The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Carl R. Trueman)

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution

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.

Read Carl Trueman’s interview with Rod Dreher, best-selling author of The Benedict Option, at TheAmericanConservative.com

Endorsements

“Carl Trueman explains modernity to the church, with depth, clarity, and force. The significance of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is hard to overstate.”
—Rod Dreher, from the Foreword

“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

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

About the Author