go.
(c) They connect a man directly to God, who is greater.
(d) They speak to man's sense of accomplishment.

4. According to Chesterton, who is the only person to whom a modern realistic novel would not be boring?
(a) A baby.
(b) A scientist.
(c) A writer of fairytales.
(d) A child of ten.

5. What does Chesterton say is losing its authority in the modern mind?
(a) Argumentation.
(b) Religion.
(c) First principles.
(d) Scientific absolutes.

6. Why does Chesterton say that satire is disappearing from modern literature?
(a) Modern satire takes different forms than literature.
(b) Writers are not taught to appreciate satire.
(c) There is nothing to be fierce about.
(d) Satire is too violent for the modern mind.

7. What do art and ecstasy recall to us, in Chesterton's words? (Chesterton 2000, p.g 212)
(a) "All the fire of the fairy tales is derived from this."
(b) "There is no connection, except that one has seen them together."
(c) "For certain dead levels of our life we forget that we have forgotten."
(d) "For one awful instant we remember that we forget."

8. What conclusion does the complete skeptic eventually reach?
(a) There are no answers to be found.
(b) He has no right to think for himself.
(c) He will never find the answers.
(d) No one else can think for him.

9. What happened as Chesterton put the final touches onto the heresy he had created?
(a) He found that he no longer believed it.
(b) He found that it was orthodoxy.
(c) He found that the heresy was paganism.
(d) He found that the heresy was untenable.

10. What is the title of the essay that H. G. Wells wrote on skepticism?
(a) Skepticism from a Philosophical Viewpoint.
(b) Understanding the Skeptical Mind.
(c) Doubts of the Instrument.
(d) The Creeds and Hierarchies.

11. Why, according to Chesterton, can a madman never understand simple, careless acts?
(a) He cannot differentiate between careless and important acts.
(b) He sees purpose in every act.
(c) He does not notice insignificant things.
(d) His world is comprised of careless acts.

12. What does Chesterton not mean by the word "orthodoxy"?
(a) The practical outworking of the creed.
(b) Where Christians get the authority for the creed.
(c) The history behind the creed.
(d) The Biblical authority for the creed.

13. What examples does Chesterton give of lunatic thinking?
(a) A crushed moth and a live one.
(b) A man conspired against, the King of England, and Jesus Christ.
(c) A lonely woman and her lonely child.
(d) Two competing maggots in a chunk of bread.

14. Why, earlier in Chapter One, does Chesterton tell the story of the sailor?
(a) To illustrate his idea of wonder.
(b) He is that sailor.
(c) The sailor will appear throughout the book.
(d) To explain his picture of God.

15. According to Chesterton, what is the only thing a poet desires?
(a) A raft to float on.
(b) A world to stretch out in.
(c) The ability to cross the infinite sea.
(d) An understanding of the heavens.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Chesterton admire Joan of Arc?

2. What document does Chesterton refer to by the word "orthodoxy"?

3. According to Chesterton, what effect does the moralists' attitude have on the cosmos?

4. In the same story of the sailor, what is better than discovering a new land?

5. According to Chesterton, what is too big an undertaking for a book even of a larger scope?

(see the answer keys)

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