Unbelief and Revolution (Lexham Classics)

Clearly and simply lays out where the modern age went wrong, why it went wrong, and why it can't be fixed without rejecting the errors of the age in both their fruits and their roots.Anti-Revolution, the anti-Enlightenment, anti-rationalism; all names given to platforms of belief more whole, more positive in action, and more complete than the shallow academics that we now know. I will be buying more of these to give away to people, and looking for a nicer printing to live in my home library.

Really good book. Still relavent today.

Everyone should read. Explains a lot of what happened not only then, but now. A timeless work.

Conservatism is a rejection of the Enlightenment-Modernism. Great thinkers who have rejected the Enlightenment principles have a pedigree that have been traced out. Of course, there are many different traditions within conservativism. Roman Catholics, for example, have made their own lineage known.But with the translation of Groen's magnum opus, the Reformed Conservative lineage is now seeing the light of day.As a student of Edmund Burke (an Anglican and the Father of modern Conservatism), and as the mentor of Abraham Kuyper, Groen and his political thinking is the missing key. This book is that key.Unbelief and Revolution furthers Burke's critique of the French Revolution; deeper and in a more explicitly theological way. He explains that the present state of constant social upheaval are due to the principles of the Enlightenment, and when held to, cannot but lead to actions that are consistent. This Revolutionary state is due to a rejection of God and follows five stages. Here is the convenient summary that Groen's biographer provides:1. "Preparation: the theory will gain acceptance."2. "Development: the theory will be applied, but as its consequences 8unfold in ever more radical manifestations, some people will fail to see its logical necessity and begin to deny its legitimacy, others will put their personal interests foremost, while still others will recoil in pity and horror. In the ensuing struggle between moderates and radicals, the latter will at last impose a reign of terror to safeguard the revolution."3. "Reaction: when the [tables] are turned, the revolution will be frozen at the point reached, and a regime of naked force and compulsion will be imposed at the expense of liberty."4. "Renewed Experimentation: at last the yoke of tyranny is thrown off and men, taught by experience, will resume the application of the theory, this time via the golden mean, in an unstable compromise between order and liberty."5. "Despondent Resignation: repeated outbursts of revolutionary violence will induce men to acquiesce in strong government, to sacrifice the theory, and to concentrate on the pursuit of material wealth instead."Groen's eloquent work has been vindicated by history--it is no accident that the modern age has been called the Age of Revolutions. This masterpiece is needed for anyone wants to be a man who understands the times, like the men of Issachar. I simply can't recommend it enough!