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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. What problem did Christianity solve which Paganism could not?

2. Why did the serious changes in our political outlook occur at the beginning of the nineteenth century rather than at the end?

3. As he began to consider Christianity, what lifted Chesterton's heart and made him happy?

4. Chesterton chooses miracles as his first example regarding liberal thinking. What does he call this example?

5. What people, in their interactions with women, does Chesterton call stupid?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Chesterton explain the modern view of miracles? Is this view contradictory?

4. Why, according to Chesterton, do modern thinkers find it advantageous to modernity to change the vision of heaven constantly? What effect does this have on man's mind?

5. 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?

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

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

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

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chesterton's understanding, what does it mean for God when a miracle occurs? What does a miracle mean for both the materialist and the believer? What is your understanding of a miracle, and how does it relate to Chesterton's ideas?

Essay Topic 2

What is Chesterton's opinion about suicide contrasted to murder? Does he make a valid argument? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

If life is to be a fairy tale, there must be a balance between fear and wonder, as Chesterton argues. Why is this balance important? What happens if there is a large amount of one over the other?

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