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We could use another Chesterton today, I think. In a time when culture and faith have drifted even further apart, we could use his brilliance, his entertaining style, and above all his generous and joyful spirit.

For all his personal quirkiness, he managed to propound the Christian faith with as much wit, good humor, and sheer intellectual force as anyone in recent times. With the zeal of a knight defending the last redoubt, he took on anyone who dared interpret the world apart from God and Incarnation.

Chesterton himself said that the modern age is characterized by a sadness that calls for a new kind of prophet, not like prophets of old who reminded people that they were going to die, but someone who would remind them they are not dead yet. The prophet of ample girth and ample mirth filled that role splendidly. T.S. Eliot judged, "He did more, I think, than any man of his time. … to maintain the existence of the important minority in the modern world." I know he did that for me. Whenever I feel my faith going dry again, I wander to a shelf and pick up a book by G.K. Chesterton. The adventure begins all over again.

Philip Yancey is a CT editor at large. This excerpt is adapted from his book, Soul Survivor, ©2001 by Someone Cares Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc.

Soul Survivor

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A ready-to-download Bible Study on this article is available at ChristianBibleStudies.com. These unique Bible studies use articles from current issues of Christianity Today to prompt thought-provoking discussions in adult Sunday school classes or small groups.

The American Chesterton Society gives a good introduction to Chesterton and a "basic course" on his works.

G.K. Chesterton's writings, including his religious essays, fiction, and poems, are available all over the web.

The Chesterton Photograph and Portrait Page includes good images and descriptions of Chesterton's appearance.

Gilbert! is a magazine devoted to the ideas and orthodoxy of Chesterton. Read sample articles or read its mission statement. (The magazine's site also has an extensive page of links to writings by and about Chsterston)

Last year, Christianity Today's sister publication Books & Culturerevisited Chesterton's masterpiece, The Man Who Was Thursday.

Christianity Today looked at Christianity's master of irony last September with a series of quotes showing Chesterton's Paradoxical Orthodoxy.

Philip Yancey's book Soul Survivor (book | audiocassette) is available through Christianbook.com.

His other books include Reaching for the Invisible God (2000), The Bible Jesus Read (1999), The Jesus I Never Knew (1995), Where is God When It Hurts (1990).

Philip Yancey is also a columnist for Christianity Today. Recent columns include:

Fixing Our Weakest Link | Evangelicals should be more "needful of the minds of others." (July 3, 2001)

Replenishing the Inner Pastor | Churches should take greater interest in their shepherds' spiritual health. (May 14, 2001)

Beyond Flesh and Blood | I used to disdain biblical talk of "invisible spirits." No more. (Mar. 27, 2001)

God at Large | A look around the globe reveals a God as big as we want him to be. (Jan. 31, 2001)

Humility's Many Faces | Everyone I've looked up to has shared one trait. (Dec. 4, 2000)

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September 3 2001, Vol. 45, No. 11