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The Dust of Death: The Sixties Counterculture and How It Changed America Forever
Guinness charts the journey of a generation, from the erosion of Christianity to the failure of the counterculture to provide an effective alternative to faith. The author calls for a new direction for the Western world, one which combines conviction with compassion and deep spirituality.
409 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Os Guinness
77 books345 followersOs Guinness (D.Phil., Oxford) is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth and The Case for Civility. A frequent speaker and prominent social critic, he was the founder of the Trinity Forum and has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. He lives near Washington, D.C.
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November 23, 2020
The Dust of Death is a rollicking work of cultural criticism by one of the most clear-sighted and engaging Christians around today. Os Guinness wrote The Dust of Death back in 1973, after his visit to The States in 1968; when the rotten fruits of the cultural revolution were not as obvious as they are in 2020.
There are many sharp, prophetic qualities to this work and it stands up remarkably well today- nearly half a century later. It's also fascinating to get a first-hand account of that turbulent time from one of the world's greatest sociologists.
Os's reflections are really something like De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, and this was the Anglo-Irishman's first sojourn to The States at a seminal moment in her history. It's been republished this year, not without good reason. The Dust of Death captures the major trends and spirit of the present age, in light of The Spirit of all ages.
Os looks critically at the fluctuations between optimistic and pessimistic humanisms, outlandish predictions about the future, popular cultural movements and the sophists playing the piper's tune, and much more besides.
The book covers east and west in detail, explaining the appeal and faults of each- in their popular forms, untested presuppositions and arbitrary pragmatisms. For example, he highlights the anti-human reality of monism (the belief that all is one) that lies behind the high-sounding rhetoric of much popular Buddhism and Hinduism. It abolishes our notion of good and evil and squashes our quest for true justice.
Os also fairly castigates westerners for not balancing the technical and experiential appropriately in our common Christian witness- with the way our liturgies have digressed to mirror popular culture, or remain only rote and unaware of God's real presence in our midst. Our church as a whole offers a third true, beautiful and good way, however.
Os proffers a persuasive and fair non-violence, taking his cue from astute Christians such as Jacques Ellul. However, he corrects Ellul by adding in the nuance of force in place of violence.
This is properly biblical and prevents pacifism becoming a simplistic and perilous idol cut off from the fuller Scriptural picture and from human prudence.
Force can be justified with reference to God and His word. Force is related to authority and fits within the Christian hierarchy of reality centred on God. For example, parents can use force with their children when they act aggressively and this is not a form of violence. This is for the children's own good and growth. Within reason, children even have a command to honour their parents. This is part of God's created order, unlike the monopoly of violence held by the modern nation state.
We also have a right and responsibility to defend loved ones from harm, but not permission to do violence, for the various reasons that Guinness mentions in the book.
Os takes on a terrific tour of history and deconstructs everything from the occult (in her psychological, sociological and theological forms, exposing all its ailments and its ultimate futility in light of The Gospel) to naïve logical positivism.
Before restoring the good of the latter-objectivity- with a coherent Christian epistemology and subjectivity. Calling for a more personal, comprehensive and coherent worldview in which to live, and move, and have our being.
The Dust of Death is a splendid read that's as charmingly lucid as other later Guinness books.
For me, it's up there with historian Christopher Lasch's magnum opus, The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth as amongst the most engaging and effective cultural criticism of the last fifty years. The Dust of Death is relevant far beyond America's borders and deals with recurring problems the church has to face around the world and across time.
These are the three most probing and restorative cultural critiques I would commend to a Christian reader interested in the failures of modernism, postmodernism and their lack of Wisdom. The need for the third way is still with us, and so is The Way.
There are many sharp, prophetic qualities to this work and it stands up remarkably well today- nearly half a century later. It's also fascinating to get a first-hand account of that turbulent time from one of the world's greatest sociologists.
Os's reflections are really something like De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, and this was the Anglo-Irishman's first sojourn to The States at a seminal moment in her history. It's been republished this year, not without good reason. The Dust of Death captures the major trends and spirit of the present age, in light of The Spirit of all ages.
Os looks critically at the fluctuations between optimistic and pessimistic humanisms, outlandish predictions about the future, popular cultural movements and the sophists playing the piper's tune, and much more besides.
The book covers east and west in detail, explaining the appeal and faults of each- in their popular forms, untested presuppositions and arbitrary pragmatisms. For example, he highlights the anti-human reality of monism (the belief that all is one) that lies behind the high-sounding rhetoric of much popular Buddhism and Hinduism. It abolishes our notion of good and evil and squashes our quest for true justice.
Os also fairly castigates westerners for not balancing the technical and experiential appropriately in our common Christian witness- with the way our liturgies have digressed to mirror popular culture, or remain only rote and unaware of God's real presence in our midst. Our church as a whole offers a third true, beautiful and good way, however.
Os proffers a persuasive and fair non-violence, taking his cue from astute Christians such as Jacques Ellul. However, he corrects Ellul by adding in the nuance of force in place of violence.
This is properly biblical and prevents pacifism becoming a simplistic and perilous idol cut off from the fuller Scriptural picture and from human prudence.
Force can be justified with reference to God and His word. Force is related to authority and fits within the Christian hierarchy of reality centred on God. For example, parents can use force with their children when they act aggressively and this is not a form of violence. This is for the children's own good and growth. Within reason, children even have a command to honour their parents. This is part of God's created order, unlike the monopoly of violence held by the modern nation state.
We also have a right and responsibility to defend loved ones from harm, but not permission to do violence, for the various reasons that Guinness mentions in the book.
Os takes on a terrific tour of history and deconstructs everything from the occult (in her psychological, sociological and theological forms, exposing all its ailments and its ultimate futility in light of The Gospel) to naïve logical positivism.
Before restoring the good of the latter-objectivity- with a coherent Christian epistemology and subjectivity. Calling for a more personal, comprehensive and coherent worldview in which to live, and move, and have our being.
The Dust of Death is a splendid read that's as charmingly lucid as other later Guinness books.
For me, it's up there with historian Christopher Lasch's magnum opus, The True and Only Heaven: Progress and Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth as amongst the most engaging and effective cultural criticism of the last fifty years. The Dust of Death is relevant far beyond America's borders and deals with recurring problems the church has to face around the world and across time.
These are the three most probing and restorative cultural critiques I would commend to a Christian reader interested in the failures of modernism, postmodernism and their lack of Wisdom. The need for the third way is still with us, and so is The Way.
July 27, 2012
I read an older edition of this, and as I recall, it was the greatest "culture" study of the 60's that I have ever read, and it was the greatest work of cultural history that I have ever read, also. Guinness' time with Francis Schaeffer was well-spent and he developed a knack for being able to "read" a movement and understand not just what they believed (philosophy, world-view, politics, etc.) but also where they got their ideas from (influences etc.) and where that group was going. Very few historians and students of culture are capable of doing this these days. He is also brilliant at being able to keep his own views from clouding his views of each group. Not too shabby a skill to have. It's a shame that almost nobody cares about the truth these days, since everybody is just interested in getting their own ideology into power... that or just avoiding the tough questions altogether.
May 20, 2020
This was a totally interesting and comprehensive look at the counter-culture revolution and its failings. Written in the early 70s Dust of Death is alarmingly prescient. Seems Guinness was circling in Francis Schaeffer's orbit and this bears his mark of being 9/10ths philosophical and 1/10ths theological. Rational and moderate while being revolutionary.
October 27, 2020
This book was recommended strongly to me by a friend and mentor. I was surprised, because the author (who I really like) tends to write on current events, and this book was written more than 40 years ago. So, how could this book be relevant now? My conclusion is that much of the book is completely out of date. So, as a historic spiritual reflection on the 60s it may be of great value. Thankfully, this book did include ideas and concepts that are still very relevant and important today. As the book progressed, the ideas become more significant and useful. I would still be somewhat reluctant to give the book the glowing recommendation that I received (as there are other more recent books that cover the important material, while being more current), but neither do I believe it is too dated to be of use.
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December 13, 2024Must've been groundbreaking when he wrote it in 70s. Definitely mapped out many trends in the West well before they came to fruition. Gives a Christian perspective on different facets of Western culture.
April 16, 2019
In The Dust of Death, Os Guinness proposes Christianity as a "Third Way"--an counter to the counterculture's secular humanism, mysticism, and psychedelia. It's interesting to see how in some ways he predicted the direction modern technology in our own time. His observations during the 1970s are still very relevant today. He doesn't quite take the idea of of Christianity as a "Third Way" to its logical conclusion--Christian Reconstruction--as others such as Rushdoony and Bahnsen did. He does come closer than many non-Reconstructionists.
Toward the end of the book he argued for an interpretation of Jesus's emotional reaction to the death of Lazarus, often translated as "Jesus wept." He argues that the root meaning of the Greek signifies that Jesus actually "snorted in spirit," and that Aeschylus applied the same Greek word for stallions snorting before battle. Guinness wrote, "He [Jesus] was moved deeply in the sense of a furious inner anger." I believe the Church will emerge as a true "Third Way" when they recover this sense of righteousness indignation at the curse of sin and death in their midst, and refuse to sit idly by, even as others insist that nothing can be done.
Toward the end of the book he argued for an interpretation of Jesus's emotional reaction to the death of Lazarus, often translated as "Jesus wept." He argues that the root meaning of the Greek signifies that Jesus actually "snorted in spirit," and that Aeschylus applied the same Greek word for stallions snorting before battle. Guinness wrote, "He [Jesus] was moved deeply in the sense of a furious inner anger." I believe the Church will emerge as a true "Third Way" when they recover this sense of righteousness indignation at the curse of sin and death in their midst, and refuse to sit idly by, even as others insist that nothing can be done.
December 30, 2021
Despite the fact that it was written in 1973, it is still very relevant today, as the Ecclesiastes says there’s nothing new under the sun. The details and the particulars have changed, but the church is still culturally enrobed or in cultural captivity as Os Guiness calls it. It was of particular interest to me to see how the invasion of the East has had on the church and has not just influenced it but infiltrated it with wide acceptance, to the point where we have mega churches practicing yoga. After exposing and critiquing the situation, he offers the solution, what he calls the Third Way. Which basically is a lived Christianity. Faith isn’t a set of church clothes we put on on Sunday morning, but a way of life that encompass all area of life. Every time the church has experienced revival and had influence on the culture, is when it has lived it’s faith it’s message and walk counterculture, instead of “christianizing” the culture’s belief and practice. The last two chapters alone, where he explains the Third Way, how Christianity is the solution and very importantly, what Christianity as the solution, is not, are worth the price of the book.
August 14, 2018
I have to admit that this book reminds me of Alan Bloom’s book The Closing of the American Mind with some key differences:
• Guinness wrote his book in the early 1970’s summing up the 60’s counterculture and its nascent effect on the larger American culture. Bloom wrote his book in the late 1980’s, after many of the changes had become more entrenched and their effects more obvious. In other words, not unlike the difference between cancer in an early stage and the same cancer in a late stage when its symptoms have become more obvious but it has also done much more damage, possibly fatally. Guinness anticipated the problems, and Bloom diagnosed the later effects.
• Guinness called for a Christian response to the cultural changes; Bloom, on the other hand, was raising the alarm over the damage done to the culture in hopes of provoking changes in attitudes and behaviors. Sadly, I think it is safe to say that both men failed to achieve their desired goals because those who most need to hear a warning often refuse to listen because it is not what they want to hear.
Reading a book like this sometimes feels like a trip into The Twilight Zone. So many of today’s problems show up in nascent form. One warning made by Guinness rings particularly true. Those who have been oppressed in the past are often not satisfied with having that oppression end; they often become the next oppressors. A Christian has the duty to speak out against oppression, whether it is the old or the new. At present, I see several trends developing along these very lines:
• In the past, blacks suffered severely from Jim Crow and slavery before that. The abolition of slavery in 1865 and the end of the Jim Crow era in the 60’s were good things. Nearly fifty and with graying hair, I never got to see the evils of segregation. Yet, I am seeing a disturbing trend. Today, all it takes to destroy someone is to accuse him of being a racist, whether that accusation is true or not. Guilty until proven innocent. It is awe-inspiring to watch people fall all over themselves in an effort to grovel out of such accusations.
• At various times in the past, women were often treated as second class citizens. They had to fight for the right to vote, and many of the stereotypes about them have proved to be wrong. Yet, there are activists who want to deny the existence of glaringly obvious gender differences because they likely fear that those differences will be used as a justification for one gender, male, being better than the other, as had been done in the past. A few months ago, a computer engineer was famously fired from his job for pointing out that gender differences may explain why women tend to gravitate toward certain occupations and avoid others, that recruiting efforts need to take these differences into account.
• For years homosexuals had to live out their lives “in the closet.” Now, they are free to be open about who they are without fear of reprisal and even have the right to marry. As a Christian, I have moral issues with that last point. Biblical marriage is heterosexual only. That said, homosexuals were unjustly oppressed in the past. Today, activists are openly targeting Christians, using civil rights laws to bludgeon them into accepting homosexuality as a moral behavior.
In every instance I have cited above, the formerly oppressed are turning into the oppressors. Guinness would have advised speaking out. Consider this review as following that advice.
• Guinness wrote his book in the early 1970’s summing up the 60’s counterculture and its nascent effect on the larger American culture. Bloom wrote his book in the late 1980’s, after many of the changes had become more entrenched and their effects more obvious. In other words, not unlike the difference between cancer in an early stage and the same cancer in a late stage when its symptoms have become more obvious but it has also done much more damage, possibly fatally. Guinness anticipated the problems, and Bloom diagnosed the later effects.
• Guinness called for a Christian response to the cultural changes; Bloom, on the other hand, was raising the alarm over the damage done to the culture in hopes of provoking changes in attitudes and behaviors. Sadly, I think it is safe to say that both men failed to achieve their desired goals because those who most need to hear a warning often refuse to listen because it is not what they want to hear.
Reading a book like this sometimes feels like a trip into The Twilight Zone. So many of today’s problems show up in nascent form. One warning made by Guinness rings particularly true. Those who have been oppressed in the past are often not satisfied with having that oppression end; they often become the next oppressors. A Christian has the duty to speak out against oppression, whether it is the old or the new. At present, I see several trends developing along these very lines:
• In the past, blacks suffered severely from Jim Crow and slavery before that. The abolition of slavery in 1865 and the end of the Jim Crow era in the 60’s were good things. Nearly fifty and with graying hair, I never got to see the evils of segregation. Yet, I am seeing a disturbing trend. Today, all it takes to destroy someone is to accuse him of being a racist, whether that accusation is true or not. Guilty until proven innocent. It is awe-inspiring to watch people fall all over themselves in an effort to grovel out of such accusations.
• At various times in the past, women were often treated as second class citizens. They had to fight for the right to vote, and many of the stereotypes about them have proved to be wrong. Yet, there are activists who want to deny the existence of glaringly obvious gender differences because they likely fear that those differences will be used as a justification for one gender, male, being better than the other, as had been done in the past. A few months ago, a computer engineer was famously fired from his job for pointing out that gender differences may explain why women tend to gravitate toward certain occupations and avoid others, that recruiting efforts need to take these differences into account.
• For years homosexuals had to live out their lives “in the closet.” Now, they are free to be open about who they are without fear of reprisal and even have the right to marry. As a Christian, I have moral issues with that last point. Biblical marriage is heterosexual only. That said, homosexuals were unjustly oppressed in the past. Today, activists are openly targeting Christians, using civil rights laws to bludgeon them into accepting homosexuality as a moral behavior.
In every instance I have cited above, the formerly oppressed are turning into the oppressors. Guinness would have advised speaking out. Consider this review as following that advice.
September 6, 2024
A CHRISTIAN CRITIQUE OF CULTURE, CIRCA 1973
At the time he published this book (his first) in 1973, Os Guinness (b. 1941) was working with Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri in Switzerland.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1960s, Guinness writes in the Preface that "what we were witnessing ... was the gradual disillusionment of a generation, even of a culture. Ideals had grown so distant they were barely distinguishable from illusions. Meaning had become a mirage. Eager minds, soaring beyond facts to a super-freedom of fantasy, had plunged earthwards. Even resolute action, which seemed to have rolled the stone almost to the top of the hill, paused for breath only to watch the stone roll backwards.... Beneath the efforts of a generation lay dust. Subsequent events and a closer inquiry, far from contradicting this suspicion, have served only to confirm it. The examination of this suspicion and the charting of an alternative is the burden of this book."
In more than one hundred sections (!) with provocative chapter titles such as "The Striptease of Humanism," "The Twilight of Western Thought," "The Importance of Futurology," "The Angry Young Men," "The Psychedelics and God," and "Constructive Christian Radicalism," Guinness attempts a wide-ranging analysis of modern culture, proposing in the end Christianity: "this uniquely 'impossible' faith---with a God who is, with an Incarnation that is earthly and historical, with a salvation that is at cross-purposes with human nature, with a Resurrection that blasts apart the finality of death---is able to provide an alternative to the sifting, settling dust of death and through a new birth open the way to new life."
Guinness has written a number of books since this one, of course (e.g., 'In two minds: The dilemma of doubt & how to resolve it,' 'The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life,' 'God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt,' 'The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It'). But if one wants a conservative Christian review of culture---that is much more wide-ranging than Schaeffer's own---from a 1970s perspective, Guinness's book is still worth reading.
At the time he published this book (his first) in 1973, Os Guinness (b. 1941) was working with Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri in Switzerland.
In the immediate aftermath of the 1960s, Guinness writes in the Preface that "what we were witnessing ... was the gradual disillusionment of a generation, even of a culture. Ideals had grown so distant they were barely distinguishable from illusions. Meaning had become a mirage. Eager minds, soaring beyond facts to a super-freedom of fantasy, had plunged earthwards. Even resolute action, which seemed to have rolled the stone almost to the top of the hill, paused for breath only to watch the stone roll backwards.... Beneath the efforts of a generation lay dust. Subsequent events and a closer inquiry, far from contradicting this suspicion, have served only to confirm it. The examination of this suspicion and the charting of an alternative is the burden of this book."
In more than one hundred sections (!) with provocative chapter titles such as "The Striptease of Humanism," "The Twilight of Western Thought," "The Importance of Futurology," "The Angry Young Men," "The Psychedelics and God," and "Constructive Christian Radicalism," Guinness attempts a wide-ranging analysis of modern culture, proposing in the end Christianity: "this uniquely 'impossible' faith---with a God who is, with an Incarnation that is earthly and historical, with a salvation that is at cross-purposes with human nature, with a Resurrection that blasts apart the finality of death---is able to provide an alternative to the sifting, settling dust of death and through a new birth open the way to new life."
Guinness has written a number of books since this one, of course (e.g., 'In two minds: The dilemma of doubt & how to resolve it,' 'The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life,' 'God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt,' 'The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It'). But if one wants a conservative Christian review of culture---that is much more wide-ranging than Schaeffer's own---from a 1970s perspective, Guinness's book is still worth reading.
May 24, 2023
"The Dust of Death" is a thought-provoking book by Os Guinness that explores the impact of secularism on Western culture and the Christian faith. The author argues that secularism, or the rejection of religion and spirituality, has led to a spiritual vacuum in the West, leaving people feeling lost, empty, and disconnected from the transcendent.
The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Guinness provides a historical overview of secularism and its roots in the Enlightenment, arguing that it has been a major force in shaping modern Western culture. In the second part, he examines the impact of secularism on various aspects of life, including politics, education, science, and the arts, showing how it has led to a devaluation of traditional values and beliefs.
In the third and final part of the book, Guinness offers a Christian response to secularism, arguing that the Christian faith offers a compelling alternative to the spiritual emptiness of secularism. He calls on Christians to engage with the world around them and to offer a positive vision of the Christian faith as a way to address the challenges of secularism.
"The Dust of Death" is a well-written and insightful book that provides a deep analysis of the impact of secularism on Western culture. While some readers may find the book to be too academic or dense, those who are willing to engage with the author's arguments will find a wealth of ideas to ponder and reflect upon. Additionally, the book offers a valuable perspective on the role of faith in the modern world, making it a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the intersection of religion, culture, and society.
The book is divided into three parts. In the first part, Guinness provides a historical overview of secularism and its roots in the Enlightenment, arguing that it has been a major force in shaping modern Western culture. In the second part, he examines the impact of secularism on various aspects of life, including politics, education, science, and the arts, showing how it has led to a devaluation of traditional values and beliefs.
In the third and final part of the book, Guinness offers a Christian response to secularism, arguing that the Christian faith offers a compelling alternative to the spiritual emptiness of secularism. He calls on Christians to engage with the world around them and to offer a positive vision of the Christian faith as a way to address the challenges of secularism.
"The Dust of Death" is a well-written and insightful book that provides a deep analysis of the impact of secularism on Western culture. While some readers may find the book to be too academic or dense, those who are willing to engage with the author's arguments will find a wealth of ideas to ponder and reflect upon. Additionally, the book offers a valuable perspective on the role of faith in the modern world, making it a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the intersection of religion, culture, and society.
July 1, 2022
I clearly wasn't alive in the 1960's, but Lord willing I will be alive in the 2060's. There is something to learn of this decade, especially for Christians who are interested in boots-on-the-ground Christianity. The counterculture that was birthed in the 60's prevailed against certain aspects in life because they were willing to be seen as idiots, or misguided, or hardheaded, and so on. As Os Guinness lays out in this older book, there should be a desire to be countercultural again in our day. The problem with most counterculture movements is that they assume much of the same as what Nietzsche assumed when he proclaimed the death of God. Nietzsche thought that the people would turn from God and turn to atheism. But this is not what happened, people turned from God and turned to nothing. This is why confusion is so common because everyone tried to fill that void in different ways, but every way being unsuccessful. When we talk about being countercultural, we do not want that same mistake to take place. We don't want people to turn from culture and turn to nothing. We want them to turn back to God.
March 29, 2024
Although it was published in 1973, Guinness's critique of the counter-culture of the 60s is every bit as relevant today as it was then. We're still living in the same post-Christian culture with many of the same post-Christian ideas still in play. The solution he proposes is still the only solution that can pull mankind from under the dust of death.
Want to read
October 3, 2020Written in early seventies and reissued for relevance in 2020.
January 17, 2023
The Striptease of Humanism
February 9, 2023
4.5* Recently discovered Os Guinness and I’m loving him.
November 17, 2023
An excellent cultural and theological analysis of the 60s, written at the time, but still standing well the test of time.
November 2, 2009
A large tome few will probably ever finish, but even if a reader can get through some of it, he/she will be more conscious of how and why our society has progressed to where it is now. Written a few years ago but still very applicable.
October 17, 2010
A book which I have read and reread so many times it is now falling apart. It sets the scene for what has been the dramatic collapse of western culture following the advent of postmodernism. It is a must read for anyone trying to understand how we got where we are.
February 15, 2009
I read this book years ago, but apparently there is a newer edition. Excellent book I've read it at least twice over the years and referred to it many times.
July 2, 2015
Very excellent portrayal and analysis of the Western cultural shifts in the 1960's.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews