The Creature Called Man
Part One of this book is titled “The Creature Called Man.” The title of Part Two is “The Man Called Christ.” This is a clear indication that man and Christ may be related and share fundamentals, but they are hardly the same thing. So what is this creature called man, then? Well, that’s what the book is partially about, but to get things started, the author offers a definition through metaphor:
“Man is the microcosm; man is the measure of all things; man is the image of God”
Take That, Darwin!
Chesterton does not seem to abide with Darwin on the matter of man merely being the next stage of development for an animal. Man is like everything from the fish in the sea to the birds in the sky relative to the fact they all have backbones. But man is more than the sum of his parts. He is a mystery and subversive one at that:
“Man is not merely an evolution but rather a revolution.”
Jesus v. Pontius
Chesterton frames the showdown between Christ and Pilate in terms not usually engaged. This, he says, was the moment when Christianity really began. And the reason it is not usually engaged is because the outcome was so ridiculously momentous that all attempts to put into the proper context fail. But one more try won’t hurt:
“When Jesus was brought before the judgement-seat of Pontius Pilate, he did not vanish. It was the crisis and the goal; it was the hour and the power of darkness. It was the supremely supernatural act, of all his miraculous life, that he did not vanish.”
What Are the Gospels?
The author uses an unexpected simile—too simple to be simplistic—to describe his view of the Gospel. What he means by this comparison is not that it is a negative experience in frustration, but rather than the very simplicity of the parables told by Jesus is what gives them the power to spark conversation, debate and analysis of their meaning for more than 2000 years now.
“the Gospel as it stands is almost a book of riddles.”
This Is the End
The book ends on a metaphor. Not just any run-of-the-mill simile or simple declarative assertion, but one of the author’s most sublime expressions of metaphorical imagery capable of giving one something to think about even if they don’t want to go back and review everything else Chesterton has tried to push into their consciousness”
“nowhere in this sad world are boys happier in apple-trees, or men in more equal chorus singing as they tread the vine, than under the fixed flash of this instant and intolerant enlightenment; the lightning made eternal as the light.”
