The Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes, “Be warned: the writing of books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.” That warning might seem irrelevant in a day of Twitter and sound bites, but some things demand a deeper look, and books fill that role. Only one book is essential, but if we would be salt and light in a dark world we should be willing to put on our thinking caps and risk being wearied a bit.
I’m guessing that’s not the best way to encourage you to join me in a study of a book that Kevin Lasley said would be required reading if he were still teaching in the university. But don’t worry, that’s not what I’m about to do. Instead, I’m going to try to convince you to join me in a shorter more accessible version of that book.
When I read The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self I had to keep a pencil in hand. I don’t think I’ve ever done as much underlining in a book. Calling it “perhaps the most significant analysis and evaluation of Western culture written by a Protestant during the last fifty years” is probably true. The problem I had was understanding the background of everything he was saying, and knowing how to share it. Now that problem’s been solved.
Carl Trueman accepted the challenge to turn a 400 page scholarly book into a book of less than 200 pages that everyone could read and understand. His new book is entitled Strange New World and is subtitled “How thinkers and activists redefined identity and sparked the sexual revolution.”
He introduced the first book by stating, “The origins of this book lie in my curiosity about how and why a particular statement has come to be regarded as coherent and meaningful: ‘I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.’”
How we got there and how we should respond is something we should all be concerned about. Let me know if I should order you a book.
God Bless, Rick
Chatham Christian Church 