ChesterCast

“The real difference between Paganism and Christianity is perfectly summed up in the difference between the pagan, or rational, virtues, and those three virtues of Christianity which the Church of Rome calls virtues of grace…which are in their essence as unreasonable as they can be….Whatever may be the meaning of the contradiction, it is a fact that the only kind of hope that is of any use in the battle is the hope that denies arithmetic. Whatever may be the meaning of the contradiction, it is a fact that the only kind of charity which any weak spirit wants, and which any generous spirit feels, is the charity that forgives sins that are like scarlet. Whatever may be the meaning of faith, it must always mean a certainty about something we cannot prove.”

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (330)

“Possibly the most pathetic of all the delusions of the modern students of primitive belief is the notion they have about the thing they call anthropomorphism. They believe that primitive men attributed phenomena to a god in human form in order to explain them. . . because by this explanation they were made more reasonable and comfortable. The final cure for all this kind of philosophy is to walk down a lane at night. Any one who does so will notice that men pictured something semi-human at the back of all things, not because such a thought was natural, but because it was supernatural; not because it made things more comprehensible, but because it made them a hundred times more incomprehensible and mysterious. For a man walking down a lane at night can see the conspicuous fact that as long as nature keeps to her own course, she has no power with us at all. As long as a tree is a tree, it is a top-heavy monster with a hundred arms, a thousand tongues, and only one leg. But so long as a tree is a tree, it does not frighten us at all. It begins to be something alien, to be something strange, only when it looks like ourselves. When a tree really looks like a man our knees knock under us. And when the whole universe looks like a man we fall on our faces.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (315)

I have a nice buffer going now. I have just finished recording chapter sixteen of Heretics, so I should not have any more late podcasts. This makes me about a month ahead.

I am thinking the next book will be either Orthodoxy or Saint Francis of Assisi. If you have any opinion in the matter, drop me a comment.

I’ve subscribed for a paid account on PodBean and applied to have Chestercast added to the iTunes Store’s podcast list, so I hope that gives me more listeners.

The chapters were short, so they were combined into one file.

The Moods of Mr. George Moore is Chesterton’s account of George Moore, an writer who attacked Christianity.

“The more hopeless is the situation the more hopeful must be the man. Stevenson understood this, and consequently Mr. Moore cannot understand Stevenson…The weaker a thing is, the more it should be respected…Thackery understood this, and therefore Mr. Moore does not understand Thackery. Pride is a weakness in the character; it dries up chivalry and energy. The Christian tradition understands this; therefore Mr. Moore cannot understand the Christian tradition.”

And in On Sandles and Simplicity, Chesterton attacks the a backwards view of the ’simple life’ :

“This complaint against them stands, that they would make us simple in the unimportant things, but complex in the important things. They would make us simple in things that do not matter — that is, in diet, in custome, in ettiquette, in economic system. But they would make us complex in the things that do matter — in philosophy, in loyalty, in spiritual acceptance, and in spiritual rejection. It does not so much matter if a man eats a grilled tomato or a plain tomato; it does very much matter whether he eats a plain tomato with a grilled mind.”

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (312)

Chapter 8 from Heretics, “The Mildness of the Yellow Press”.

Chesterton talks about the yellow press of his time, but, as always, finds his way around to other, related topics.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (324)

A bit late, and a short chapter. This quote from the chapter says it all:

“Dionysius made wine, not a medicine, but a sacrament. Jesus Christ made wine, not a medicine, but a sacrament. Omar Khayyam makes wine, not a sacrament, but a medicine. He feasts, because life is not joyful; he revels, because he is not glad. ‘Drink,’ he says, ‘for you know not whence you come or why. Drink, for you know not when you go or where. Drink, because the stars are cruel and the world as idle as a humming top. Drink, because there is nothing worth trusting, and nothing worth fighting for. Drink, because all things are lapsed in a base equality and an evil peace.’ And so he stands, offering us the cup in his hand. And at the high altar of Christianity stands another figure, in whose hand is also the cup of the vine. ‘Drink,’ he says, ‘for the whole world is as red as this wine, with the love and wrath of God. Drink, for the trumpets are blowing for battle and this is the stirrup-cup. Drink, for this is my blood of the new testament that is shed for you. Drink, for I know of whence you come and why. Drink, for I know of when you go and where.’ “

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [13:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (323)