Author and cultural commentator, Os Guinness, says, “If people don’t understand the 60’s, they can’t understand today.” Skye talks with Os about the re-release of his classic book, “The Dust of Death” and how the 60’s counterculture planted the seeds for the cultural upheaval and division we’re seeing in 2020.
Also this week, can the National Association of Evangelicals restore the reputation of evangelicalism in America? The Gospel Coalition offers 6 wise suggestions for political engagement, and the crew discusses how church leaders can lead their congregations through potentially divisive topics. Plus, News of the Butt…in space!
“NASA Just Sent a New $23 Million Space Toilet to the International Space Station”: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/nasa-just-sent-new-23-million-space-toilet-international-space-station-180976037/
“For the Health of the Nation” Statement: https://www.forthehealth.net“
6 Ways Christians Can Be Wiser in Public Engagement”: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/6-ways-christians-wiser-political-engagement/
I know this comment about a three-year-old episode that my third-party podcast app queued up at random won't get read, but permit me to just type (yell?) into the void anyway... I have to say: the fact that Os' tone and talking points could have easily been ripped from a lecture given by whomever happened to be the distinguished Westmont or Biola professor of philosophy that came to speak at the California Young Republicans conferences I attended in the mid-aughts left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.
It was especially cringey when Os critiqued the "progressive left" for offering up philosophical frameworks and policy solutions that "paint with too broad a brush," while doing that very thing…
While I respect OG as a brother in Christ, his arguments seem very aloof from the reality of American history. He asserted, for example, that the problem with chattel slavery and racism was in the South, which means he has no understanding of how the North supported the South and that without the Northern support, the South couldn’t keep slavery alive. And later during Jim Crow, Sundown Towns popped up in the North. Moreover, the Northern states were the first colonies to have slaves on this land. Much of our roads and infrastructures on the east coast were built by slaves. The northern states continued to have slaves all the way through the Civil War. The state I’m from, NJ,…
How disappointing. Os seemed to throughly misrepresent everything from critical race theory to the 1619 Project to progressives in general and even "West Coast pastors". None of these groups are "just standing around beating their breasts" and doing nothing, but without first acknowledging wrong that's happened, there's not good path forward (whether that path includes action steps by everyone involved, or if it's just changed mindsets for some).
I agree with Bonnie that I don't need to share the exact mindset of your guests (I rarely do 100%), but if I wanted to hear these kinds of "religious right" type talking points, I have hundreds of options of where to hear them. I thought I came here for a different…
I also feel like I should add that I was super excited that "News of the Butt" was back!
I appreciate Os' thoughtfulness in this interview, I have to say that I too sharply disagree with him. Many of the other comments here reflect my own opinions, so I'll resist any senseless rehashing. I will say, however, that my primary gripe is in his dismissal of critical theory as a radical leftist concoction that has no place in the church. Critical theory and the entirety of Frankfurt School philosophies are incredibly multi-faceted and deserve much more than to be thrown out with the bath water. I don't doubt that Guinness knows his stuff -- he seems to be acquainted with the thought of of Herbert Marcuse and Antonio Gramsci. Unfortunately, these philosophies are a bit arcane to those of…