Rate this book

Apostate - The Men Who Destroyed The Christian West (2013)

by Kevin Swanson(Favorite Author)

4.25 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Generations with Vision

review 1: This is a very fine book. In it, Kevin Swanson does something very similar to what Jones does in Degenerate Moderns, and Paul Johnson in Intellectuals. Swanson has a few weak chapters (Aquinas and Shakespeare, in my view), but where he has the background data at his fingertips, as he does for almost all the men in this book, his treatment is devastating. The subtitle is "The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West," and when we take higher education into account, we could add "And the Christians Who Enabled Them."
review 2: Reader beware, indeed!This is not an easy read; not because it's only for academicians, but because it is heavy, potentially depressing and strips away all hope we, as Americans (and any others in the 'West') have of 'pulling ourselves up by ou... morer own boot straps.' Swanson, not a novice to the realm of cultural criticism offers up a heaping dose of it here in Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West. Your head will hurt, your heart will ache and you're faith in humanity will be stripped away.And that's exactly what needs to happen. Faith in man and his ability to salvage anything at all remotely resembling 'the good ol' days' is grossly misplaced. Swanson sets the table full of platters, dishes, flagons and cups laden with the misguided teachings and writings of some of Western history's most famous figures. The question, 'How did we get to this point?' is answered through the course of Apostate.The first two chapters set the stage, seeking to show how these 'Nephilim' (Genesis 6.4), these giants of philosophy, theology, psychology and literature set about to tear down the belief in God as Creator, and erect, in His place, 'Babel,' man's own tower of self-dependence. Chapter two gives the broad strokes the subsequent chapters will take, each displaying the destructive power of men with godless ideas in epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics. Once the table is set, Swanson takes a chapter at a time to reveal how men like René Descartes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau tore away godly foundations. Others, like Jeremy Benthan, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Karl Marx and Charles Darwin receive special mention. Yet some of the worst comes from Friedrich Nietzsche, John Dewey and Jean-Pual Sartre. When Swanson moves on to the literary Nephilim, he brings his sights to bear upon William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck. I have no doubt, each of these men would laugh in the face of such scathing rebuke, but when approached from a Christian worldview with the presuppositions of that view, each one deserves the vilification they receive.Is there any hope at all for Western civilization? Have we seen a continuing degradation during the last 50 years? Absolutely, and it looks as if it will continue to decline, unless God determines to do something amazing that only He can do. The final chapter, however, does let the Christian know some of the things he or she can do to stem the tide within their own homes and educational choices.A heavy read? Yes. Weighty? No doubt. Discouraging? Most likely. Without hope? Not at all. All in all, a very informative read and one I commend to each one of you. less

Download links for: Apostate - The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West

Advertising