Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype, and Spin (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: therapeutic touch, personal distortions, President Clinton, United States, Mark Twain (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beloved Christian writer Guinness here bemoans current-day relativism and pleads with his readers to recognize the value of truth. We live in a new order, Guinness writes, in which "truth is dead and knowledge is only power." But this new creed will not bring about the utopia its postmodern boosters imagine. To the contrary, he contends, postmodernity, along with its cousin multiculturalism, may be the worst tragedy in all American history: if unchecked, it will end America's leadership of the West. (Clinton, "the first postmodern president," comes in for special opprobrium.) Guinness, however, is no fan of modernity, which, he says, relies too much on human reason. In place of either modernity or postmodernity, he encourages embracing the traditional religious worldview provided by Judaism and Christianity. Guinness is a lucid writer, and he presents his ideas without too much bombast (although his defense of faith is marred by a certain pro-American chauvinism). The ideas themselves are old news--which is precisely what Guinness likes about them. Unfortunately, he does not have the masterful gifts for apology of, say, G. K. Chesterton or Cornelius Van Til. In the end, even the reader who agrees with Guinness may feel that he sounds like an out-of-date grandfather arguing a case that has already been lost, with interlocutors who have already moved on to another conversation. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Like Philip Yancey, another prolific and popular evangelical Christian writer, Guinness writes well, with plenty of appropriate citations of literary sources beyond the Bible. Intentionally producing a short book on a topic that could occupy volumes, he dissects the modern and postmodern presumptions about truth that have eventuated in such problematic outcomes of justice as the acquittals of O. J. Simpson and President Clinton. The modern presumption is that truth is historically, culturally, and even personally contingent, and the postmodern presumption is that truth is a function of power. He is not as successful in selling the Jewish and Christian view that truth is permanent and absolute. Seemingly assuming that he is addressing the already convinced and forensically adept, he explains but doesn't exemplify how to argue against either modern or postmodern relativism. For such modeling, religiously unconvinced readers piqued by Guinness' effort should turn to Peter Kreeft's excellent and entertaining Refutation of Moral Relativism. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801064031
• ISBN-13: 978-0801064036
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #165,853 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth Is True: Even if No One Believes It., May 4, 2000

By	K. Potts (Omaha, Nebraska USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies, Hype & Spin (Hourglass Books) (Hardcover)

The title of this review is a direct quote from this book (p. 80). Os Guinness exposes falsehood in society at large and in the United States in particular. Guiness throughout this book takes on the stance of "relativism" in the modern world, and then shows from history the result of that belief system and its consequences. He quotes Nietzche who said, "It is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments (p. 114)." Guinness lays out that those who believe in no absolutes, like Nietzche, have false beliefs that will betray them in the end. Guinness draws out an argumentation that says truth, which is reality, will always have the final say. Guiness pulls no punches when he attacks governmental leaders as well. He quotes Tacitus, who was a Roman poet who said, "The more corrupt the state, the more laws (p. 86)." Then Guinness takes the argument for truth and living by the truth, straight back to God who requires true living. Guinnes shows how false beliefs affect not just the individual who has those beliefs, but how when this belief system becomes the common way of thinking, it affects the society as a whole. Guinness does give the answer for a return to a truthful society and the great consequences on one's life and the society's as well. I have read some of Guinness' other works which I highly recommend. But if I had to pick one of this author's book to recommend to anyone, it is this book by far. And, that's the truth.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth is True: Even if No One Believes it., March 14, 2002

By	K. Potts (Omaha, Nebraska USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The title of this review is a direct quote from this book (p. 80 hardcover edition). Os Guinness exposes falsehood in society at large and in the United States in particular. Guinness throughout this book takes on the stance of "relativism" in the modern world, and then shows from history the result of that belief system and its consequences. He quotes Nietzche who said, "It is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments (p. 114)." Guinness lays out that those who believe in no absolutes, like Nietzche, have false beliefs that will betray them in the end. Guinness draws out an argumentation that says truth, which is reality, will always have the final say. Guinness pulls no punches when he attacks governmental leaders as well. He quotes Tacitus, who was a Roman poet who said, "The more corrupt the state, the more laws (p. 86)." Then Guinness takes the argument for truth and living by the truth, straight back to God who requires true living. Guinness shows how false beliefs affects not just the individual who has those beliefs, but how when this belief system becomes the common way of thinking, it affects the society as a whole. Guinness does give the answer for a return to a truthful society and the great consequences on one's life and the society's as well. I have read some of Guinness' other works which I highly recommend. But if I had to pick one of this author's books to recommend to anyone, it is this book by far. And, that's the truth.

(Review is from hardcover edition).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Call to Arms for Truth in American Culture, July 12, 2002

By	John DePoe (Iowa City, Iowa USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Os Guiness, a top quality sociologist, is uniquely gifted at explaining difficult cultural factors in a manner that the general public can grasp. This book is not a comprehensive refutation of postmodern and modern epistemological systems. Rather, it is a critique of our cultural values and practices as a result of the modern and (especially) the postmodern theories of truth. Many of the examples he uses are easy to remember and embody the point he is trying to make (I will never look at Jay Leno the same - you will know what I mean if you read the book). It is not a difficult read, and the case is plainly made for Truth.