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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chesterton's explanation, how do religions of the world differ?
(a) They teach the same things but appear different.
(b) They teach the same things but have different God figures.
(c) They appear the same but teach different things.
(d) They treat the idea of sin differently.

2. What is the enormous mistake of the modern age, according to Chesterton?
(a) It espouses a weak version of Christianity.
(b) It does not look to God to answer its questions.
(c) It is changing the ideal rather than reality.
(d) It does not believe strongly enough in progress.

3. In Chesterton's thoughts, Christianity came to assert passionately what idea?
(a) Man must look inward for salvation.
(b) Man must look outward for salvation.
(c) Man must look to the Old Testament for salvation.
(d) Man's salvation will come only when Christ returns.

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 end, men were caught up in religious questions.
(b) At the beginning, intellectualism was more highly encouraged.
(c) At the end, men began to believe wholeheartedly in certain things.
(d) At the beginning, men still believed fixedly in certain things.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Chesterton call courage a contradiction?

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

3. What is the thesis of Mrs. Besant's book?

4. What oddity does Chesterton find in the modern world?

5. According to Chesterton, how did men gain morality?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Chesterton detest the religion of the Inner Light, of looking within oneself for God? What relation does this abhorrence have to Christianity?

2. What is the first time that Chesterton felt he had stumbled onto a path that was familiar to some? How did Christianity mirror his own thoughts?

3. Why is it better to be a progressive, according to Chesterton's understanding of the term? Why should man rebel against the new rather than against the old?

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. What does Chesterton say is the most sensible ideal for nature? Is this a valid ideal? Why or why not?

7. The Church holds to some strict doctrines regarding man and his actions. Why is she so strict? Is it possible for her to swerve in her beliefs?

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

9. As Chesterton argues, why does love seek individuality and personality? Is this true only in relation to man or also in relation to God?

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?

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