Very Brief Religious Biography of G.K.C.
- Theological note: Chesterton, in many ways, has a marvelous consistency of thought throughout his believing life. Externally, though, Chesterton has four basic stages of religious persuasion.
- 1874-1895ish:
He grew up in a nominally Christian home. Chesterton, at age 19, was
an agnostic in crisis...searching for a solid atheism. Reading atheistic
writers cured him of that impulse.
- 1895ish-1922: Chesterton
moves from his anti-atheism toward strong Christian faith. He fell in
love with Francis Blogg in 1896. Her influence led him to take on the
mantle of Protestant Anglican faith with growing Anglo-Catholic leanings. No doubt these leanings had much to do with his longtime Roman Catholic friend and cohort, Hillaire Belloc, whom he met in 1900.
- 1922-1936: Chesterton's leanings grew until he finally became officially Roman Catholic in 1922 (though he had delayed for years in consideration of the effect his Roman Catholic conversion might have on his wife).
- 1936-present: He went to heaven and was disabused of his wonderfully few, though fierce, misapprehensions.
