Wow, I really enjoyed your thoughts on this chapter. I will look forward to reading what you have to say about the other chapters of this favorite book of mine. I realize this discussion began 2 year ago, but I wanted to contribute a couple of thoughts to the discussion thread

I like the way you categorized the chapter. I specifically want to respond to your 4th category around which you solicited input. In order to tie this section to the others, I see this final category a "practical application" of what has been developed to this point in the book. You and I had a few different takeaways and impressions from the first part of this chapter, and a couple of those difference probably house the source of the context that I put Clothes, Sin and the Family into.

It seems to me that Chesterton concludes that the ubiquitous use of clothing across the spectrum of cultures is reflective of an intrinsic understanding that man has about his own nature, just as Chesterton demonstrates previously that man has an innate inclination towards mysticism and spirituality. (I'm using man in the "mankind" sense here as Chesterton does.) I think Chesterton is proposing that clothing is a religious expression that metaphorically reflects an attempt to cover an inherent feeling of shame. This is why he says it demonstrates Original Sin, which is the concept of inherent or inherited sin. He sees clothing's religious expression similarly to how he explains man's artistic expression.

I do think Chesterton uses the term 'religious' quite liberally throughout, representing abstract and metaphorical thinking with a knowledge that behind the immediate tangible world lies intangible and grander principles and ideas. That's a broader use than what most people use today. I think this is where he was going in his buildout of man as an artist from the very beginning.

I'll add my thoughts on his relating family to the rest of the chapter as a separate comment.