The New Jerusalem

by G.K. Chesterton

"The New Jerusalem," by G. K. Chesterton, was called by Dale Ahlquist a "philosophical travelogue" of Chesterton's journey across Europe to Palestine.

Genres: History, Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, Theology, Classics, Travel

172 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2004

About the author

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer, philosopher, lay theologian, and literary and art critic.

He was educated at St. Paul’s, and went to art school at University College London. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some two hundred short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4000 newspaper essays, including 30 years worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.

Chesterton was equally at ease with literary and social criticism, history, politics, economics, philosophy, and theology.

Reviews

[Peter J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say. Chesterton could write about making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and could make it riveting.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I have always loved the essays and tales of G.K. Chesterton, his later nonfiction books, of which The New Jerusalem (1920) is one, tend not to age as well. Although the first few chapters give an interesting picture of Jerusalem, he becomes more argumentative, spending several chapters on the Middle Ages and the Crusades, and then falling into the trap of explaining why he is not an anti-Semite.

As much as I love Chesterton, I find that, later in his life, he could not relive his Edwardian glory days in the England of the 1920s and 1930s. At times, the old Chesterton shines through, as when he writes:

It would be far truer to say that national frontiers and divisions keep us at peace. It would be far truer to say that we can always love each other so long as we do not see each other. But the people of Jerusalem are doomed to have difference without division. They are driven to set pillar against pillar in the same temple, while we can set city against city across the plains of the world. While for us a church rises from its foundations as naturally as a flower springs from a flower-bed, they have to bless the soil and curse the stones that stand on it. While the land we love is solid under our feet to the earth's centre, they have to see all they love and hate lying in strata like alternate night and day, as incompatible and as inseparable. Their entanglements are tragic, but they are not trumpery or accidental. Everything has a meaning; they are loyal to great names as men are loyal to great nations; they have differences about which they feel bound to dispute to the death; but in their death they are not divided.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I read Chesterton I can understand why others have difficulties with reading him. He can be so scattershot wandering all over the place like one of his unexpected adventures. I am just glad that I do like reading him.

The New Jerusalem is a sort of philosophical travelogue. So kind of like all of his writings that really doesn't stick to the genre he is writing in. Still, it is amazing how much he can see while traveling because he really sees. Loved how much he can infer from observations of the people, the land, and even the architecture. His critique on the Kaiser's chapel is great:

“What annoys me about it is that it was not built by children, or even by savages, but by professors; and the professors could profess the art and could not practise it. The architects knew everything about a Romanesque building except how to build it.”

Really quite interesting, especially how he view the growing Zionist movement, which he was mostly in favor of.

[Michael Joosten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ostensibly a travelogue, or possibly an essay on Zionism, The New Jerusalem is most powerful as a eulogy on the Middle Ages and the true end of the Roman Empire. If you ever wondered why a king so noble as Richard the Lionheart could abandon England for one of those dreadfully barbaric Crusades, this book will enlighten you.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

It strikes us as odd that a nail should be so valuable or so vivid to the imagination. And yet, to men so close to Calvary, even nails are not entirely commonplace.

This is a series of barely-connected essays dealing with Chesterton’s travels to Jerusalem in 1919, a couple of years after the Balfour declaration. This book is probably the primary evidence against Chesterton as an anti-semite; but that’s somewhat of a twisted reading. Chesterton is certainly critical of Jews as a culture, but he’s critical of everyone as a culture, including the English. And even in this book which is technically about Jerusalem and Zionism.

A more valid criticism of this book is that it is very un-Chesterton-like. In other books, Chesterton is deft at going deeper into a problem to find the roots of it; here, he tends to a more superficial outlook, and while criticizing others for deliberately ignoring history, he ignores history himself.

Throughout Chesterton’s books is a praise of patriotism; he recognizes a patriotism in Jews, or some Jews, for Israel. But this is a problem for Chesterton, and possibly because of his own patriotism. He didn’t think there should be a Jewish state surrounding Jerusalem, because he believed Jerusalem should be run by Europe (“Christendom”), and if Europe was unwilling to shoulder the responsibility, then England should continue to do so.

In fact the greatest of the real difficulties of Zionism is that it has to take place in Zion.

He envisions, instead, “Jewish colonies in suitable and selected places in adjacent parts or in many other parts of the world…” with each being “some sort of self-governing enclave with special laws and exemptions;” but he does not address that this sort of thing had been tried before with very poor results, from the American Indians in the United States to the various Jewish quarters spread throughout Europe and Asia. It ends up making for very vulnerable communities throughout the world. Chesterton, of course, was writing before the Holocaust, but he certainly had many pogroms throughout history to learn from.

His essays are, however, wide-ranging, and he is still both funny and insightful outside of Jerusalem—and even sometimes inside of Jerusalem when not talking about Jerusalem. For example,

Scholars, I may say here, object to calling it the Mosque of Omar; on the petty and pedantic ground that it is not a mosque and was not built by Omar.

He also goes into a long description of how the French have normalized Frenchness to make anything else seem out of the ordinary.

The French have a unique and successful trick by which French things are not accepted as French. They are accepted as human. However many foreigners played football, they would still consider football an English thing. But they do not consider fencing a French thing, though all the terms of it are still French.

…

In Cairo a man thinks it English to go into a tea-shop; but he does not think it French to go into a cafe.

And he also has a few words for tourists who denigrate what they have traveled to see:

I have met a tourist who had seen the great Pyramid, and who told me that the Pyramid looked small. Believe me, the tourist looked much smaller… I delicately suggested to those who were disappointed in the Sphinx that it was just possible that the Sphinx was disappointed in them.

And he is a man that loves dogs:

The dog’s very lawlessness is but an extravagance of loyalty; he will go mad with joy three times on the same day, at going out for a walk down the same road… I have some sense myself of the sacred duty of surprise; and the need of seeing the old road as a new road. But I cannot claim that whenever I go out for a walk with my family and friends, I rush in front of them volleying vociferous shouts of happiness; or even leap up round them attempting to lick their faces.

Because this is a series of essays, it is not as coherent a whole as the other Chesterton books I’ve read; it certainly is interesting as a viewpoint of the so-called “Jewish question” after Balfour and before World War II.

[Leslie Moellering · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being billed as a travelogue, this book wasn't quite what I expected. Or at all. But then, that's Chesterton. It's more of a series of random thoughts he had as he traveled to Jerusalem, which may only be tangentially related to where he was. Chesterton thinks so deeply that he's often misunderstood. It's not that this book was hard to read, but that I'm sure there's a lot I didn't understand of what he was saying. He's worth reading anyway, though, to glean what you can.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am far from the target reader for this book. It was attempted as I thought it'd be more of a travel narrative combined with sociological observations. But, no... I'd say it's a thin veneer of that with the bulk of the material being philosophy combined with history; the latter covering the medieval era, which interests me little.

On a more positive note, the last chapter containing his thoughts on what may happen in the 20th Century were fairly accurate.

Oh well, there's plenty more on my TBR to tackle!

[Joel Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not finish it but loved his commentary on passing through Egypt. His reflections on the faiths of he region are as applicable today as they were then. The imagery is vivid. The setting is 100 years ago so much has changed but as history goes mans heart is strikingly similar.

I still got some nuggets out of it.

[K · Rating 1 out of 5]

"I'm not Anti-Semitic", Chesterton, my beloved Chesterton, you keep using that word and I do not think it means what you think it means. You are Anti-Semitic as Hell and racist to boot.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended to anyone who is extremely interested in Middle East politics or life. General Chesterton fans may or may not find this interesting.

Chesterton offers some interesting and poetical insights into the world of the Middle East. While I think many of these observations are profound and still applicable, some seemed too Anglo, too simplistic. He recognized the profound differences in approaching the world among groups like Arabs, Jews, and Westerners, which I think were true and would be helpful to remember in dealing with these issues. His thoughts on the "Zionist problem" seemed to perpetuate the problem, though I think he correctly identified some factors that make Jews unique in the world.

My favorite part was his discussion of the Crusades and how the Medieval age died because the "heart went out" of the Crusaders when Jerusalem was sacked. This is totally what happened--totally in keeping with the Medieval mindset. Brilliant.

[Rex Libris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chesterton takes a trip to Jerusalem, and talks about what he sees. More importantly, he speaks about what these things he sees make him think about. This book is a lengthy discourse about the Middle East, the relationships between East and West, and relationships between the various religions.

This was written before the Second World War, when there is yet no Israel. While there was no Israel, Chesterton discusses Zionism and the relations between Jews and the places in which they live, and how the two relate. Other observations Chesterton has about relations with Muslims and countries like Turkey seems pretty much to be the same issues we have today. So much has changed, but so little has changed.

[Stefano Crosio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well discussed controversy

As always Chesterton’s wit and elegance cuts through such a controversial topic as this one. He puts up a strong and thorough thesis of what he believes and why he believes it, presenting some undeniable facts and good argument. Whether or not you agree with his opinion should not deter you from reading another great piece of Chesterton writing out of his many works. Recommend to all those interested in an anthology of Chesterton’s breath of topics.

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Observational writing by GKC on what he witnessed in the middle east, masterfully contrasts cultural implications of the clash of religions and the clash of religion with the broad religion of modernity that most are now born into; fascinating descriptions, poignant illustrations. Everything you expect from GKC, if a bit ad hoc or scattered.

[George Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and informative look at the new Jerusalem.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the few books by Chesterton I couldn't sustain interest in, in spite of more than one attempt. It has some interesting ideas and theories, as you'd expect, but it’s not easy reading.

[Robin Rader · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Essential Chesterton.
The way of the cities -- The way of the desert -- The gates of the city -- The philosophy of sight-seeing -- The streets of the city -- The groups of the city -- The shadow of the problem -- The other side of the desert -- The battle with the dragon -- The endless empire -- The meaning of the crusade -- The fall of chivalry -- The problem of Zionism.

GK describes what he sees, as an artist. I would recommend this book for its guide to tourism alone. He works from what's there and where it is and what it's been; the opposite approach from systematic theologians or scientific theorists or critics. And then, as a poet, he sees as though a landscape the big patterns that context the little things, such as one anemone and then the color red.

GK often says things in an extreme way, to get the point across, like a caricature. He gives many sketches, so it can be more roundly considered, like a sculpture. He is the enemy of fuzzy language and fuzzy thinking.

GK is too English to use the word 'love' much, but he is a lover. I think awe is the essence of love, and he does advocate wonder. He loves his opponents and sees and lauds their greatness while he combats their errors, as though he held a shield over the human while he wielded a sword against their common enemy.

Above all, he knows something bigger than himself and his relationship to it, and thus to everything. Practical political problems cannot be resolved without reference to communities' "conception of life and death and the origin of things".

GK published this in 1920, a few years after the Balfour Declaration. I started reading The New Jerusalem a few days before Hamas bombed Israel on 7 Oct 23.

[Chris Fellows · Rating 3 out of 5]

The "New Jerusalem" is the Jerusalem newly liberated from the Turks. This book is Chesterton's account of his journey there, very shortly after the end of the Great War.

The book reminds me more than any other Chesterton book I have read that he started out as a painter. In the early part of the book especially, he will describe an arresting image he has seen in painterly detail, use it as an analogy for something or other, than move on to another image. Unfortunately the book degenerates by the end into a series of essays which are more tenuously connected to Chesterton's journey and may as well have been written without leaving England. I would have liked more of the images; and would have very much liked more reportage. Chesterton evidently met and talked with many of the most interesting and important people in Palestine at the time, but they are only mined for one or two lines in essays on traditional Chestertonian politico-religious hobbyhorses. It would have been splendid to have more of the words of the Grand Mufti, or the American Consul, or Chaim Weizmann, mediated through Chesterton.

There are one or two prescient warnings in this book that ninety-odd years of Anglospherican meddlers in Palestine would have done well to read:

It does no harm, at any rate to start with, to state that the differences are irreconcilable. For the first and most unfamiliar fact the English have to learn in this strange land is that differences can be irreconcilable.

[Ron Oltmanns · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the spiritual idea of the new Jerusalem. The realities of the earthly Jerusalem are sketched here in a painterly way by Gilbert Chesterton. He has an eye and appreciation for the poetic but also a sharp mind that turned to social criticism and commentary iby the issues contemporary to the aftermath of WW I. That makes this book more interesting from a historical perspective tor someone interested in Jerusalem, history or perhaps he thought of Chesterton himself.

Chesterton is quite prescient in his views about irreconcilable differences, Jewish-Palestinian relations and the ongoing lure and fascination that Jerusalem holds. His view of the Crusades is insightful since h doesn't repeat conventional wisdom. That is true of Chesterton generally: he takes independent, wel-considered view that a you have t consider.

The fact that GKC traveled to post-Ottoman Jerusalem in 1919 soon after the British Mandate began, when Zionism was still rising and the "Jewish Problem" had not been sharpened to a point by the Holocaust adds a historic weight to the writing. There is some good travelogue writing here as well. You're bound to get some insights her, but you'll also get a deeper look belw the surface of some important issues

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual, full of Chesterton's wit, insight, and paradoxical aphorisms. I would have enjoyed this more had the topic not been quite so dated. But many of his observations stand the test of time. Some of my favorite "Chesterton chestnuts":

In discussing the trend toward socialism: "The mob howls before the palace gates, 'Hateful tyrant, we demand that you assume more despotic powers!'"

"Now the mistake of critics is not that they criticise the world; it is that they never criticise themselves."

"It is the educated Englishman who is the idolater. It is he who only reverences the place, and does not reverence the reverence for the place."

"Advertisement is the rich asking for more money."

"We tend too much to forget that recurrent things are eternal things."

[Nathan Douthit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half (his general impressions on Egypt/Jerusalem and the different religions within the city) was better than the second (his thoughts on zionism). Both contained interesting portions, however, and this was a fun read. I picked it up because I love the author, and he didn't disappoint. I probably would not have enjoyed it as much had I not lived near Jerusalem.

[Chesterton Portugal]

Accurate evaluation of the cruzades issue.
The antisemitic Chesterton is absolutely dismissed in chapter 13. Chesterton praised the jewish religion and people. What he did not like was usury, unfortunatly current amidst an elite of jews and non-jews as well.
Antisemitism is a simplification and simplifications are always incorrect or bigoted.

[robert miecznikowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

How little changes

This history of Jerusalem shows how well Chesterton understood what the future held for the Middle East. I found his report a excellent starting point in looking at the Middle East today.

Everyone interested in understanding this area needs to read this essay.

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It certainly made me think.
A refreshing look at a perspective of Jerusalem that has to have defied Solomon's declaration that there is nothing new under the sun. Not Chesterton's best, but worth the read.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerusalem & what he saw after the Turks insights regarding; the one simple truth of Islam, capitalism/ advertising as begging & Zionism/ the crusades. In the End we got the reformation & I dare say we deserved it.

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Chezzy' is always good for his sayings; always quotable.

[Womana]

Very dated in many of the comments but dazzles with G K's usual brilliance.

[Marilyn Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

This helped my understand Jerusalem and problems well written