Product Description
Modern culture is obsessed with identity. Since the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015, sexual identity has dominated both public discourse and cultural trends—yet no historical phenomenon is its own cause. From Augustine to Marx, various views and perspectives have contributed to the modern understanding of the self.
In this timely book, Carl Trueman analyzes the development of the sexual revolution as a symptom—rather than the cause—of the human search for identity. Trueman surveys the past, brings clarity to the present, and gives guidance for the future as Christians navigate the culture in humanity’s ever-changing quest for identity.
Pages: 432 pp
Publication Date: November 24, 2020
Topic: Worldview, culture, ethics, church & state
Table of Contents
Foreword by Rod Dreher
Preface
Introduction
Part 1: Architecture of the Revolution
Chapter 1: Reimagining the Self
Chapter 2: Reimagining Our Culture
Part 2: Foundations of the Revolution
Chapter 3: The Other Genevan: Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Foundations of Modern Selfhood
Chapter 4: Unacknowledged Legislators: Wordsworth, Shelley, and Blake
Chapter 5: The Emergence of Plastic People: Nietzsche, Marx, and Darwin
Epilogue to Part 2: Reflections on the Foundations of the Revolution
Part 3: Sexualization of the Revolution
Chapter 6: Sigmund Freud, Civilization, and Sex
Chapter 7: The New Left and the Politicization of Sex
Epilogue to Part 3: Reflections on the Sexualization of the Revolution
Part 4: Triumphs of the Revolution
Chapter 8: The Triumph of the Erotic
Chapter 9: The Triumph of the Therapeutic
Chapter 10: The Triumph of the T
Epilogue to Part 4: Reflections on the Triumphs of the Revolution
Concluding Unscientific Prologue
Biography
Carl Trueman (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College. He is an esteemed church historian and co-host of the Alliance podcast Mortification of Spin. Trueman has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including The Creedal Imperative; Luther on the Christian Life; and Histories and Fallacies. Trueman is a member of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Endorsements
“The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is perhaps the most significant analysis and evaluation of Western culture written by a Protestant during the past fifty years. If you want to understand the social, cultural, and political convulsions we are now experiencing, buy this book, and read it for all it is worth. Highly recommended.”
—Bruce Riley Ashford, Professor of Theology and Culture, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; coauthor, The Gospel of Our King
“This is a characteristically brilliant book by Carl Trueman, helping the church understand why people believe that sexual difference is a matter of psychological choice. Indeed, Trueman shows how the story we tell ourselves about normalized LGBTQ+ values is false and foolish. With wisdom and clarity, Trueman guides readers through the work of Charles Taylor, Philip Rieff, British Romantic poets, and Continental philosophers to trace the history of expressive individualism from the eighteenth century to the present. The rejection of mimesis (finding excellence by imitating something greater than yourself) for poiesis (finding authenticity by inventing yourself on your own terms), in addition to the Romantic movement’s welding of sexual expression as a building block of political liberation, ushers in the modern LGBTQ+ movement as if on cue. This book reveals how important it is for thinking Christians to distinguish virtue from virtue signaling. The former makes you brave; the latter renders you a man pleaser, which is a hard line to toe in a world where there are so few real men left to please.”
—Rosaria Butterfield, Former Professor of English, Syracuse University; author, The Gospel Comes with a House Key
“This is an amazing piece of work. Blending social commentary with an insightful history of ideas as well as keen philosophical and theological analyses, Carl Trueman has given us what is undoubtedly the most accessible and informed account of the modern self and how it has shaped and informed the cultural battles of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. It is a fair-minded, carefully wrought diagnosis of what ails our present age. This book is essential reading for all serious religious believers who rightly sense that the ground is shifting underneath their feet, that the missionaries for the modern self are not content with simply allowing believers to practice their faith in peace but see these believers and their institutions as targets for colonization and involuntary assimilation. For this reason, every president of a faith-based college or university should read The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self more than once.”
—Francis J. Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies and Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy, Baylor University
“I don’t think there will be a better-researched or more fascinating book in all of 2020.”
—Tim Challies, blogger, Challies.com
