View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Chesterton see as the purpose of the boundaries established by Christianity?
(a) To establish the power of the church.
(b) To deny earthly happiness to believers.
(c) To expel unhappy and fierce things.
(d) To let good things run wild.

2. In the Christian's view, why does a man's soul provide enough outlet for both the optimist and the pessimist?
(a) He now has reason to claim brotherhood with Christ.
(b) He has hope for a heavenly future but fear for an earthly one.
(c) Both passions are allowed free reign.
(d) He is exalted as God's creation and humbled as a sinner.

3. What is the single true charge that Chesterton found against Christianity?
(a) Christianity's claim to the Trinity is false.
(b) Christianity's view of salvation is unnecessarily complex.
(c) Christianity cannot be compatible with science.
(d) Christianity is one religion.

4. What problem did Christianity solve which Paganism could not?
(a) A personal God.
(b) Salvation.
(c) Forgiveness.
(d) Balance.

5. Why, according to Christianity, can passions be free?
(a) Because they are monitored by the church.
(b) Because a believer's conscience keeps him from extreme passions.
(c) Because they are kept in their proper places.
(d) Because their consequences will not come until the afterlife.

6. What does Chesterton call "the most difficult and interesting part of the mental process" that he reached? (Chesterton 2000, pg. 247)
(a) The problem of balance which is presented in the world.
(b) The problem of dealing with human passions.
(c) The fact that love and hate must soften each other.
(d) The fact that love and hate must burn equally strong.

7. How do St. Francis of Assisi and George Herbert think of Nature?
(a) As a mother.
(b) As a goddess.
(c) As a laughing little sister.
(d) As a step-mother.

8. Why does Chesterton call suicide the greatest sin?
(a) Because, in the eyes of one man, it kills the whole world.
(b) Because it cuts off the future.
(c) Because man is acting like God.
(d) Because it takes a life God had given.

9. What does Chesterton define as the problem with pessimists?
(a) They are opposed to religious beliefs in any form.
(b) They are opposed to optimists.
(c) They are cosmic anti-patriots.
(d) They impede progress.

10. Why does Chesterton say that miracles are eminently desirable?
(a) Religious people have the opportunity to prove their beliefs.
(b) Man can triumph over nature's cruelty.
(c) Miracles give people a glimpse of the supernatural.
(d) Man can begin to understand God.

11. Chesterton chooses miracles as his first example regarding liberal thinking. What does he call this example?
(a) The easiest point to prove.
(b) The worst problem facing liberals.
(c) The easiest place to start.
(d) The most obvious choice.

12. What definition does Chesterton find BEST for optimist and pessimist?
(a) An optimist sees the world as the best it can be, while the pessimist sees the world as the worst it can be.
(b) An optimist looks after your eyes, while a pessimist looks after your feet.
(c) An optimist thinks everything right but the pessimist, while the pessimist thinks everything wrong but himself.
(d) An optimist has nothing but hope, while the pessimist has everything but hope.

13. What is Chesterton's stated goal for Chapter VIII, The Romance of Orthodoxy?
(a) To point out the paradoxes of Christianity.
(b) To question the sentimental value of Christianity.
(c) To introduce the idea of Christian romance.
(d) To point out that liberal thinking is actually illiberal.

14. Chesterton opens Chapter VII, The Eternal Revolution, with how many points of summary?
(a) Four.
(b) Three.
(c) Two.
(d) Five.

15. What people, in their interactions with women, does Chesterton call stupid?
(a) Those who abuse a woman's loyalty by constantly testing it.
(b) Those who think women's loyalty is a fault.
(c) Those who take women for granted.
(d) Those who think women's loyalty stems from blindness to a man's fault.

Short Answer Questions

1. Chesterton notes a startling difference between Christian and Buddhist art. What is this difference?

2. What reason does Chesterton give for the idea that love craves personality?

3. In Chesterton's example, why is it important for Gradgrind to give his employees skeptical literature?

4. Why did the writings of skeptics and evolutionists push Chesterton toward Christianity?

5. What does Chesterton call the worst religion of all?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 796 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample