You nailed the dilemma and wrote it out for me, what I've been trying to piece together. Having read all 3 books mentioned here, I've been scratching my head to try and formulate the same questions you encapsulated in the two paragraphs about Tom Holland and Carl Trueman.
Thank you Nicholas, for this summary analysis: "This is why the book is so important. Trueman’s book will have us all squirreling away in caves, hiding from the evils of secularism. Whereas Holland’s narrative, alone, might have us naively strolling into our future, assuming we’re essentially on the same page as our pagan friends. Wilson’s book suggests a better way forward: because we live in a society of protestant pagans, we have ample materials to call the west back home. As we see the west’s impoverished version of protestantism cave in on itself, perhaps we can say, “There’s no need to eat with the pigs. Come on home.”
YES. This really clicks into place in my mind several moving parts, so thank you.
Isn’t the first “R” rich, not religious? But a great summary, and looks like a book to grab next! A bit different from the trad Catholic take on the American Revolution, that it leads to secularism only in a bad sense.
Halfway through the book, and I especially found chapter two fascinating, for the reasons you shared. Also, it’s just wild to me that Wilson is a pastor who has written books on SO many topics—theology, parenting/family life, children’s books, etc. The fact that he is able to write such an insightful book on history and culture is just remarkable. (Full disclosure: I work for the publisher of the book in a non-editorial role.)
I own the book but these days seem to make better progress with audio at 1.5 -2x. I’m only 37% finished but maybe speeding it up makes the voices even harder to follow. I do want to go back and read the paper pages pretty soon though - so much fascinating stuff there.
Oh man.
You nailed the dilemma and wrote it out for me, what I've been trying to piece together. Having read all 3 books mentioned here, I've been scratching my head to try and formulate the same questions you encapsulated in the two paragraphs about Tom Holland and Carl Trueman.
Thank you Nicholas, for this summary analysis: "This is why the book is so important. Trueman’s book will have us all squirreling away in caves, hiding from the evils of secularism. Whereas Holland’s narrative, alone, might have us naively strolling into our future, assuming we’re essentially on the same page as our pagan friends. Wilson’s book suggests a better way forward: because we live in a society of protestant pagans, we have ample materials to call the west back home. As we see the west’s impoverished version of protestantism cave in on itself, perhaps we can say, “There’s no need to eat with the pigs. Come on home.”
YES. This really clicks into place in my mind several moving parts, so thank you.
-Reuben
Excellent, very glad to hear that.
Isn’t the first “R” rich, not religious? But a great summary, and looks like a book to grab next! A bit different from the trad Catholic take on the American Revolution, that it leads to secularism only in a bad sense.
You’re right!
Halfway through the book, and I especially found chapter two fascinating, for the reasons you shared. Also, it’s just wild to me that Wilson is a pastor who has written books on SO many topics—theology, parenting/family life, children’s books, etc. The fact that he is able to write such an insightful book on history and culture is just remarkable. (Full disclosure: I work for the publisher of the book in a non-editorial role.)
Ask Jake Meador put it, it's annoying.
Ha! I just started listening to this book yesterday. That weird(er)!!
I liked listening to his voices for historical characters. Though it was hard to follow at times through audio
I own the book but these days seem to make better progress with audio at 1.5 -2x. I’m only 37% finished but maybe speeding it up makes the voices even harder to follow. I do want to go back and read the paper pages pretty soon though - so much fascinating stuff there.
This book sounds great! Thanks for the rec!
Guilty of the personality test...haha
The worst was the time I took one of those “which Disney prince are you” tests and I didn’t know it would auto share my results to Facebook
I don’t pass