Friday, October 4, 2013

Book Review: Apostate by Kevin Swanson




We live in a culture that in many ways is hostile to the Christian faith. We have "religious freedom" just so long as we keep our views to ourselves and don't "impose" them on anyone. Some would say that very soon this intolerance will turn to flat-out persecution. The trailer for the book, "Apostate"* by Kevin Swanson hints at this very idea:



The fact that traditional values, Biblical literacy, and belief in ultimate Truth have been steadily declining is a point that no one would argue. The real question, though, is how did we get here? What happened that triggered the demise from a generally Christian culture to a humanist empire? This is the aim of Kevin Swanson's book, "Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West." He says,

Insofar as Western civilization retained a Christian worldview at its base, the foundations were sound. But when the philosophers of a new humanism introduced dryrot into the foundations that were predominately Christian, they planted the seed of their own destruction. By the end of this book, I hope the reader will fully understand how this happened.

While Swanson delves in deeper than I can summarize here, he follows a simple pattern that can be seen in "macro trends" through history. Ideas flow from "great minds" of philosophers to the universities then into the mass culture. First, "the intellectual philosophers developed revolutionary humanist ideas which they incorporated into their own lives." Second, "the great literary masters and artists incarnated there philosophical ideas in literary and art forms, which were taught in the liberal arts universities." Finally, "the philosophers of the 19th century penetrated the mass culture through mass media in the 20th and 21st centuries."



Swanson offers an enlightening look into the philosophers, theologians, and scientists that have attributed ideas that are now common place in our postmodern society. One of the most interesting sections for me was the infiltration of the education system. He says, "There is no better way to radicalize nations than by infiltrating the education systems."

It is a long book, but one that is worth the time to discuss the reality of what has happened to our post-Christian society. We desperately need to challenge the preconceptions of the "great thinkers" of our time. Check it out here.




*I received this book free from the publisher and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I do not profit from any merchandise purchased via links provided. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255. 

No comments:

Post a Comment