Our culture rejects the Christian idea that the question of man’s significance is directly tied to the question of God. If, as Christianity teaches, human beings are created in the image of God, the two questions are inseparable. According to the Christian view of man, human beings are created, embodied persons with obligations, limits, and goals. If God does not exist, we must become our own creators, and this inevitably leads to our desecration and destruction.

In every era and in every part of the world, the enemy tests the defenses of the Christian church at specific points of doctrine and practice. Today, in the West at least, the focal point of attack is the biblical doctrine of humanity. Abortion, euthanasia, transhumanism, transgenderism, rampant pornography, LGBTQ+ ideology, racism, feminism—all of these and more raise questions about what it means to be human. The topic is at the forefront of almost every major public discussion today.

In 2020, Carl R. Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College, addressed the philosophical background to our contemporary anthropological chaos in his book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. That book remains one of the most important Christian books published in the first quarter of this century. He followed it up with an abridged version in his 2022 book Strange New World. I will say again what I said when these books were first published: Every Christian leader who wants to understand what is going on in the world today needs to read The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, and every Christian layman needs to read at least Strange New World, if not the longer book too.

Trueman has now written another book that is at least as important, if not more, for every Christian leader and layman to read, digest, and apply. The phrase is a cliché and certainly much overused, but The Desecration of Man: How the Rejection of God Degrades Our Humanity is “a must read” if ever there was one. By that, I mean, if you are reading this review, you need to purchase two copies of this book, read one, and give the second to your pastor. Your pastor needs to read it and encourage his elders and parishioners to read it. Every headmaster and teacher at every classical Christian school needs to read this. Christian political leaders need to read it. This is one of those handful of books that comes along every once in a long while that is a generational book. This is the Christianity and Liberalism of this generation but specifically focused on the subject of what it means to be human and how to respond to a dehumanizing culture.

The thesis of Trueman’s book is that “desecration is key to understanding the dynamic of modern culture and the anthropological confusion that it embodies.” By rejecting God and attempting to exalt autonomous man, our culture has ironically reduced man to a mere object and has desecrated him. Some have argued that the solution is a “re-enchantment” of the world. Trueman argues that this does not go far enough. The solution to the desecration of man is not merely re-enchantment, but re-consecration, and that requires a return to Christian truth and Christian practice within the context of the Christian church.

Chapter 1 sets the stage by looking at the state of our current culture. Anthropology is the central issue.

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