The Everlasting Man by {author}: summary and why it matters

What it argues

Chesterton wrote the book as a reply to Wells's Outline of History, which treated man as one animal among many and Christianity as one religion among many. In Part One, On the Creature Called Man, he argues that humans are a different sort of creature: the cave paintings show an art that no animal produces, and the ancient world's religion and mythology reveal a hunger that was not satisfied.

In Part Two, On the Man Called Christ, he sets out the story of Jesus and the early Church as something that does not fit the pattern of other religions or heroes. Christianity, he says, has died many deaths and risen again, because the faith has more life in it than its enemies and a reply to each new age.

The book is written in his usual paradox and has little scholarly apparatus.

Why it matters

C. S. Lewis said it was the best popular defense of the faith he had read, and it affected his own conversion. The book is also a good example of conservative apologetics aimed at the claims of scientific progress.

About the author

Chesterton wrote the book in 1925, a year after he had begun to receive requests to reply to the popular histories of his day. H. G. Wells's The Outline of History, published in 1920, was a large best-seller, and the two men were friends who disagreed. Chesterton's book has remained in print and has been called one of the most influential Christian books of the century.

Who should read it

Readers who enjoy Chesterton's style and want his case in full.