BIBLION MAGAZINE INTERACTIVE EDITION (EN) #5 / SEP-OCT 2017 | Page 13

B I B L I O N - ENGLISH VERSION any attempt to impose Catholicism as the Universal Religion to be doomed to failure. In several chapters of the book, Chester- ton dedicates special attention to St. Francis of Assisi and defends a point of view that highlights his similarities with Jesus Christ, arguing that, “if St. Francis was like Christ, Christ was to that extent like St. Francis. (...) What I mean is this; that if men find certain riddles and hard sayings in the story of Galilee, and if they find the answers to those riddles in the story of Assisi, it really does show that a secret has been handed down in one religious tradition and no other. It shows that the casket that was locked in Palestine can be unlocked in Umbria; for the Church is the keeper of the keys.” Being even more enlightening when it co- mes to Jesus Christ, Chesterton affirms that, “It is truism to say that Christ lived before Christendom (...) the medium in which He moved was not the medium of Christendom but of the old pagan empire.” Chesterton uses his signature oxymora to present us the austere St. Francis in a unique perspective, sometimes taking the stance of the skeptical and of the atheist to question practices that the (Catholic) Church reveres as exemplar, but that author exposes with critical thinking, leaving the author to form his own opinion on those issues. A coincidence or not, a large part of the texts selected for this book show us Ches- terton’s rough, perhaps even defiant posture towards religion, especially Christianity. The absolute dogma of the Roman Catholic Chur- ch and its indifference towards what Protes- tants accept or reject in the Catholics, stating, “nothing amuses Catholics more than the suggestion, in so much of the old Protestant propaganda, that they are to be freed from the superstition called Mariolatry.” The chapter dedicated to religious compa- rison is a fascinating one, where Chesterton, after suggesting Confucianism is a civiliza- tion, advocates there should be an alternative classification for different religions. Chester- ton maintains that these should be divided psychologically in order to better identify the spiritual experiences over the inconsequential comparisons. He ends, much in the role of a chaperone, in a quite personal visit to Jerusalem, using the steep paths and narrow streets to once again make known his characteristic pers- pective on the Holy Land. He narrates the guided visit from the Zion Gate and a key center of history, where nations and religion coexist, with all its identity, architecture and prophecies. The Temple Square and Omar’s Mosque, as he likes to name it (and there’s a lengthy explanation on why he names it so!), the Mount of Olives and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are all included in the tour described by our illustrious guide. Bon voyage! PA U L O S É R G I O G O M E S A B C S O F T H E C H R I S T I A N L ife – T he U lti m ate A ntholog y of the P rince of Para do x , D E G . K . C H E S T E R TO N . P U B L I S H E D B Y AV E M A R I A P R E S S , U S A www.biblion.pt/en 13