Last Call for Liberty: How America’s Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
2018 WORLD Magazine Book of the Year - Understanding America
The hour is critical. The American republic is suffering its gravest crisis since the Civil War. Conflicts, hostility, and incivility now threaten to tear the country apart. Competing visions have led to a dangerous moment of cultural self-destruction. This is no longer politics as usual, but an era of political warfare where our enemies are not foreign adversaries, but our fellow citizens.
Yet the roots of the crisis are deeper than many realize. Os Guinness argues that we face a fundamental crisis of freedom, as America’s genius for freedom has become her Achilles’ heel. Our society’s conflicts are rooted in two rival views of freedom, one embodied in “1776” and the ideals of the American Revolution, and the other in “1789” and the ideals of the French Revolution. Once again America has become a house divided, and Americans must make up their minds as to which freedom to follow. Will the constitutional republic be restored or replaced?
This grand treatment of history, civics, and ethics in the Jewish and Christian traditions represents Guinness’s definitive exploration of the prospects for human freedom today. He calls for a national conversation on the nature of freedom, and poses key questions for concerned citizens to consider as we face a critical chapter in the American story. He offers readers a checklist by which they can assess the character and consequences of the freedoms they are choosing.
In the tradition of Alexis de Tocqueville, Guinness provides a visitor’s careful observation of the American experiment. Discover here a stirring vision for faithful citizenship and renewed responsibility for not only the nation but also the watching world.
Key Features
- Explores the fundamental crisis of freedom in America
- Poses ten key questions for concerned citizens to consider
- Analyzes current internal threats to American freedom
Contents
- Question One: Do You Know Where Your Freedom Came From?
- Question Two: Are There Enough Americans Who Care About Freedom?
- Question Three: What Do You Mean by Freedom?
- Question Four: Have You Faced Up to the Central Paradox of Freedom?
- Question Five: How Do You Plan to Sustain Freedom?
- Question Six: How Will You Make the World Safe for Diversity?
- Question Seven: How Do You Justify Your Vision of a Free and Open Society?
- Question Eight: Where Do You Ground Your Faith in Human Freedom?
- Question Nine: Are You Vigilant About the Institutions Crucial to Freedom? A Republic or a Democracy?
- Question Ten: Are You Vigilant About the Ideas Crucial to Freedom? Which Revolution Do They Serve?
- Conclusion—America’s Choice: Covenant, Chaos, or Control?
Top Highlights
“The first weakness is that covenantalism requires promise keeping, but we humans do not keep promises well” (Page 40)
“First, the freedom of conscience includes the right to the freedom of dissent” (Page 27)
“Second, the covenant was a matter of a morally binding pledge” (Page 27)
“First, the covenant was a matter of freely chosen consent” (Page 26)
“They are a tacit rejection of the covenant/constitution itself. Second, dissent from them in the name of justice is contradictory and self-defeating, for it undermines the very standard and the obligation through which justice in America is to be achieved.” (Page 27)
Praise for the Print Edition
It will be a tragedy of inestimable proportions for the American people if that great nation eats its own legendary commitment to freedom from within. Equally, to lose the leadership of the world's most powerful champion of liberty would be truly dangerous for non-Americans everywhere in these increasingly unsettled times. Os Guinness has gifted us magnificently with the insights and understanding of a lifetime in this book, which really needs to be read—urgently—across the length and breadth of the world.
—John Anderson, deputy prime minister of Australia, 1999-2005
Os Guinness has stood as a beacon of eloquence and insight. In a host of important books, he has chronicled the struggle of those who resist the modern world's descent into carnival culture. Last Call for Liberty is his masterwork—an urgent guide that leads out of the maze America has wandered into. For those who seek to understand the best of freedom’s vital gifts, Guinness is the master class leader.
—Shelby Coffey III, vice chairman of the Newseum, former editor of the Los Angeles Times
If you care about the future of America—no matter where you are on the political spectrum—then do yourself a favor and read this book. I believe you will be encouraged to look at America in a new light, and hopefully all who love her will find a new energy to make her healthy again and keep her strong. Freedom-loving people everywhere will be grateful you did.
—John Brandon, former vice president of international, Apple Inc.
Product Details
- Title: Last Call for Liberty: How America’s Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat
- Author: Os Guinness
- Publisher: IVP
- Publication Date: 2018
- Pages: 336
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Christianity and Culture