The Rise and Triumph of the
Modern Self
Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to
Sexual Revolution
Carl R. Trueman
Foreword by Rod Dreher
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road
to Sexual Revolution
Copyright © 2020 by Carl R. Trueman
Published by Crossway
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Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
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Cover design: Spencer Fuller, Faceout Studios
Cover image: Stocksy Image #1264340, 1825354, 2007929, Shutterstock Image #430366777
First printing 2020
Printed in the United States of America
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-5633-3
ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-5636-4
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-5634-0
Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-5635-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Trueman, Carl R., author.
Title: The rise and triumph of the modern self : cultural amnesia, expressive individualism, and the road to sexual revolution /
Carl R. Trueman ; foreword by Rod Dreher.
Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019041970 (print) | LCCN 2019041971 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433556333 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781433556340
(pdf) | ISBN 9781433556357 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433556364 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Sexual freedom—History. | Sex. | Self. | Civilization, Modern.
Classification: LCC HQ32 .T78 2020 (print) | LCC HQ32 (ebook) | DDC 306.709—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041970
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019041971
Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
2020-09-16 08:10:47 AM
To
Matt and Gwen Franck
and
Fran and Suann Maier
There is nothing on this earth to be more prized than true friendship.
Thomas Aquinas
Contents
Foreword
Rod Dreher
Preface
Introduction
Part 1
ARCHITECTURE OF THE REVOLUTION
1 Reimagining the Self
2 Reimagining Our Culture
Part 2
FOUNDATIONS OF THE REVOLUTION
3 The Other Genevan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Foundations of Modern Selfhood
4 Unacknowledged Legislators
Wordsworth, Shelley, and Blake
5 The Emergence of Plastic People
Nietzsche, Marx, and Darwin
Epilogue to Part 2
Reflections on the Foundations of the Revolution
Part 3
SEXUALIZATION OF THE REVOLUTION
6 Sigmund Freud, Civilization, and Sex
7 The New Left and the Politicization of Sex
Epilogue to Part 3
Reflections on the Sexualization of the Revolution
Part 4
TRIUMPHS OF THE REVOLUTION
8 The Triumph of the Erotic
9 The Triumph of the Therapeutic
10 The Triumph of the T
Epilogue to Part 4
Reflections on the Triumphs of the Revolution
Concluding Unscientific Prologue
Index
