A true giant of the faith

Among the many Christians who God has raised up over the centuries to defend the faith, G.K. Chesterton must be one of the great figures at the dawn of our contemporary age.

A significant influence on the intellectuals of his day, Chesterton communicated his faith with a style of writing that would only be matched by C.S. Lewis (and some of Lewis’ own words are heavily dependent on what Chesterton had already written!). Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) was a writer by profession. Author of over 80 books, he was enormously versatile: producing history, detective novels, poems, plays and newspaper columns. He was also literally enormous. Standing at 6’4”, and weighing nearly 300 pounds, the adult Chesterton was a forceful presence. In days when humour did not need to be filtered for the easily offended, he said of his friend George Bernard Shaw: ‘To look at you, anyone would think a famine had struck England.’ Shaw replied to Chesterton: ‘To look at you, anyone would think you had caused it.’

Chesterton’s ability to poke fun and sharpen wit contributed to his skill in communicating the faith in graceful language that could be pithy, insightful and memorable. Writing for newspapers, he engaged with the issues of the day and gave voice to a faith that was robust but reasonable.