Modern culture is obsessed with identity.

Since the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges' Supreme Court decision in 2015, the topic of sexual

identity has dominated both public discourse and cultural trends. Yet no historical phenomenon is its own cause. From St. Augustine to Karl

Marx, various views and perspectives have contributed to the modern understanding of the self.

In the rise and triumph of the modern self, historian Carl Truman analyzes the development

of the sexual revolution as a symptom rather than the cause of the human search for identity.

He surveys the past, brings clarity to the present, and gives guidance for the future as Christians navigate the culture in humanity's ever-changing quest for identity.

Today, we're pleased to share a special two-hour audio preview of the rise and triumph of the modern self by Carl Truman, right here on the

Crossway podcast. Let's get started. Introduction.

And worse I may be yet, the worst is not, so long as we can say this is the worst.

William Shakespeare, King Lear.

Why this book?

The origins of this book lie in my curiosity about how and why a particular statement

has come to be regarded as coherent and meaningful. I am a woman trapped in a man's body.

My grandfather died in 1994, less than 30 years ago, and yet had he ever heard that sentence uttered in his presence,

I have little doubt that he would have burst out laughing,

and considered it a piece of incoherent gibberish.

And yet today it is a sentence that many in our society regard as not only meaningful,

but so significant that to deny it or question it in some way is to reveal oneself

as stupid, immoral, or subject to yet another irrational phobia. And those who think of it as

meaningful are not restricted to the veterans of college seminars on queer theory or French post-structuralism.

They are ordinary people, with little or no direct knowledge of the critical post-modern

...