The Everlasting Man

Book excerpt: "There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place." -G.K. Chesterton What, if anything, is it that makes the human uniquely human? This, in part, is the question that G.K. Chesterton starts with exploration of human history in this classic. Responding to the evolutionary materialism of his contemporary H.G. Wells, Chesterton in this work affirms human uniqueness and the unique message of the Christian faith. Writing at a time when social Darwinism was increasingly popular, Chesterton argued that the idea that society has been steadily progressing from a starting point of primitivism towards civilization, and of Jesus Christ as simply another charismatic figure, is completely inaccurate. Chesterton saw in Christianity a rare blending of philosophy and mythology, which he felt satisfies both the mind and the heart. Here, as so often in Chesterton, we sense a lived, awakened faith. All that he writes derives from a keen intellect guided by the heart's own knowledge.