Unspeakable: Facing Up to Evil in an Age of Genocide and Terror (Hardcover)

by Os Guinness (Author) "Where was God when the towers fell?..." (more)
Key Phrases: instinctive questions, secularist intellectuals, modern evil, World War, United States, Elie Wiesel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Guinness, one of evangelical Christianity's few public intellectuals, matches his usual seriousness of purpose with exceptionally lucid prose as he explores the nature of evil—a topic he was scheduled to address at a dinner in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. That was not Guinness's first brush with suffering on a geopolitical scale: he was born in China to missionary parents, and while he and they barely escaped with their lives during the 1949 revolution, Guinness's two brothers did not. This personal dimension authenticates, but never dominates, the book, which focuses on seven questions that evil raises for those seeking to live "an examined life." The scope is ambitious, from the ancient "trilemma" of how an all-powerful, benevolent God can permit evil to the technology that makes us all witnesses to far more suffering than we can respond to. Guinness's answers are rarely predictable. He argues strenuously against the contemporary reticence to call evil by name, yet he also warns against the hypocrisy that sees evil only in others—singling out America's torture of prisoners in Iraq. His Christian convictions are evident, but he engages respectfully with those who do not share them. This bookmakes a compelling case for faith, and courage, in the face of evil's dark reality.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Guinness feels the world has lost touch with evil, and thereby forsaken the ability to define and deal with it. He takes issue with critics of President Bush for pronouncing the 9/11 attacks as evil, and he disparages those who mistake suffering for evil. He eloquently draws the distinction between evil and suffering, then exhorts us to recognize that evil lies within our hearts and to avoid perpetrating it, or turning a blind eye to its perpetration by others. Guinness cites numerous authorities to support his points--for instance, memorably quoting Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Nobel address, "Let the lie come into the world and even dominate the world--'but not through me.'" Pointing out many recent events that reprise shameful evils from the past, Guinness notes not only world leaders who denounce the Holocaust yet ignore atrocities in Bosnia and Rwanda but also all those who turn away from such horrors. Coping with evil will take more than a truce in the blame game between secularism and religion, he says; only true collaboration will work. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; First Edition edition (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060586362
• ISBN-13: 978-0060586362
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #653,568 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unspeakable, February 1, 2005

By	Amanda Killgore (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Evil may seem to be an old fashioned word in this relativistic age where the only absolute truth, many contend, is that there is not absolute truth. It is that attitude that lets evil spread. Using the past as illustrations, Mr. Guiness confronts our attitudes about evil. Correcting them is the key to dealing with evil in the best possible way. By asking seven incisive questions, he takes readers on a journey that will lead them to an apprehension of this enemy and, hopefully, to make a difference in their own hearts.

**** Yes, the book is slanted towards a Christian world view, but he does present other views as fairly as it is possible for a committed Christian to do. Though the answers are staunchly Christian, they are presented logically enough that it is hard to imagine that a non Christian reading this would be offended. Reading a book won't cure the evils of life, but it might help you face them better. ****

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb treatment of a perennial problem, August 23, 2005

By	William Muehlenberg (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a very important book: it is an important subject tackled by an important author. Guinness, one of our finest Christian commentators and thinkers, argues that the issue of suffering and evil is our most urgent and serious problem.

Evil may have been always with us, but Guinness argues that for the first time in human history, many people no longer have a coherent moral and intellectual framework with which to assess it. More disturbing, we no longer have a shared understanding about whether there even is such a thing as evil.

Ironically, while the scale and scope of evil has increased in the modern world, our ability to respond to it has weakened. Because of the "sorry state of moral illiteracy and intellectual cowardice" that we moderns find ourselves in, we have a hard time even recognizing evil. Or worse still, we simply make excuses for it.

Utopian views of human goodness and a refusal to face reality have resulted in a moral myopia that cannot call evil evil. Indeed, postmodernism compounds the problem, by arguing that calling something evil is the real crime. PoMo has "spawned legions of people who pronounce all judgments of evil to be judgmental and evil themselves".

Guinness spends a lot of time asking questions about evil and suffering, saving tentative answers for the end of his book. The questions themselves reveal a very deep and nuanced struggle with the issue. Guinness has drawn deeply from the wells of human reflection on, and interaction with, the subject of pain and suffering. His many incisive quotes from a range of authors, thinkers, philosophers and religions are alone worth the price of the book.

As part of his investigation, he describes in detail three main responses to the problem of evil. The three main families of faith in the modern world are the Eastern, the secular, and the Judeo-Christian.

Eastern responses to evil include that of Hinduism, Buddhism, and much of the New Age Movement. A common theme of the Eastern approach is that there is no real solution to evil in this world, only the renunciation of this world. Freedom from evil means freedom from individuality. If the East is world-denying, the next main option is world-affirming.

In the secularist family of faith (atheism, naturalism, secular humanism, etc.) evil is something that we alone must confront. There is no God to help us, so we must create our own paradise on earth. And we have certainly seen some robust attempts in the past century to do just that. Great experiments in producing a new man and a new social order have been tried, but only to be found greatly wanting. The grand social utopias, be they of Stalin, Hitler or Mao have all resulted in the most horrific bloodshed known to man.

Secularist regimes with secularist visions of heaven on earth have only led to hell on earth. Indeed, more people were killed by the secularists in the twentieth century than all other ideologies combined before then.

The last family, the great monotheistic faiths, has quite a different spin on things. The Judeo-Christian tradition sees evil as an intrusion into this world. Things are not the way they are supposed to be. Evil is unnatural and an intruder. The doctrine of creation tells us about how the world was meant to be, while the doctrine of the fall tells us what has gone wrong. But it does not end there. In the Christian version of things, the doctrine of redemption tells us how evil has been faced head on, and how it has been, and ultimately will be, overcome. Thus we can join in fighting against evil without seen to be fighting against God.

God does not abandon us in our struggle against evil. Indeed, "no other god has wounds," Guinness reminds us. In the Eastern view, detachment is the solution. In the secular view, denial or utopianism is the proposed course. In the Christian view, God enters into our predicament, suffers for us and with us, and leads us in the way ahead.

The three views could not be more different. In the Christian religion, not only is there a plausible explanation for evil, but there is the conviction that something has been done about it. God has entered human history and confronted sheer evil. And the sheer love of God has defeated this evil.

Of course the mystery of evil can never be fathomed, at least in this world. In the Hebrew scriptures a whole book was devoted to the subject. Job asked a lot of questions which were never answered. "In the end, rather than getting an answer from God, Job encounters God himself, which is his answer."

The timeless truths of the Christian faith will not satisfy everyone. And as Guinness points out, some of the most anguished cries against God concerning the problem of evil have come from believers, not atheists. The Christian solution must be weighed up and compared to its chief rivals.

No one system may completely satisfy. But by means of a careful presentation of the main alternatives, this book helps to lay out the quite different approaches to this vexatious problem, helping all pilgrims along the way to see more clearly and perhaps more hopefully.

If this book ultimately sheds little new light on the subject, it is because it does not claim to do so. It can only restate what has gone before. And this restatement is superbly done. And given the age of terrorism and genocide that we find ourselves in, the demand for a careful restatement is more urgent than ever.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, April 1, 2005

By	R.W. Hagerman (Canada) - See all my reviews

Os Guinness has both a brilliant mind and a compassionate heart. He is a sharp writer, who captures the focal point of a topic and presents his case with clearness and depth. Such is the case with this new book, UNSPEAKABLE: Facing up to Evil in an age of Genocide and Terror. He tackles a very difficult topic which few scholars, pastors, or writers can, without being or becoming very prejudiced. I appreciated this as I read this book. Guinness outlines the nature and origin of evil, and therefore terror, which are hot topics in our world today, especially in America since September 11, 2001. He is one who has experienced both in his own life, having lived up in China during a period of war and political upheaval. That is why he can write as one who has been there, so to speak. He considers Evil and terror two of the "most urgent and momentous issues of our times," and he is right. In this book, he tackles the tough questions of why does God let evil happen, and where is God when it does happen? He does not answer these questions with wishy-washy clichés, but gets right to the point of identifying humanity's responsibility. Whether it is the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, or the 1940s death camp of Auschwitz, or the 2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York City, Evil, and Terror are our common foes, and at the same time, our common questions surrounding God's contribution or not, are the same. There is far too much to say about this incredible book in a short review. It is a must read.