Human identity: A Biblical and cultural analysis

THE DESECRATION OF MAN: How the Rejection of God Degrades Our Humanity
By Carl R. Trueman
Sentinel. 256 pages. £21.99
ISBN 978 0 593 713 853

In The Desecration of Man, Carl Trueman leads the reader through the consequences of a culture jettisoning God in terms of our self-understanding, our sexual behaviours, and our approach to the big questions of morality and mortality.

Taking the warnings of Nietzsche’s madman for his framework, he demonstrates that dethroning God inevitably results in defacing humankind, reducing our dignity, eroding community, leading to an “expressive individualism” that is philosophically incoherent and psychologically insufficient.

The book’s handling of these ramifications of desecration is, for the most part, wise, surefooted and well informed. One of Trueman’s skills as a writer and social commentator is his capacity to translate complex sociological data and current trends in philosophy into a language which is saturated in creed and Biblical common sense.

Trueman is at his most masterful and helpful in expressing how desecration can be met by Christianity, insisting on the need for “creed”, “cult” and “code” to stand as life-giving distinctives in a desecrated age. The Desecration of Man shows how core Christian beliefs, practices of worship, and ethical demands, directly address and counter the mindset and malaise of the world we live in. This prescription, which forms the conclusion to the book, could easily be taken up and more fully extrapolated in a separate volume.

Although decidedly fair minded in his approach to the theme, there are times when Trueman can tend towards generalisation. For instance, in his handling of death as a taboo in a culture without God, much is made of the fact that funeral services are increasingly described as celebrations of life – a symptom, Trueman says, of societal denial. While this is undoubtedly true for many in the 21st-century West, no account is given of the fact that many Christian funerals can carry similar titles while remaining clear eyed about the reality and pain of loss. This is an example of a sporadic tendency in the book for a case to be stated rather than argued. This does not, however, weaken the overall thesis that Trueman skilfully constructs in the rest of the work.

In The Desecration of Man, Carl Trueman delivers an analysis of our society’s impoverished and imperilled position when it comes to matters of identity and community, sex and self, life and death, inheriting as it does the fully defacing consequences of seeking to put God to death. Deeply researched, carefully argued, and forcefully expressed, this book will help Christians to think more clearly about the world they live in, and non-Christians to consider the dread human implications of living as though God is dead.