Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
The Magna Carta of Humanity - Sinai's Revolutionary Faith and the Future of Freedom - cover

The Magna Carta of Humanity - Sinai's Revolutionary Faith and the Future of Freedom

Os Guinness

Publisher: IVP

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

In these stormy times, voices from all fronts call for change. But what kind of revolution brings true freedom to both society and the human soul?
Cultural observer Os Guinness explores the nature of revolutionary faith, contrasting between secular revolutions such as the French Revolution and the faith-led revolution of ancient Israel. He argues that the story of Exodus is the highest, richest, and deepest vision for freedom in human history. It serves as the master story of human freedom and provides the greatest sustained critique of the abuse of power. His contrast between "Paris" and "Sinai" offers a framework for discerning between two kinds of revolution and their different views of human nature, equality, and liberty. Drawing on the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, Guinness develops Exodus as the Magna Carta of humanity, with a constructive vision of a morally responsible society of independent free people who are covenanted to each other and to justice, peace, stability, and the common good of the community. This is the model from the past that charts our path to the future.
"There are two revolutionary faiths bidding to take the world forward," Guinness writes. "There is no choice facing America and the West that is more urgent and consequential than the choice between Sinai and Paris. Will the coming generation return to faith in God and to humility, or continue to trust in the all sufficiency of Enlightenment reason, punditry, and technocracy? Will its politics be led by principles or by power?" While Guinness cannot predict our ultimate fate, he warns that we must recognize the crisis of our time and debate the issues openly. As individuals and as a people, we must choose between the revolutions, between faith in God and faith in Reason alone, between freedom and despotism, and between life and death.
Available since: 05/11/2021.
Print length: 288 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • The Communist Manifesto - cover

    The Communist Manifesto

    Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei) is a short 1848 book written by the German Marxist political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It has since been recognised as one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League, it laid out the League's purposes and program. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and present) and the problems of capitalism, rather than a prediction of communism's potential future forms. 
    The book contains Marx and Engels' Marxist theories about the nature of society and politics, that in their own words, "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." It also briefly features their ideas for how the capitalist society of the time would eventually be replaced by socialism, and then eventually communism.
    Show book
  • The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations - cover

    The Dictionary of Liberal...

    Duncan Brack

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    If you're a liberal or a democrat, and especially if you're a Liberal Democrat, this masterful and considered collection of thought-provoking quotations should belong to you. All the great Liberals are packed into this slick reference guide, from Gladstone to Ashdown, Kennedy (John F.) to Kennedy (Charles). Whether you're looking for John Stuart Mill or John Maynard Keynes, you'll be able to find every good quote there is on Liberals and Liberalism. Writers, thinkers, journalists, philosophers and even the politicians themselves contribute with nearly 2,000 utterances, musings, provocations, jibes and diatribes featured in The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations, making this guide a musthave for anyone interested in Liberals and Liberal thought.
    Show book
  • International Relations - A Very Short Introduction - cover

    International Relations - A Very...

    Christian Reus-Smit

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    International relations affects everyone's lives: their security, economic well-being, rights and freedoms, and the environment they share. Recently we have seen the transformation from a world of empires to today's world of sovereign states, which are enmeshed in a complex array of international institutions, all exercising degrees of political authority. The new global organization of political authority has far-reaching consequences.This Very Short Introduction untangles this complex world, providing an accessible framework for understanding the contours of global political change. Christian Reus-Smit treats theory as an indispensable tool for grasping international relations, but demystifies theorizing, introducing it as an everyday human practice. He surveys a range of theories, from realism to feminism: reading them as contrasting perspectives on the global organization of political authority. Historically, such organization has been shaped by diverse social forces, four of which are discussed in detail: shifting patterns of warfare, changing economic conditions, struggles for rights, and the politics of culture. Reus-Smit concludes with a reflection on the future of international relations in an era of profound global change.
    Show book
  • Programming The Future - A Look Into How Technology Will Change the World as We Know It - cover

    Programming The Future - A Look...

    Edward Graham

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Have you ever looked at movies depicting the future, both utopias and dystopias alike, and wondered, “Could that truly be our future?” 
    In this book, we will be looking at how technology has progressed through the years to get a glimpse of the future. Here, you will learn how humans lived their lives in the past and how technology has influenced that way of life and transformed it into what it is today. We will also discuss certain turning points in human society that lead us to where we are now. 
    Once we understand our past, we can begin to look at the present and see how technology is currently influencing our lives. As we discover the changes that are happening all around us, we will be able to construct an image of the future and, hopefully, catch a glimpse of what life in the future may be like. 
    This book will explore the social implications of technology. Together, we will be answering the following questions: Do we bring about the changes in our society through the technology we develop? Or does technology bring about change through us?
    Show book
  • Identity Citizenship and Political Conflict in Africa - cover

    Identity Citizenship and...

    Edmond J. Keller

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    “Engaging…detailed with current information about the situation in many African countries.” —African Studies Quarterly Reflecting on the processes of nation-building and citizenship formation in Africa, Edmond J. Keller believes that although some deep parochial identities have eroded, they have not disappeared—and may be more assertive than previously thought, especially in instances of political conflict.   Keller reconsiders how national identity has been understood in Africa and presents new approaches to identity politics, intergroup relations, state-society relations, and notions of national citizenship and citizenship rights. Focusing on Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, and Rwanda, he lays the foundation for a new understanding of political transition in contemporary Africa. “This book would certainly be useful in graduate seminars on African politics, African history or ethnic politics. It is written in a clear, straightforward style that also makes it appropriate for use in advanced undergraduate classes. Keller also offers insights for policymakers and development practitioners who continue to grapple with the real-world consequences of citizenship conflicts.”—Journal of Modern African Studies
    Show book
  • The Saboteur - The Aristocrat Who Became France's Most Daring Anti-Nazi Commando - cover

    The Saboteur - The Aristocrat...

    Paul Kix

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    In the tradition of Agent Zigzag comes this breathtaking biography, as fast-paced and emotionally intuitive as the very best spy thrillers, which illuminates an unsung hero of the French Resistance during World War II—Robert de La Rochefoucauld, an aristocrat turned anti-Nazi saboteur—and his daring exploits as a résistant trained by Britain's Special Operations Executive. 
    A scion of one of the most storied families in France, Robert de La Rochefoucauld was raised in magnificent chateaux and educated in Europe's finest schools. When the Nazis invaded and imprisoned his father, La Rochefoucauld escaped to England and learned the dark arts of anarchy and combat—cracking safes and planting bombs and killing with his bare hands—from the officers of Special Operations Executive, the collection of British spies, beloved by Winston Churchill, who altered the war in Europe with tactics that earned it notoriety as the "Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." With his newfound skills, La Rochefoucauld returned to France and organized Resistance cells, blew up fortified compounds and munitions factories, interfered with Germans' war-time missions, and executed Nazi officers. Caught by the Germans, La Rochefoucauld withstood months of torture without cracking, and escaped his own death, not once but twice. 
    The Saboteur recounts La Rochefoucauld's enthralling adventures, from jumping from a moving truck on his way to his execution to stealing Nazi limos to dressing up in a nun's habit—one of his many disguises and impersonations. Whatever the mission, whatever the dire circumstance, La Rochefoucauld acquitted himself nobly, with the straight-back aplomb of a man of aristocratic breeding: James Bond before Ian Fleming conjured him. 
    More than just a fast-paced, true thriller, The Saboteur is also a deep dive into an endlessly fascinating historical moment, telling the untold story of a network of commandos that battled evil, bravely worked to change the course of history, and inspired the creation of America's own Central Intelligence Agency.
    Show book