Chesterton: The Nightmare Goodness of God

The Making of the Christian Imagination

by Ralph C. Wood

The literary giant G. K. Chesterton is often praised as the "Great Optimist"--God's rotund jester. In this fresh and daring endeavor, Ralph Wood turns a critical eye on Chesterton's corpus to reveal the beef-and-ale believer's darker vision of the world and those who live in it. During an age when the words grace, love, and gospel, sound more hackneyed than genuine, Wood argues for a recovery of Chesterton's primary contentions: First, that the incarnation of Jesus was necessary reveals a world full not of a righteous creation but of tragedy, terror, and nightmare, and second, that the problem of evil is only compounded by a Christianity that seeks progress, political control, and cultural triumph.

Wood's sharp literary critique moves beyond formulaic or overly pious readings to show that, rather than fleeing from the ghoulish horrors of his time, Chesterton located God's mysterious goodness within the existence of evil. Chesterton seeks to reclaim the keen theological voice of this literary authority who wrestled often with the counterclaims of paganism. In doing so, it argues that Christians may have more to learn from the unbelieving world than is often supposed.

Genres: Religion, Literature, Theology, Nonfiction

358 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2010

About the author

Ralph C. Wood is a scholar of theology and English literature whose work focuses on Christian writers, particularly J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Gerard Manley Hopkins, George Herbert, and Dorothy Sayers. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Texas State College in 1965 and his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1975. After teaching English at North Park College in Chicago, he held academic posts in religion at Wake Forest University, Samford University, Regent College in Vancouver, and Providence College in Rhode Island. In 1998 he became University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University, where he continues to teach and write. Wood’s publications include The Gospel According to Tolkien and Tolkien among the Moderns. His awards include the Associated Church Press Award of Excellence (2010) and the Lionel Basney Award (2011). He is recognized as one of the most original Tolkien scholars on the religious dimensions of his work.

Reviews

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used part of this book (Ch. 6) for my Old English presentation on Alfred the Great (October 31, 2013). I read the same chapter more carefully on April 9, 2015, in preparation to lead an Honors Colloquium discussion.

155-58: Chesterton's movement away from triumphalism (see p. 161) and nationalism
155, 159-61: civilization brings both creation and destruction
162: truthful legend [cf. Plato's Myth of Er?]
163-67: Nietzschean ressentiment and Christian joy
168-70: Christians guard pagan things
170-73: triumph through conversion (see pp. 155-58, 161)
176-81: triumphalism vs. Christian humility; desire/longing; no culture warring; faithful cultivation
181-85: 3 underestimated episodes; humility (p. 182); repeated faithfulness (pp. 182-83); surrender to conquer

237-39: legend vs. history (see endnote 4)

[Andrew Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

GK Chesterton leaves me with mixed feelings these days after I read so many of this books with so much delight many years ago. I do have some good memories of those reads but also some growing concerns. GKC must be in the top ten among 20th century writers for quotable quotes such as "A man man is a man who has lost everything but his reason" and "I never seem to have enough nothing to do." GKC was filled with a love of the material world as God's creation and a grateful delight in its simple pleasures. The bellicosity and downright bigotry of some of his attitudes is less praiseworthy. Wood is quite helpful in being honest about GKC's shortcomings, especially his unequivocal support for WWI and his uninformed dislike of all oriental thought. Wood concentrates on the novels & poetry of GKC with analyses of GKC's social, moral & religious thought. He doesn't leave me fully comfortable about the anti-Moslem aspect of "The Flying Inn" but he helps one appreciate the joy of common people that GKC so believed in. "The Ball and the Cross" is troubling on account of the duel that the atheist & Catholic want to fight but the slapstick mitigates this somber aspect as does the rowing friendship between the adversaries. The importance of caring about God, even through doubt & denial is an important concern that Wood brings out in his reading. The analysis of "The Man who was Thursday" is especially helpful in disentangling, at least to some degree, the enigmas of that triple-twisted work. Throughout, Wood discusses how GKC was haunted by the nightmares and depression of his youth throughout his life which undercut the sometimes blithe optimism that GKC made himself famous for. Wood does not discuss either GKC's book on Francis or Thomas Aquinas which is a pity since those two books show GKC at his most insightful and generally at his best. On the other hand, these two books speak for themselves more than the literary works Wood analyzes. A helpful book for anyone who care enough about GKC to grapple with his legacy.

[Baylor University Press]

"Ralph Wood had given us an outstanding contribution to Chesterton scholarship, revealing both the depth of the author's intellect and the breadth of his imagination."
—Dale Ahlquist, President, American Chesterton Society

"Wood has triumphed once again. He shows how great Christian art is often paradoxically dark when conveying the light and he is a superb guide through the gloomy and yet glimmering wonderland of Chesterton's work."
—Joseph Pearce, Associate Professor of Literature, Ave Maria University and author of Wisdom of Innocence: A Life of G. K. Chesterton

"Wood's critical retrieval of Chesterton's work demonstrates very clearly how worthwhile it remains to engage with Chesterton's most essential and provocative ideas."
—Fergus Kerr, Honorary Professor of Modern Catholic Theology at the University of St Andrews

"Who better to make sense of G. K. Chesterton's quarrel with secular humanism? Wood brilliantly helps us navigate the trail Chesterton blazed through our modern Inferno."
—Daniel McInerny, Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Honors College, Baylor University

"The finest study of Chesterton in many years. It is precisely because Wood has not turned a blind eye to Chesterton's faults that he has succeeded so powerfully in demonstrating Chesterton's genius and continued importance for us today."
—David Bentley Hart, author of Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies

[Robert Balfour · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very excellent book. I bought it to help me understand Chesterton better. Chesterton is one of God's great gifts to the English language.

I've listened to more of Chesterton than I've read. He is larger than life and, to borrow his own phrase, like a great rising wave looming above his readers ready to crash upon them. He's also really funny, and one of the best antidotes to modern sensibilities around.

Wood's reading of Chesterton was very helpful. I appreciated how he structured the book, taking a major subject and work in each chapter. I'm really not convinced about embracing a telic theology of evolution. I think Chesterton has the better of it on evolution in general.

The book is graduate level. I couldn't go two pages without finding a word I didn't know. But if you're up to it, this book will light a lamp to spelling deeper into the genuine genius of GKC.