A review by dlwaugh
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl R. Trueman

5.0

While this is one of the more challenging reads of the year, it is highly profitable. Trueman does an excellent job of tracing the historical/philosophical developments over the past two and half centuries that bring us to the cultural moment. The sexual revolution, often pointed to by conservative evangelicals as a watershed moment in culture, is more symptom than cause. The philosophical underpinnings of our current understanding of self go much further back. Hence, the path forward isn't as simple as restoring sexual ethics, it means restoring a proper understanding of selfhood. Again, it is a difficult read, but worth the investment (I believe there is a shorter, more popular version of this same work slated for release late 2021).