The Dust of Death: The Sixties Counterculture and How It Changed America Forever (The IVP Signature Collection)
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
In 1968, at the climax of the sixties, Os Guinness visited the United States for the first time. There he was struck by an impression he’d already felt in England and elsewhere: beneath all the idealism and struggle for freedom was a growing disillusionment and loss of meaning. “Underneath the efforts of a generation,” he wrote, “lay dust.” Even more troubling, Christians seemed uninformed about the cultural shifts and ill-equipped to respond. Guinness took on these concerns by writing his first book, The Dust of Death.
In this milestone work, leading social critic Guinness provides a wide-ranging, farsighted analysis of one of the most pivotal decades in Western history, the 1960s. He examines the twentieth-century developments of secular humanism, the technological society, and the alternatives offered by the counterculture, including radical politics, Eastern religions, and psychedelic drugs. As all of these options have increasingly failed to deliver on their promises, Guinness argues, Westerners desperately need another alternative—a Third Way. This way “holds the promise of realism without despair, involvement without frustration, hope without romanticism.” It offers a stronger humanism, one with a solid basis for its ideals, combining truth and beauty. And this Third Way can be found only in the rediscovery and revival of the historic Christian faith.
First published in 1973, The Dust of Death is now back in print as part of the IVP Signature Collection, featuring a new design and new preface by the author. This classic will help readers of every generation better understand the cultural trajectory that continues to shape us and how Christians can still offer a better way.
This is a Logos Reader Edition. Learn more.
- Provides a wide-ranging analysis of one of the most pivotal decades in Western history
- Examines the twentieth-century developments of secular humanism, the technological society, and the alternatives offered by the counterculture
- Features a new preface by the author
- Preface to the Signature Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- The Striptease of Humanism
- Utopia or Oblivion?
- The Great Refusal
- One Dimensional Man
- Violence—Crisis or Catharsis?
- The East, No Exit
- The Counterfeit Infinity
- Encircling Eyes
- The Ultimate Trip?
- The Third Race
Top Highlights
“Thus while he was moved to tears for his friends in sorrow, he was also deeply moved by the outrageous abnormality of death.” (Page 330)
“But Jesus is the only one who lived and died and claimed to be the Son of God—all in the open arena of history” (Page 200)
“The fourth pillar is the belief in the self-sufficiency of man” (Page 22)
“Western culture is marked at the present moment by a distinct slowing of momentum, or perhaps, more accurately, by a decline in purposefulness and an increase in cultural introspection. This temporary lull, this vacuum in thought and effective action, has been created by the convergence of three cultural trends, each emphasizing a loss of direction. The first is the erosion of the Christian basis of Western culture, an erosion with deep historical causes and clearly visible results. The second is the failure of optimistic humanism to provide an effective alternative in the leadership of the post-Christian culture. And the third is the failure of our generation’s counter culture to demonstrate a credible alternative to either of the other two—Western Christianity and humanism.” (Page 11)
“So Israel’s entry was the Canaanites’ exit; his gift of the land to Israel was the reverse side of his punishment of the inhabitants who had forfeited it.” (Page 160)
I read The Dust of Death as a young man and new Christian in 1977. I had been profoundly influenced by counter-cultural figures such as Aldous Huxley and Timothy Leary. Like many around my age, I was drawn to Eastern mysticism and the occult. Os Guinness helped set me straight and put it all into perspective. He got to the roots of the counter culture. He discerned its world-shaking significance and offered a sharp rational and biblical critique. The Dust of Death helped give me the intellectual confidence to critique culture and defend the Christian faith, which I have been trying to do ever since. Thank you, Dr. Guinness!
—Douglas Groothuis, professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary, author of Christian Apologetics
For decades now, Os Guinness has served readers with excellent cultural analysis that helps us to ‘read our times.’ I'm delighted to see one of his early works, a substantive look at the era-defining decade of the sixties, made available again, with a preface that includes some recent thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of his earlier analysis. Os is a gift to the church, and his excellent look at the sixties, written just a few years after that momentous decade, remains relevant to conversations and movements we still encounter today.
—Trevin Wax, senior vice president of theology and communications at Lifeway Christian Resources, author of This Is Our Time
The Dust of Death was a bolt from the blue when it was first published. . . . A fair bit of cultural history has flowed downstream since its appearance, yet on its main points—with its bold challenge to the wisdom of the modern world and its bracing appeal for Christians to live up to the name they bear—this book is even more timely than when it first appeared.
—Mark A. Noll, author of Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind