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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Chesterton, what symbol explains to way that mysticism clarifies the world?
(a) The moon.
(b) The ocean.
(c) A mountain.
(d) The sun.

2. How does Chesterton define tradition in political terms?
(a) Defining the past as a democracy that is long gone.
(b) Thinking of one's ancestors as kings.
(c) Allowing one's ancestors to vote.
(d) Defining the past as an oligarchy.

3. In a person's pursuit for truth, what might happen, according to Chesterton?
(a) He finds great, unsearchable truths.
(b) He loses hope that truth exists.
(c) He searches for extraordinary truths.
(d) He loses hope that he, a mortal, can ever find the truth.

4. Using the standards of the moralists, why does Chesterton say that the universe cannot be called large?
(a) Because fairy tales explain it.
(b) Because there is nothing to compare it to.
(c) Because man can fully understand it.
(d) Because God made it.

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

6. What, according to Chesterton, is the proper place for humility?
(a) In a man's sense of conviction.
(b) In a man's sense of ambition and effort.
(c) In a man's view of himself.
(d) In a man's perception of others.

7. According to Chesterton, why is Bernard Shaw hampered in his thinking?
(a) He can only tell lies that he believes.
(b) He tells too many lies.
(c) He is too logical in his arguments.
(d) He is not humorous enough.

8. When materialism leads a man to fatalism, what does it also accomplish, according to Chesterton?
(a) It also destroys his humanity.
(b) It also destroys his sense of hope.
(c) It acts as a liberating force.
(d) It cripples his free will.

9. According to Chesterton at the beginning of the first chapter, why did he write the book?
(a) Because he had a well-crafted argument for Christianity.
(b) In response to a challenge.
(c) As a personal challenge to himself.
(d) Because he had to work through his religious beliefs.

10. As Chesterton explains the origin of the word, the moon is the mother of which group of people?
(a) Lunatics.
(b) Believers.
(c) Atheists.
(d) Priests.

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

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

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

14. What does Chesterton say is the quintessence of will?
(a) That it is particular.
(b) That it has knowable consequences.
(c) That it is individual.
(d) That it is an action of freedom.

15. 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.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why, earlier in Chapter One, does Chesterton tell the story of the sailor?

2. What does evolution destroy, according to Chesterton?

3. In Chesterton's story about the sailor, what mistake does the man make?

4. According to Chesterton, at the beginning of Chapter Two, what happens to the men who believe in themselves?

5. Why does Chesterton not claim this new-found philosophy as his own?

(see the answer keys)

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