LAST CALL FOR LIBERTY (Review)

 LAST CALL FOR LIBERTY: How America’s Genius for Freedom has Become its Greatest Threat – Os Guinness, IVP Books, Illinois, 2018, 308 pgs.

This is a well-structured book which sets out to ask and answer a series of ten questions regarding freedom, where it comes from, what it means to you, how to sustain it, etc. It is well-written, well-reasoned, and well-presented albeit in academic fashion. However, this is no dry and dusty treatise. It is a call to identify and resolve America’s declension and deterioration under aggressive Progressivism.

Guinness points to the source of the toxic seeds of destruction: “For 1776 [American Revolution] and its heirs the focus was on truth, whereas for 1789 [French Revolution] its focus was on power. The former stresses inner freedom as well as outer freedom, and both negative and positive freedom, whereas 1789 stresses outer freedom over inner freedom, and negative freedom at the expense of positive freedom. For 1776, freedom is viewed as personal freedom from government control, whereas 1789 views freedom as progressive freedom through government control. The former is realistic about the potential for the abuse of power, and therefore takes “under God” seriously, whereas 1789 is utopian about human nature, and has no final accountability.” p. 90.

The main thesis of the book is about the initial establishment of American freedom, i.e., freedom through covenant: “The impact of the covenant and the notion of covenantalism can be seen in three periods of history. First, and most obviously, the Sinai covenant constituted the Jewish people and formed the Jewish nation… Second, the precedent and pattern of the Sinai covenant was rediscovered and developed by the Reformation. Along with the truths of calling and conscience, it became one of the three most decisive gifts of the Reformation that shaped the rise of the modern world. Switzerland, the Netherlands, Scotland, England, and the United States – each was powerfully shaped by the Reformation and in turn helped to shape the modern world … The third period of influence is the most recent … The US Constitution, which has been the pacesetter document for so many other countries and constitutions, is in essence a form of national and somewhat secularized covenant and a notion that goes back to Mount Sinai.” pgs. 35-37.

Guinness optimistically believes America can recapture her rapidly evaporating freedom: “As with other covenantal societies, the truth is that the United States goes forward best by going back first. It must return to its roots in constitutional or covenantal freedom, renewing the ideals that made it possible, and righting the wrongs where America has betrayed its founding promise. By recovenanting and going back first, the United States is in fact able to go forward.” p. 280.

Last Call for Liberty is worth taking the time to read, though this reviewer was left a bit confused with Guinness’s Arminian, and somewhat Dispensational theology. Guinness holds the view that God waits for sinners to take the initiative in their own salvation, and Guinness equates Old Testament believers with anti-Trinitarian Judaism. However, these views don’t seem to overly affect the main thesis of his book. But it will affect his understanding of God’s Covenant and its various administrations (including Sinai) throughout Scripture.