Taking Every Thought Captive

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TOTAL TRUTH   A Book Review   By D. Massimo Lorenzini     Pearcey, Nancy. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. Wheaton, IL.: Crossway Books, 2004. 512 pp.     Introduction   Nancy Pearcey learned Christian worldview from Francis Schaeffer beginning with her visit to Schaeffer’s study center in Switzerland called L’Abri. She has gone on to become a leading thinker in worldview studies with vast experience in writing and speaking. In addition to writing Total Truth, she co-authored How Now Shall We live? and The Soul of Science.   Summary   The author introduces her book with an overview of the subject of worldview studies and its critical importance for Christianity in the 21st century. She notes, “The purpose of worldview studies is nothing less than to liberate Christianity from its cultural captivity, unleashing its power to transform the world” (17). Having recognized the limitations of political engagement (since politics just reflects culture), Pearcey points her readers to work for cultural renewal in every area of society armed with confidence that the Christian worldview is total truth—it addresses every aspect of life and culture.   The problem is that most of Western culture down through history, right up to present-day secularism, has been governed by a dualism that separates the public sphere from the private sphere, also known as the fact/value split: Scientific knowledge that is supposedly objective and binding upon all (facts) and personal preferences (morality, religious beliefs, etc.) that are subjective and a matter of individual choice (values). This dualism has relegated the Christian worldview to the realm of private values with no voice in the public arena where public policy is decided. Christianity has therefore become muted in the present time and secularism, based on philosophical naturalism, is threatening to consume not only the public sphere of “facts” but also, out of human proclivity to be consistent, to become the sole worldview in the private sphere of values as well. Thus the locus of the “culture war” is between secular humanism (based on Darwinian evolution) and Christian theism (based on divine creation).   Pearcey’s thesis is to show how Christians can arm themselves for this culture war by applying the central tenants of the Christian worldview (Creation, Fall, Redemption) to all of life and thus overcome the fragmentation of our lives caused by the fact/value split and bring about personal wholeness as God’s Word informs and directs every aspect of life.   Pearcey concentrates much of her book on the debate between Creation or Intelligent Design versus Darwinian evolution. This is because one’s view of origins serves as the foundational starting point to any worldview. The only way to resist secularism and work to recover a Christian worldview is to start at the beginning point in the worldview conflict.   Pearcey then gives a historical survey of American evangelicalism to investigate the sources of the anti-intellectualism and lack of worldview development that brought about the secular/sacred dichotomy. Her book ends with some practical direction on how Evangelicals today can bring about personal and church renewal through worldview thinking. This renewal begins when we embrace our union with Christ’s death and resurrection (we must be willing to be rejected, slain, and raised) and repudiate worldly methods and measures of success.   Evaluation   I found Pearcey’s book to be a very informative and enlightening survey of the central issues involved in the current culture war in America. Pearcey is not to be distracted with peripheral issues, but targets the heart of the cultural conflict—the fact/value split with philosophical naturalism dominating the public sphere and arbitrating what constitutes “facts” and, ultimately, values as well (since what is regarded as facts will eventually determine the values). She thoroughly demonstrates that the major philosophies and ideologies of western civilization have all capitulated to the two-story scheme, that is, a lower story that is about publicly accepted facts, science, objectivity, matter, etc. and an upper story that is about privately held values, ethics, subjectivity, mind/form, etc.   I believe Pearcey has not only accurately diagnosed the problem but also prescribed the remedy—consistent application of the Christian worldview to every dimension of life. The grid of Creation, Fall, Redemption enables believers to demolish the barrier between facts and values, the public sphere and the private sphere, by allowing the Christian worldview to inform what the facts are and what the values should be in light of those facts. Pearcey demonstrates that biblical Christianity alone is able to bring the two spheres into a unified worldview since Scripture provides both a divine and universal account of the origin of the material world and mandates how humans are to live in the world God created.   Along with clarity and accuracy in Pearcey’s assessment and advice, I found her research to be thorough and convincing. She demonstrates a keen grasp of history, philosophy, science, theology, apologetics, and discipleship. All of this knowledge, coupled with her experience in teaching worldview makes her a most persuasive spokesperson for Christian worldview and her exhortations demand a careful hearing and thoughtful response from every believer.   Another strength of the book is the many examples from history and her own personal experience, especially her personal journey from skepticism to faith and the impact that Francis Schaeffer had on her life and worldview formation. This helps the reader to understand that worldview is not merely abstract, impersonal, and impractical, but rather, worldview is pivotal in determining the course of history and our personal lives. Worldview studies can easily come across as sterile and academic and Pearcey gave flesh to the world of ideas.   I also found her analysis of the rise of anti-intellectualism in evangelicalism to be very interesting and insightful. She shows how the strength of evangelicalism with its emphasis on primitivism and personal conversion experience is also its weakness since the movement has largely minimized history and scholarship. It became a movement that rendered religion a matter of individual experience with little or no cognitive content. Evangelicalism’s emphasis on personality and celebrity also weakened the movement by measuring success by impact and numbers rather than on virtue and faithfulness.   The only weaknesses I discerned were the length of the book and the lack of specific application in the last section. First, the length of the book is problematic to me because it’s a book that Christians need to read, but I’m afraid that most who attempt to will not endure to the end. Several times I found myself wondering why I was reading so much about the history of philosophy or the Intelligent Design movement or the history of evangelicalism that I had to remind myself that I was learning about the importance of cultivating a Christian worldview to overcome the two-story grid. It was all good and worthwhile reading, but I think the book would be more useful and more widely read it if was condensed some so that the big picture issues stay in focus.   The second weakness I found was the last section “What Next? Living it Out” was both too short and too redundant, but in different ways. What I found here was good counsel about being willing to count the cost and embrace suffering as part of Christian discipleship. Pearcey unpacked a theology of the cross for the believer using the “rejected, slain, raised” motif. She also gave wise counsel to avoid human means of accomplishing God’s work. Relying on marketing strategies and slick fund-raising tactics might produce results, but they will be human results. On this topic Pearcey was redundant as she rehearsed this point again and again. I also found it strange that she spent so much time on the need for ministry leaders to have integrity by not taking credit for the work of their subordinates, especially in writing projects. It seems she may have some personal grievances in this area since she drove it home so forcefully and it never occurred to me that this was such a huge problem before. She ended this section with good exhortation on the need for servant leadership in Christian ministries.   What I mean about this section being too short is that there is so much left unsaid about how to go about promoting worldview studies in our churches and ministries. I found myself asking, “Yes, but how?” This is a weakness not unique to Pearcey though. I have often thought how some Christian teachers and leaders spend so much time learning and teaching about a specific subject and so little in the trenches doing the work of the ministry that they often have little to suggest in the way of application.   There were a couple of things I found myself wanting to know more about, in addition to how to train and mobilize our churches, and those were in regards to the cultural mandate and how we might replicate Schaeffer’s approach to worldview training. In the first chapter of the book, Pearcey expounds on the cultural mandate she finds in Genesis. She develops this doctrine out of two phrases “be fruitful and multiply” and “subdue the earth.” From this she says that our vocation or professional work is the “high calling for which we were originally created” (47). I’m not necessarily disagreeing with Pearcey here, but I would like to know how the New Testament in general, and the Great Commission in particular, would relate to this cultural mandate. I also was fascinated by the apparent effectiveness of Schaeffer’s ministry at L’Abri and wish Pearcey would have explored for her readers how we might go about implementing a ministry today that would disciple the mind in a similar way.   All that said, I profited greatly from this book and recommend it heartily to every Christian who wants to understand the issues going on today with the culture wars and is concerned with being a part of the solution.

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