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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Chesterton names four standards by which people try to establish the ideals of equality and inequality. What is his opinion of the fourth standard?

2. According to Chesterton, what mindset, paralleling patriotism, leads to reform?

3. Why does Chesterton say that any discussion about the creation/sustaining principle in the world must be metaphorical?

4. In Chesterton's image, how did he feel once his religious opinion changed? (Chesterton 2000, pg. 235)

5. In general, what does Chesterton say is a liberal clergyman's attitude toward miracles?

Short Essay Questions

1. Chapter V, The Flag of the World, begins with a young girl's idea that "An optimist is a man who looks after your eyes, and a pessimist is a man who looks after your feet" (Chesterton 2000, pg 223). How does Chesterton explain this?

2. How do Eastern and Western religions differ in their understanding of seclusion in worship, according to Chesterton? How does this affect their sense of community?

3. What nearly persuaded Chesterton to become a Christian? Why was this thought frightening?

4. What are the pagan and Christian view of virtue? What is Chesterton's view of them?

5. As Chesterton shows in Chapter VI, The Paradoxes of Christianity, what is Christianity's view of man? How can it hold to this argument?

6. In Chapter VI, The Paradoxes of Christianity, what does Chesterton name the most common type of trouble in the world? How does Christianity answer this trouble?

7. Near the beginning of Chapter VII, The Eternal Revolution, Chesterton makes an argument concerning superiority. What is this argument? Does he satisfy the question fully?

8. Why did Chesterton begin to question the attacks on Christianity? What did he find as he questioned?

9. Why are liberals not free thinkers? What argument is made in Chapter VIII, The Romance of Orthodoxy, about confusion within language?

10. At the end of Chapter V, The Flag of the World, what transformation does Chesterton describe? How did the transformation address his question of optimism and pessimism?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What comfort does Chesterton find in the thought that God hides his mirth from man? How does that picture speak to God's greatness? How does it reinforce the idea that man is full of joy? Draw your arguments from Chesterton's statements about God's character which are given throughout Orthodoxy.

Essay Topic 2

What reasons does Chesterton give for saying that fairy land is the land of common sense? What are his comparisons to rationalism and religion? How far can this argument go? In other words, do common sense and fairy land do have a meaningful interaction?

Essay Topic 3

What is the mindset of the madman? How does it differ from a sane man and how is it similar to a materialist? What is Chesterton's answer to this mindset? Does this answer take into account all aspects of the mindset?

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