Review: ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self’ by Carl Trueman

“With each passing year, it can seem that cultural developments are only getting worse.

The unending creativity and output of Western debauchery is one of its hallmark industries. ‘Live Your Truth’ and ‘You Do You’ asininities ensure that critical investigation about the goals of human nature are subjugated beneath the hierarchies of nerve endings and atomized ‘rights.’ A rejection of God’s authority over creation explains one reason for our cultural plight. But cultural realities are forged by a complex milieu of ideas, personalities, and artifacts that build on one another in genealogical sequence to get us to where we are today.

Enter iconoclast Carl Trueman, who has written one of the most anticipated books of 2020. ;”

– At The Gospel Coalition, Andrew T. Walker highly recommends ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self’ by Carl Trueman.

Update:

Tim Challies has also published a review:

“As I see it, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is not only the most important book I’ve read in 2020, but also the best. I can’t recommend it too highly.”

and Justin Taylor has this – with several videos from Carl Trueman.

(Availability.)

How the Person Became a Self

“In 2020, while the world was on lockdown due to COVID-19, Carl Trueman published one of the most important books of the last several decades.

In The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Trueman built on the insights of contemporary thinkers such as Philip Rieff and Alasdair MacIntyre to show how modern thinkers … gave expression to a worldview … that made possible and plausible the arguments of the late-modern theorists who shaped the postmodern sexual revolution …

It is a penetrating analysis of recent intellectual history that shows why people are willing to believe ideas today that our grandparents would have rejected out of hand—without need of argument, evidence, or proof—just two generations ago.

The only problem? The book is over 400 pages long. … I knew that many of Carl’s potential readers would not have the time or appetite to wade through so many of his finer, nuanced discussions. So I emailed Carl, praising the book as essential reading. But I also suggested that he consider writing a shorter, more accessible version of the basic argument for non-specialists. Carl has now produced that volume with Strange New World, and it sparkles on every page. …”

– If the length of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self put you off, Strange New World might be just what you need. Ryan T. Anderson writes at First Things.

The book is available widely – here are some booksellers.

John Anderson with Carl Trueman on Hedonism and the Modern Psychological Self

In his latest “Direct” interview, John Anderson speaks with Carl Trueman:

“They discuss the modern self in an age of culture wars, including the societal shift of the perception of happiness and gratification, the technological revolution, and the sexual revolution and its ties to authoritarianism.”

– At johnanderson.net.au.

(The video file on YouTube is indexed to allow you to jump to the various topics covered.)

Related:

Review: ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self’ by Carl Trueman.

How Christians can guard against the Cultural Milieu

This short video from Carl Trueman encourages Christians to read widely and to ground themselves in biblical and systematic theology.

Published by Crossway, it’s part of a promotion for Dr Trueman’s new book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.

Carl Trueman speaks about his book ‘The Sexual Revolution and the Rise of the Modern Self’

At Christ the Center’s podcast from Reformed Forum, Carl Trueman speaks about his new book, “The Sexual Revolution and the Rise of the Modern Self”.

“My aim is to explain how and why a certain notion of the self has come to dominate the culture of the West, why this self finds its most obvious manifestation in the transformation of sexual mores, and what the wider implications of this transformation are and may well be in the future.”

Listen here.

See also:

Review: ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self’ by Carl Trueman.