Impossible People

June 20, 2016
Guinness, routinely disobeying the Bible's repeated commandment to "Fear not!", packs this sequel to Renaissance with alarms and threats. He starts by enumerating the challenges to the contemporary American church, including abortion, homosexuality, progressive secularism, same-gender marriage, gender transition, and evangelism. The title refers to a label plastered on the 11th-century reformer, Peter Damian, who fought against simony, homosexuality, and pedophilia in the church. Considering himself as "impossible" as Damian, Guinness prophesies catastrophe: "We face a solemn hour for humanity at large and a momentous showdown for the Western church." Hyperbole and metaphor are Guinness's go-to rhetorical devices and he inundates his well-founded points with waves of polemic writing, blowing hard against "generationalism" and atheism. Writing for those believers worried about secular shifts in society and eager to wall off the church from destabilizing forces, Guinness explores an exclusive brand of Christianity that, however well-argued, will irk those wishing to celebrate the inclusive joy of Jesus.