Chestertonian Fighting Words

“I’ve just never liked G.K. Chesterton,” quips Austin Bramwell, “which, among the conservative Christians with whom I sometimes (though, as an Episcopalian, not often) travel, is almost enough to make me a Bad Person.”

No almost about it, Austin—that makes you very likely a Bad Person.

But that sacrilege is trivial compared to some of his other heretical claims. Take, for example, this outrage:

Chesterton fanatics sometimes talk as if his wonderfulness just can’t be doubted. For some reason, he makes a lot of people feel that it would just be not in the right spirit to subject him to critical examination. But there’s no reason not to do so. Just because Chesterton makes you feel good doesn’t mean that he’s sound.

I’m not willing to say that his wonderfulness can’t be doubted. But I’d eye with suspicion anyone who had the gall to doubt it.

Normally, I would challenge Bramwell to a duel (like in The Man Who Was Thursday ) to settle this insult. Instead, I’ll take the more civil, less bullet-ridden approach by pointing out worthy rebuttals by my friends Michael Brendan Dougherty (a Catholic) and Matthew Anderson (an evangelical).