I have long been a history buff. And one of the genres I enjoy within the category of history is the “what if” idea, such as, “What if this had happened instead of that?” That is kind of the take on history that Jeremiah Johnston uses in his book Unimaginable.

First of all, I expected something a bit different than what Johnston presents here. I’m not sure what I really expected, maybe something more imaginative, more fictional, but that’s not the purpose of this book. Instead, what Johnston has done is look at history and show what it would look like if Christianity did not exist. What I did not expect, perhaps blindly on my part, is that he would draw from history those things which already point to what it would look like in such a world.

That sounds a bit confusing, and I’m not sure how to articulate it very clearly. Maybe an example would help. Without Christianity in our world, there would be no value to the human life. And if life holds no value, then things such as slavery, abortion, euthanasia, communism, fascism, and more would run unhindered. But we have already seen in history how those kinds of things have affected the lives of millions. Slavery is an institution we have fought for ages, around the world in various forms. Abortions occur in epidemic proportions. Communism and fascism have cost the lives of countless millions of people. And the list could go on.

It’s kind of depressing. Johnston shows what a world without Christianity would look like, and we see that it is our world.

But then he takes a turn. He then shows what value Christianity has given to this world. And the positive impact has been far greater than the ugliness of a world without it. Johnston takes the unimaginable and turns it into the reality of what our faith has accomplished, is accomplishing, and will continue to accomplish into the future.

Unimaginable is a fascinating journey into the minds of those who would like to remove Christianity. And then it exposes just how fatal this view can be, if Christianity were to be eliminated from this reality. Unimaginable looks at the philosophies of many dominant atheist thinkers, both current and historical, and exposes the faults of such views.

This may be one of the most important books I have read this year, and I highly encourage you to spend some time with it. Your thinking will be challenged, and you will see just how critical Christianity is to our culture, and the impact it has had. And you will be inspired to be a part of that impact that Christianity will continue to have in the days and years to come.

Ratings & Details For Unimaginable:

• Genre/Style: Christian Living
• Purpose/Premise: 10 of 10 stars
• Spiritual Content: 10 of 10 stars
• Readability/Flow: 8 of 10 stars
• Cover: 9 of 10 stars
• Overall Rating: 10 of 10 stars

Question: How big of an impact do you think Christianity has had on our world? What do you think it would look like if it had never existed? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

I received this book free from Cross Focused Media as part of their Cross Focused Reviews blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.