Paganism

Chapter 12 of 'Heretics' discusses the modern notions about paganism. At times, I was reminded of 'The everlasting man', which Chesterton wrote years later. The relation between paganism and Christianity is mostly sequential, according to Chesterton: the one came after the other. Never again can we become like pagans, because we learned that we are living in a more complex world.
Christianity has adopted the pagan virtues, and has added three herself: faith, hope and charity. These virtues are paradoxical (charity will forgive the unforgivable); they are also the cause of the idea of romance. One more Christian virtue, which is definitely not pagan, is humility. The Christian realizes that he cannot enjoy life if he starts by enjoying himself: on the contrary, he needs to become less, in order to enjoy the wonders of the world. Chesterton concludes:

We cannot go back to an ideal of reason and sanity. For mankind has discovered that reason does not lead to sanity. We cannot go back to an ideal of pride and enjoyment. For mankind has discovered that pride does not lead to enjoyment. [-] If we do revive and pursue the pagan ideal of a simple and rational self-completion we shall end - where Paganism ended. I do not mean that we shall end in destruction. I mean that we shall end in Christianity.