'Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to suit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.'
Published in 1905, Heretics is Chesterton's fascinating reckoning with atheism. Wide-ranging in topic and eloquently argued, it is a significant work in Chesterton's corpus of moral theology.
A compelling series of twenty essays, Heretics sees Chesterton take aim at fashionable contemporary thinkers – writers and philosophers such as H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling and Bernard Shaw – who are proponents of rebellion and relativism. With his razor-sharp wit and charm, Chesterton cleverly unpicks these concepts, arguing that there is a better way forward. For Chesterton, true heresy isn't breaking dogma, but rather it's pretending that there's no truth at all. Championing common sense, tradition and the beauty of belief, Heretics is bold, wildly entertaining and a passionate call for us to think more deeply about the role of faith in our lives.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874 – 1936) was an English novelist, philosopher, journalist and critic. A Christian apologist, he is famed for creating the fictional priest-detective Father Brown. His writing was also renowned for his sense of humour: known as 'the prince of paradox', Chesterton often turned common sayings upside down. Admired by several of his literary contemporaries, Chesterton's work is still widely read today.
