Product Description
Bestselling Author Rosaria Butterfield Confronts 5 Cultural Lies She Once Believed
Modern culture is increasingly outspoken against a biblical understanding of what it means to be a woman. Even some Christians, swayed by the LGBTQ+ movement, have rejected God’s word on issues of sexuality and gender in favor of popular opinion. In light of these pressures, it’s more important than ever to help women see the truth about who God created them to be.
In this powerful book, Rosaria Butterfield uses Scripture to confront 5 common lies about sexuality, faith, feminism, gender roles, and modesty often promoted in our secular culture today. Written in the style of a memoir, this book explores Butterfield’s personal battle with these lies—interwoven with cultural studies, literary criticism, and theology—to help readers see the beauty in biblical womanhood, marriage, and motherhood.
- Culturally Relevant: Confronts controversial topics including transgenderism, homosexuality, feminism, spirituality, and modesty from a Bible-centered perspective
- Written for Christian Women: Inspires women to preserve godly values around womanhood, marriage, and motherhood in their lives, and offers guidance as they shepherd the next generation
- By Rosaria Butterfield: Bestselling author of The Gospel Comes with a House Key (100,000+ copies sold) and The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (100,000+ copies sold)
- Filled with Personal Stories: Rosaria speaks from her own experience as a formerly militant anti-Christian and outspoken feminist, in order to teach and encourage other Christians
Hardcover, 368 pages
Publication Date: September 2023
Table of Contents
Foreword by Kevin DeYoung
Preface
Introduction: We All Live in Babel Now
Lie #1: Homosexuality Is Normal
Chapter 1: Once Gay, Always Gay?
Chapter 2:What Is Intersectionality?
Chapter 3: What Are Homosexual Orientation and Gay Christianity?
Chapter 4: Why Is Homosexuality a Sin When It Feels Normal to Some People?
Lie #2: Being a Spiritual Person Is Kinder than Being a Biblical Christian
Chapter 5: Where Is God—in an Ancient Book or in Me?
Chapter 6: The Bible Knows Me Better than I Know Myself
Lie #3: Feminism Is Good for the World and the Church
Chapter 7: Do You Know Yourself and How Do You Know?
Chapter 8: Does the Gospel Need a Feminist Rescue?
Chapter 9: The Power of a Woman’s Voice
Lie #4: Transgenderism Is Normal
Chapter 10: The Sin of Envy
Chapter 11: The War of Words
Chapter 12: Eternal Life Means More than Just Living Forever
Lie #5: Modesty Is an Outdated Burden That Serves Male Dominance and Holds Women Back
Chapter 13: In the Presence of My Enemies
Chapter 14: Exhibitionism: The New Almost-Christian Virtue
Afterword: The Difference between Acceptance and Approval, or, How to Stay Connected to Loved Ones Who Believe These Lies without Falling for Them Yourself
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Guiding Principles for How to Read the Bible
General Index
Scripture Index
Endorsements
“The world is always trying to replace Christianity with a spiritual counterfeit that is another religion entirely, as J. Gresham Machen pointed out a century ago. Rosaria Butterfield exposes today’s ideologies that seek to force the church into the mold of sexual perversion and self-deification. And she reminds us in this well-written and easy-to-read book that the answer to these soul-destroying lies remains the same as it always was: knowing and abiding in God’s word so that the truth will set us free. Highly recommended!”
Joel R. Beeke, Chancellor and Professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary; Pastor, Heritage Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, Michigan
“In a culture marked by sexual confusion and moral chaos, Rosaria Butterfield bursts through the fog of confusion with unflinching clarity. Defining words like male and female, and the biblical roles assigned to them, this book speaks plainly and unapologetically about the beauty of God’s design and purpose for gender, sex, marriage, and family. If the five lies of our anti-Christian age she confronts are like idols in Daniel’s Babylon, be inspired to join Butterfield as she, like Daniel’s three friends, stand amongst the thousands of bended knees and boldly assert, ‘We will not serve your gods.’”
Alisa Childers, Host, The Alisa Childers Podcast; author, Another Gospel? and Live Your Truth and Other Lies
“Falsehood abounds not only in the world but also, sadly, in the church. The truth must attack the lies of the age for the sake of God’s honor and glory, the good of people, and the health of the church. In this deeply courageous book, Rosaria Butterfield addresses topics that many are afraid to confront and expose. On the one hand, this is grievous, but I am especially grateful for the gifts God has given to Butterfield, who is in many respects uniquely able to expose these five lies of our anti-Christian age. You may weep reading this book, but I am convinced you will also rejoice.”
Mark Jones, Senior Pastor, Faith Presbyterian Church, Vancouver, British Columbia
“As I read this cogent, trenchant, and timely declaration of gospel sanity, I was constantly reminded of the words of Christ: ‘You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’ (John 8:32). Rosaria Butterfield has afforded us a much-needed caveat to the prevailing untruths of our day while simultaneously redirecting us to the pathway of freedom.”
George Grant, Pastor, Parish Presbyterian Church, Franklin, Tennessee; author, The Micah Mandate
“Rosaria Butterfield has written a landmark book on the lies our culture is rapidly adopting regarding sexuality, what she calls ‘the idol of our time,’ namely LGBTQ+ ideology. In all the subjects she raises—in particular feminism, homosexuality, and transgenderism—her treatments are broad, deep, and fair. She offers profound, and deeply convincing, reflections on Christian spiritual issues of temptation, sin, envy, and modesty, as well as the doctrines of the Scriptures and ecclesiology. As a converted lesbian, now a committed pastor’s wife and mother, no one is better placed to cover this material than Butterfield. Her book will surely go down as a classic.”
Peter Jones, Executive Director, truthXchange
“A timely and vital exhortation to the church, this book is a much-needed resource for Christians facing ever-increasing confusion in the world. With clear, biblical truth, Rosaria Butterfield cuts through key lies of our current culture, which have crept into the church like the serpent in the garden. This is a must-read!”
Becket Cook, author, A Change of Affection: A Gay Man’s Incredible Story of Redemption; Host, The Becket Cook Show
“Rosaria Butterfield speaks the truth in love, exposing and refuting five big lies widely accepted in our culture. She draws on her profound understanding of the Bible as well as her wide reading and personal experiences. May this important book strengthen Christians and be used to call many, not only to the truth but also to repentance and faith in Christ.”
W. Robert Godfrey, President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus, Westminster Seminary California; Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries
“Rosaria Butterfield is one of those rare individuals who lives out her convictions with utter consistency—earlier as a lesbian professor of feminist and queer studies and now as a Christian and a pastor’s wife. In this book, she confronts some of the most pervasive falsehoods of our age.”
Nancy Pearcey, Professor and Scholar in Residence, Houston Christian University; author, Love Thy Body and The Toxic War on Masculinity
“Few authors consistently write books with such clarity and power, rightly dividing the primary issues of the day, like Rosaria Butterfield. Drawing from her unlikely conversion, literary eloquence, philosophical fluency, and theological mastery, she has again composed another tour de force in Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age. Addressing identity, sexuality, feminism, and transgenderism, this masterpiece uncovers the deceptive lies infiltrating the church and points to the lifegiving and timeless truth of God’s word. Like a watchman on a wall, Butterfield grounds her courage and passion in her love for neighbor. Will we take the wide road of compromise leading to death or the narrow path of suffering leading to life in Christ? Read this book. You will not be pampered but challenged. Most of all, expect that the gospel of Christ will be exalted without any wavering to the left or the right.”
Christopher Yuan, speaker; author, Holy Sexuality and the Gospel; creator, The Holy Sexuality Project video series
“With surgical precision, Rosaria Butterfield names, assesses, and dismantles the secular religion of our time. She makes the agenda of the enemy before us come into razor-sharp focus. But she doesn’t stop there. Like any good surgeon, after dismantling the cancer, she sews the patient back up—in this case, demonstrating how to battle lies with the truth. Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age is a handbook for how to use God’s word to fight joyfully against an often baffling world around us.”
Summer Jaeger, Cohost, Sheologians
“In Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age, Rosaria Butterfield is doing the good work of ‘destroying arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God’ and of ‘taking every thought captive to obey Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:5). As a result, this book is a punch in the mouth to the reigning worldly ideologies of our day, and Butterfield is like Jael with warm milk and a tent peg. Butterfield pulls no punches but boldly confronts five lies that are bedeviling God’s people, and she faithfully refutes those lies with biblical truth. While this book will be edifying for all believers, Butterfield sets her sights on warning women in particular. Butterfield has a gift for saying hard things in profound and incisive ways. This is a powerful book that confronts the conceits of our age, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; President, Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood; Teaching Pastor, Kenwood Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky
“In Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age, Rosaria Butterfield takes a wrecking ball not only to the obvious lies of modern culture but even more to the comfortable Christianese shibboleths we thoughtlessly mouth because we’ve heard so many others in church repeating them. They are the most dangerous deceptions of all. And the challenge running through every chapter of this book is this: choose this day whom you will believe—the word of God or the accommodationist counterfeits. Keep your highlighter handy—you will be reaching for it constantly.”
Megan Basham, Culture Reporter, The Daily Wire; author, Beside Every Successful Man
Author
Rosaria Butterfield (PhD, Ohio State University) is an author, pastor’s wife, homeschool mom, and former professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University. She is the author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert; Openness Unhindered; and The Gospel Comes with a House Key.
