Declinism is in the air in certain circles, and it coincides with the conclusion of some historians that 250 years is roughly the lifespan of great superpowers. How do Christians understand such cyclical views of history, and what are the genuine grounds for confidence in the possibility of renewal. Christians are not called to be Pollyannas, but what should our realistic position be?

Os Guinness is an Anglo-Irishman, and an author and social critic. Born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries, he was a witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949. He was educated in England, where he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oxford University. Os has written or edited more than thirty books, including The Call, Unspeakable, A Free People’s Suicide, The Global Public Square, and The Magna Carta of Humanity. His latest books are The Great Quest, Zero Hour America, and Signals of Transcendence.

Os has been a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies, a Guest Scholar and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum. Always passionate about religious freedom, he was the lead drafter of the Williamsburg Charter in 1988, a bicentennial celebration of the bicentennial of the US First Amendment, and later a drafter of “The Global Charter of Conscience” and “The American Charter of freedom of religion and conscience.” He lives with his wife Jenny in the Washington DC area.