Customer Reviews for IVP Books A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future - eBook
IVP Books A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future - eBook
Average Customer Rating:
(2 Reviews) 2
Rating Snapshot (2 reviews)
5 stars
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4 stars
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Customer Reviews for A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future - eBook
Review 1 for A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future - eBook
Overall Rating:
essential reading for Americans
Date:November 1, 2012
Quality:
5
out of
5
Value:
5
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
5
out of
5
American's love freedom. But Guinness believes that America's deepest crisis at present is that of ordered liberty and sustainable freedom.
Freedom is its own greatest enemy. It can prove to be an Achilles' heel, dissipating into license, triviality, corruption, etc. Freedom requires order and self-restraint. Guinness believes, “Americans today are heedlessly pursuing a vision of freedom that is short-lived and suicidal.” (29)
“If the founders were correct, contemporary America's pursuit of political leadership without character, economic enterprise without ethics and trust, scientific progress without human values, freedom without virtue...can only end in disaster.” (34)
Guinness covers the founders' understanding of the tasks of sustainable freedom, the classical understanding of why no political systems have endured, the founders' solution to the challenge of sustaining freedom, the condition of American freedom today, America's international standing, and the possible grounds for America's restoration.
Guinness brings reality to the discussion. The world is flawed. There is not going to be any lasting victory for freedom in the world. American freedom is being tested in the international arena.
Guinness believes in the possibility of American renewal. He outlines the three tasks necessary for freedom to last. There will be a high price to pay if Americans do not act soon.
Freedom is its own greatest enemy. It can prove to be an Achilles' heel, dissipating into license, triviality, corruption, etc. Freedom requires order and self-restraint. Guinness believes, “Americans today are heedlessly pursuing a vision of freedom that is short-lived and suicidal.” (29)
“If the founders were correct, contemporary America's pursuit of political leadership without character, economic enterprise without ethics and trust, scientific progress without human values, freedom without virtue...can only end in disaster.” (34)
Guinness covers the founders' understanding of the tasks of sustainable freedom, the classical understanding of why no political systems have endured, the founders' solution to the challenge of sustaining freedom, the condition of American freedom today, America's international standing, and the possible grounds for America's restoration.
Guinness brings reality to the discussion. The world is flawed. There is not going to be any lasting victory for freedom in the world. American freedom is being tested in the international arena.
Guinness believes in the possibility of American renewal. He outlines the three tasks necessary for freedom to last. There will be a high price to pay if Americans do not act soon.
Guinness' book is not light reading. He critiques America's current situation. It is not an encouraging situation. But there is hope.
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+5points
5of 5voted this as helpful.
Review 2 for A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future - eBook
Overall Rating:
Man's view, but is it God's view?
Date:September 16, 2012
dddavids
Age:55-65
Gender:male
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
3
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
3
out of
5
This is a fascinatingly objective summary of the historical and philosophical foundations of the American Revolution, written by an Irishman. However, I was a bit surprised that the author, an accomplished Christian apologist, had so little to say about the contributions of Biblical or theological currents in the outflow from freedom's spring. His concluding optimism seems a bit humanistic and unsubstantiated by current events.
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0points
1of 2voted this as helpful.