While 2020 was the year of downfall for many things - movie theaters, concerts, musicals - there were a few things that strode up to the common eye and made their importance undeniable. One of the works that stood tall among others in the Christian realm is that of Carl Trueman’s philosophical, psychological masterpiece, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. Crossing the threshold of 400 pages, this work is mostly historical, drawing from key influential thinkers such as Charles Taylor, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx to provide an objective survey of the development of thinking in the last few hundred years.
In establishing the traditional thought of past generations, Trueman gives an unbiased account and explanation for the way the human psyche operates today. This book is relevant for the academic in its historical recollection of the majority of psychological development that led to the sexual revolution. In so doing, Trueman draws clear lines between the past and the present, giving the reader a deep understanding of the necessity of history as well as the chance to proactively diagnose the future.
This work may appeal more to the academic due to its exhaustive nature and long, well-written sentences, but it should appeal to the everyday Christian as well. In many ways, Rise and Triumph is a good glimpse at hundreds of years of psychological development contained within 400 pages. Anyone willing to work through it will come out on the other side more knowledgeable and prepared to converse with those in the LGBTQ+ Movement.
While the book is almost completely objective and historical, there are portions in the final part that offer some critique of modern thinking. This is the only problem I have with the book; because it is so exhaustive in many ways, I would have expected (and appreciated) more critique and application of such knowledge. Nevertheless, this book stands out as a masterful, eloquent survey of psychological and philosophical humanity. It is no doubt something that has and will become the most prevalent conversation in American modernity.
Audience: Adult/Academic
Readability: 6/10
Rating: 8/10
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