A Strange New World
How did we get here? The winds of history which fill our sails have dictated our current cultural location, and it is a strange, new world. On one hand, how many times have we heard a news article or interview about LGBTQ+ and said, “I don’t understand.” Yet on the other hand, someone can claim to be a “woman trapped in a man’s body,” and everyone nods in understanding. The different responses highlight our cultural confusion. We are the fish who doesn’t know what water is, yet he knows that where he swims is unusual. With that said, I set before you A Strange New World by Carl Trueman - a map of how we got here.
Derived from Carl Trueman’s larger volume The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, A Strange New World articulates the same thesis in a format adapted for small group studies. Trueman’s aim is not to propose a method forward; instead, he describes in great detail how we got to this moment through the lens of various philosophers and thinkers - Rousseau, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and others. Before you object and say, “Well, I’ve never read any of them! Why are they so important?” Let me give an example.
Rousseau argues for the “inner voice” - that pure, undefiled voice that should be the driving force in all our lives. Following our “inner voice” makes us truly authentic. Our desires, they are pure; it is society that is evil. Society corrupts and restrains the pure desires of our heart. Does that not sound familiar? It sounds like every Disney movie that encourages us to “follow your heart.” What of the person who says that their desires do not match their biology? That gender is a social construct? That biology is a restraint upon my authenticity? These ideas flow downstream from Rousseau and a collection of other thinkers. What begins in ivory towers waters the common fields below.
Be it Marx with his emphasis on politics and oppression, Freud with his focus on sex and identity, or Nietzsche with ethics of feeling over morality - each of these play a crucial role in everything from “cancel culture” on our college campuses to former Disney stars marketing sexually provocative music which asks how something “feels so right can be wrong.” Our feelings are now our god, and our sexual desires are exalted as the strongest desire in this convoluted pantheon. Indeed, this is a stronge, new world.
Herein lies the disconnect between our two different worldviews. As Christians, we focus on the act; however, the issue today goes deeper. The issue today is not actions; the issue is identity. Trueman lucidly demonstrates how the conversations regarding sexuality have changed. Sex is no longer something you do; sex is who you are. This is the personhood of this strange, new world. However, Trueman has given Christians both the tools and the opportunity to address the true issues plaguing our generation. I cannot stress enough how crucial this issue is for our day and age. As the battles between theological liberalism did in the early 1900s, this issue will be the defining issue of our generation, forming a historical dividing line between the church of today and tomorrow.
As previously mentioned, Trueman has not written a book on how to respond; however, he does entertain a few suggestions of what the church may expect. Let me only state one - community. Now, more than ever, the church cannot simply be a place we go. The communion of the saints, the fellowship of the church will be crucial in weathering the new several decades. We must worship together, study together, pray together, sing together, and do life together that we may both reinforce the redemptive narrative of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, thereby preparing one another for the new heavenly world to come.
Rarely do I insist that any book is a “must read,” so hear me when I saw that Carl Trueman’s A Strange New World is a must-read. I have read it with much benefit with some of our youth, and I will gladly read it again with anyone interested. If you are interested, you can purchase the book here.
