View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Chesterton, what mindset, paralleling patriotism, leads to reform?
(a) Rational pessimism.
(b) Irrational pessimism.
(c) Irrational optimism.
(d) Rational optimism.

2. In Chesterton's image, how did he feel once his religious opinion changed? (Chesterton 2000, pg. 235)
(a) Fairyland was no longer important to his thinking.
(b) The army had fled before the light of his revelation.
(c) The dragon had been conquered.
(d) The land was lit up even back to his childhood.

3. Why does Chesterton say that any discussion about the creation/sustaining principle in the world must be metaphorical?
(a) Because it is necessarily verbal.
(b) Because it relates to God.
(c) Because man cannot truly understand creation.
(d) Because man can never prove the principle.

4. Why did the serious changes in our political outlook occur at the beginning of the nineteenth century rather than at the end?
(a) At the beginning, intellectualism was more highly encouraged.
(b) At the end, men were caught up in religious questions.
(c) At the end, men began to believe wholeheartedly in certain things.
(d) At the beginning, men still believed fixedly in certain things.

5. According to Chesterton, what happens when a man worships physical nature?
(a) Man is lifted up to God.
(b) Nature becomes pure as it offers salvation.
(c) Man can only then begin to search for God.
(d) Nature becomes twisted.

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

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

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

9. At the beginning of Chapter VI, The Paradoxes of Christianity, what does Chesterton call the most common problem with the world?
(a) The world is almost logical but not quite.
(b) The world is too logical.
(c) The world is governed by mathematical principles.
(d) The world is not logical at all.

10. What is Pimlico?
(a) A dreary English town.
(b) Chesterton's favorite dog.
(c) A dreary American town.
(d) An English newspaper.

11. Why are people who admire Christianity, but do not believe it, uncomfortable?
(a) Christianity is elaborately right.
(b) Christianity was valid in the past but may not continue to be valid.
(c) Christianity has only a few answers for their problems.
(d) Christianity has philosophical answers but not realistic answers.

12. 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.

13. Who does Chesterton name as believers in the Inner Light?
(a) The idealists and pantheists.
(b) The last Stoics and the Quakers.
(c) The people who hated Marcus Aurelius.
(d) The early Christians.

14. At the beginning of Chapter VIII, the Romance of Orthodoxy, what does Chesterton name as the cause for busyness in modern society?
(a) Laziness.
(b) Bustle.
(c) Stress.
(d) Fast-paced life.

15. What is Chesterton's first criterion for progress?
(a) It must be attainable.
(b) It must mesh with tradition.
(c) It must be accessible to everyone.
(d) It must be unchanging.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Chesterton's third criterion for progress?

2. At the end of Chapter VI, The Paradoxes of Christianity, what conclusion does Chesterton reach about orthodoxy?

3. Chesterton names four standards by which people try to establish the ideals of equality and inequality. What is the first?

4. Why does Christianity mark the graves of the martyr and the suicide?

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 748 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample