TGC just ran my review of Os Guinness’ new book. It’s a good book with two serious flaws that will limit its appeal and effectiveness. The more serious flaw is the book’s attitude problem:

Guinness writes like a man who passionately hates the world, and bitterly resents the Western church because it doesn’t hate the world as much as he does. He (very) occasionally affirms that Christians should love the world, but these abstract statements are never fleshed out with particulars, and thus fail to rise above the level of barren platitudes. His operational attitude toward the world, and even more toward the Western church, is always and everywhere law, law, law, and no gospel.

Guinness’s hatred of the world and resentment of the church reach their high point in a shocking passage where he compares religious movements he dislikes to cooperating with genocidal totalitarianism…

That “shocking passage” must be read to be believed . . . so I reprinted it in the review.

These days the church seems to be long on people who can diagnose everything wrong with the modern world, and short on people who demonstrate love and hope.