Book Review: The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton

The Everlasting Man: A Guide to G. K. Chesterton's Masterpiece by G. K. Chesterton with introduction, notes, and commentary by Dale Ahlquist

Responding to H. G. Wells's The Outline of History, G. K. Chesterton writes a more sensible, more erudite review of human history. Wells goes for a secular understanding, based on the science of his time which was not always so precise and has definitely not aged well by our time (though it was still contemporary for Chesterton). Chesterton, being Catholic, centers history around Jesus Christ, so the first half of his book is about prehistoric man and the various pre-Christian cultures that arose in history. Chesterton recognizes that we know almost nothing about primitive humans and gives a much more rational and believable account of what they must have been like. He proceeds through various civilizations, leading to the Roman Empire where Christ was born. He describes the revolutionary impact of Christ on humanity, both individual humans and the culture in general. He then goes through a bit of the history after Christ, looking at the various other religions and offshoots of Christianity and how they point to the centrality of Christ.

The great insight Chesterton underlines is the uniqueness of both human beings and of Jesus Christ, the titular Everlasting Man. Pre-historic cave paintings are by humans of other animals. The animals never made cave paintings or established civilizations. Humans are a lot more special and odd than an evolutionary attitude admits. Christ also provides a huge change in religions. Many people put their faith in various gods, demons, or their own intellects. Only one person convincingly claimed to be God and the church He founded has outlasted a lot of the institutions that were deliberately crafted to replace Christianity. Jesus is unique in history because He is God made man.

The analysis is brilliant. The text is enjoyable, though Chesterton often cites contemporary examples that are a century away from us now. The footnotes provided by Ahlquist fill in some of the gaps, though often they just reference Chesterton making the same point in other writings, sometimes not as clarifying as they could be. Ahlquist taught this book for years, so he has a detailed understanding that helps. An appendix provides study questions for each chapter.

Highly recommended--The subtitle is not exaggerating when it calls this Chesterton's masterpiece.