Man in Nature

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Dec 18, 2000 | by Stephen Goode

For the people would like to call readers' attention to a great new paperback sent this column's way by Ignatius Press of San Francisco. The Christian Imagination is by Thomas C. Peters, and it's about the life and thought of the English writer and Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), but it's so full of Chesterton's wit and wisdom -- and his enormously healthy and vigorous attitude toward life -- that it's a book from which anyone can benefit and enjoy.

For the people has quoted Chesterton before (see "Democracy of the Dead," April 17), but he's worth quoting again. Consider this summation about what's wrong with an overly Darwinian, scientific view of the world, for example, taken from his book Lunacy and Letters, and reprinted in this new book:

"Looked at microscopically, man may be made to appear as commonplace and mechanical as a larva or an amoeba; but looked at simply and suddenly, looked at in its whole bulk and proportion, the position of man in nature is a monstrous and miraculous thing. It is like seeing a hundred toadstools an inch high and another toadstool 40 feet high."

Let us hear your ideas for this feature. Write to Insight, For the People, 3600 New York Ave. N.E., Washington, DC 20002. Or fax us: (202) 529-2484. E-mail: Insight@wt.infi.net.