[1] Chesterton considered this book a companion to his other work, Heretics, which was a collection of essays aimed at refuting prevalent secular views of his time and defending the Christian orthodoxy.

[citation needed] The book chronicles Chesterton's personal journey to adopting a Christian worldview.

[3] Chesterton's choice to focus on the Apostles' Creed made Orthodoxy's apologetic appealing to Christians from various denominational backgrounds.

[7] Orthodoxy was influential in the conversion of Theodore Maynard to Roman Catholicism,[8] as well as in the ordination of Canon Bernard Iddings Bell.

[9] In the magazine The Atlantic, critic James Parker recommends the book thus: "If you've got an afternoon, read his masterpiece of Christian apologetics Orthodoxy: ontological basics retailed with a blissful, zooming frivolity, Thomas Aquinas meets Eddie Van Halen.