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Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes
Don't Think, Just Believe? That's the mantra in many circles today--whether the church, the classroom, the campus, or the voting booth.
Time for a Reality Check Nancy Pearcey, bestselling and critically acclaimed author, offers fresh tools to break free from presumed certainties and test them against reality. In Finding Truth , she explains five powerful principles that penetrate to the core of any worldview--secular or religious--to uncover its deepest motivations and weigh its claims.
A former agnostic, Pearcey demonstrates that a robust Christian worldview matches reality--that it is not only true but attractive, granting higher dignity to the human person than any alternative.
Finding Truth displays Pearcey's well-earned reputation for clear and cogent writing. She brings themes to life with personal stories and real-world examples. The book includes a study guide shaped by questions from readers, from teens to college professors. It is ideal for individual or group study.
Time for a Reality Check Nancy Pearcey, bestselling and critically acclaimed author, offers fresh tools to break free from presumed certainties and test them against reality. In Finding Truth , she explains five powerful principles that penetrate to the core of any worldview--secular or religious--to uncover its deepest motivations and weigh its claims.
A former agnostic, Pearcey demonstrates that a robust Christian worldview matches reality--that it is not only true but attractive, granting higher dignity to the human person than any alternative.
Finding Truth displays Pearcey's well-earned reputation for clear and cogent writing. She brings themes to life with personal stories and real-world examples. The book includes a study guide shaped by questions from readers, from teens to college professors. It is ideal for individual or group study.
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First published March 1, 2015
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About the author
Nancy R. Pearcey
29 books529 followersNancy Randolph Pearcey is the Francis A. Schaeffer Scholar at the World Journalism Institute, where she teaches a worldview course based on the study guide edition of Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity. In 2005, Total Truth won the ECPA Gold Medallion Award in the Christianity & Society category, in addition to an Award of Merit in the Christianity Today book awards.
A former agnostic, Pearcey studied violin in Heidelberg, Germany, in the early 1970s and then traveled to Switzerland to study Christian worldview under Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri Fellowship. After graduating from Iowa State University with a Distributed Studies degree (philosophy, German, music), she earned a master’s degree in Biblical Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, then pursued further graduate work in the history of philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto (with emphases on ancient and Reformational philosophy).
Pearcey is currently a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, where the focus of her work is on the cultural and philosophical implications of the evolution controversy. A frequent public lecturer, Pearcey has spoken to actors and screenwriters in Hollywood; students and faculty at universities such as Dartmouth, Stanford, USC, and Princeton; scientists at national labs such as Sandia and Los Alamos; staffers at Congress and the White House; and various activist and church groups around the country, including the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. She has appeared on NPR, and a lecture based on Total Truth was broadcast by C-SPAN.
She began writing in 1977 for the nationally distributed Bible-Science Newsletter, where for 13 years she wrote pioneering in-depth monthly articles on issues related to science and Christian worldview. In 1991 she became the founding editor of “BreakPoint,” a national daily radio commentary program, and continued as the program’s executive editor for nearly nine years, heading up a team of writers. Under her leadership, the program grew into an influential organ for teaching a Christian worldview perspective on current events, with an estimated weekly audience of five million. She was also policy director and senior fellow of the Wilberforce Forum, and for five years coauthored a monthly column in Christianity Today.
Pearcey has served as a visiting scholar at Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute, managing editor of the science journal Origins & Design, an editorial board member for Salem Communications Network, and a commentator on Public Square Radio. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including the Washington Times, Human Events, First Things, Books & Culture, World, Pro Rege, Human Life Review, American Enterprise, The World & I, Homeschool Enrichment, Christianity Today, and the Regent University Law Review.
Pearcey has authored or contributed to several works, including The Soul of Science, which treats the history of science and Christianity, and the bestselling, award-winning How Now Shall We Live? She was invited to contribute the Foreword in The Right Questions, as well as chapters in Mere Creation, Of Pandas and People, Pro-Life Feminism, Genetic Ethics, Signs of Intelligence, Reading God’s World, Uncommon Dissent, and a Phillip Johnson Festschrift titled Darwin’s Nemesis.
Pearcey resides in Northern Virginia, where she and her husband are homeschooling the second of their two sons.
A former agnostic, Pearcey studied violin in Heidelberg, Germany, in the early 1970s and then traveled to Switzerland to study Christian worldview under Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri Fellowship. After graduating from Iowa State University with a Distributed Studies degree (philosophy, German, music), she earned a master’s degree in Biblical Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, then pursued further graduate work in the history of philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto (with emphases on ancient and Reformational philosophy).
Pearcey is currently a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, where the focus of her work is on the cultural and philosophical implications of the evolution controversy. A frequent public lecturer, Pearcey has spoken to actors and screenwriters in Hollywood; students and faculty at universities such as Dartmouth, Stanford, USC, and Princeton; scientists at national labs such as Sandia and Los Alamos; staffers at Congress and the White House; and various activist and church groups around the country, including the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. She has appeared on NPR, and a lecture based on Total Truth was broadcast by C-SPAN.
She began writing in 1977 for the nationally distributed Bible-Science Newsletter, where for 13 years she wrote pioneering in-depth monthly articles on issues related to science and Christian worldview. In 1991 she became the founding editor of “BreakPoint,” a national daily radio commentary program, and continued as the program’s executive editor for nearly nine years, heading up a team of writers. Under her leadership, the program grew into an influential organ for teaching a Christian worldview perspective on current events, with an estimated weekly audience of five million. She was also policy director and senior fellow of the Wilberforce Forum, and for five years coauthored a monthly column in Christianity Today.
Pearcey has served as a visiting scholar at Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute, managing editor of the science journal Origins & Design, an editorial board member for Salem Communications Network, and a commentator on Public Square Radio. Her articles have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including the Washington Times, Human Events, First Things, Books & Culture, World, Pro Rege, Human Life Review, American Enterprise, The World & I, Homeschool Enrichment, Christianity Today, and the Regent University Law Review.
Pearcey has authored or contributed to several works, including The Soul of Science, which treats the history of science and Christianity, and the bestselling, award-winning How Now Shall We Live? She was invited to contribute the Foreword in The Right Questions, as well as chapters in Mere Creation, Of Pandas and People, Pro-Life Feminism, Genetic Ethics, Signs of Intelligence, Reading God’s World, Uncommon Dissent, and a Phillip Johnson Festschrift titled Darwin’s Nemesis.
Pearcey resides in Northern Virginia, where she and her husband are homeschooling the second of their two sons.
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March 9, 2015
This books claims that evolution, atheism and so on, are logically inconsistent and self-contradictory, going as far as to say these "theories commit suicide". Then the book goes on to marvel how selectively the people holding these ideas must wield their skepticism and rationality.
For those claims the book gives mind-numbingly wrong arguments.
For example this book takes on evolutionary epistemology: "The implication is that the ideas in our minds were selected for their survival value, not for their truth-value." So the popularity of an idea is not necessarily proportional to its truth value. In itself, this is not an unreasonable statement, a paraphrasing of the "bandwagon fallacy", "just because many people think it's true doesn't make it so".
But in the mind accustomed to objective morality, absolute truth and presupposition, this idea doesn't make popular ideas 'not necessarily true because they are popular', it makes them all false. By extension, it makes the idea of evolutionary epistemology false, and thus self-contradictory. I quote:
" it, too, was selected for survival, not truth -- which discredits its own claim to truth. Evolutionary epistemology commits suicide."
The same method is used to discredit the brain:
""Our highly developed brains, after all, were not evolved under the pressure of discovering scientific truths but only to enable us to be clever enough to survive." But that means Crick's own theory is not a "scientific truth." Applied to itself, the theory commits suicide."
No distinction is made on "not necessarily true" and "false". Ridiculous statements are being made, instead, like "If our cognitive capacities were simply evolved dispositions, there would be no way of knowing which of these capacities lead to true beliefs and which to false ones."
Of course there is a way of checking some beliefs. We have the scientific method of reducing bias by double blind experiments, repeatable results, peer review, for just that. You can't believe a spaceship to space. You can't believe a bridge design that spans more than a mile without collapsing. These are all checks with reality - and ways to find what matches reality, and what does not. We have tools, methods to trick the biased, but open minded human brain, preferably a lot of them to find each other's mistakes, into getting the correct answer.
But then again, this is not the goal of this book. It is here just to show how biased scientists and atheists are, to an already science-skeptic audience... and make a few bucks in the process.
For those claims the book gives mind-numbingly wrong arguments.
For example this book takes on evolutionary epistemology: "The implication is that the ideas in our minds were selected for their survival value, not for their truth-value." So the popularity of an idea is not necessarily proportional to its truth value. In itself, this is not an unreasonable statement, a paraphrasing of the "bandwagon fallacy", "just because many people think it's true doesn't make it so".
But in the mind accustomed to objective morality, absolute truth and presupposition, this idea doesn't make popular ideas 'not necessarily true because they are popular', it makes them all false. By extension, it makes the idea of evolutionary epistemology false, and thus self-contradictory. I quote:
" it, too, was selected for survival, not truth -- which discredits its own claim to truth. Evolutionary epistemology commits suicide."
The same method is used to discredit the brain:
""Our highly developed brains, after all, were not evolved under the pressure of discovering scientific truths but only to enable us to be clever enough to survive." But that means Crick's own theory is not a "scientific truth." Applied to itself, the theory commits suicide."
No distinction is made on "not necessarily true" and "false". Ridiculous statements are being made, instead, like "If our cognitive capacities were simply evolved dispositions, there would be no way of knowing which of these capacities lead to true beliefs and which to false ones."
Of course there is a way of checking some beliefs. We have the scientific method of reducing bias by double blind experiments, repeatable results, peer review, for just that. You can't believe a spaceship to space. You can't believe a bridge design that spans more than a mile without collapsing. These are all checks with reality - and ways to find what matches reality, and what does not. We have tools, methods to trick the biased, but open minded human brain, preferably a lot of them to find each other's mistakes, into getting the correct answer.
But then again, this is not the goal of this book. It is here just to show how biased scientists and atheists are, to an already science-skeptic audience... and make a few bucks in the process.
March 22, 2015
outstanding…
For the believer a way to approach the multiplicity of ideas without losing your mind ....a call to critical thinking.
For the believer a way to approach the multiplicity of ideas without losing your mind ....a call to critical thinking.
March 27, 2015
A book written and read for this culture that experiences the common grace of God however, we have become a culture that denies him. How can this be? How can we as Christians express the truth of God that are not “pie in the sky” answers to a world that denies His truth? Maybe you reading this and do not subscribe to a world view. However neutral we like ourselves to be, we do subscribe to some type of believe that is lived out.
Suppressing the truth spoken in Romans 1 still speaks to us today. Why do we suppress the truth? When faced with a living God we either humble ourselves or acknowledge him or we in fear, dread or plain pride deny Him. Another question that is addressed is do we have responsibility to the truth? How you answer this question can determine who you are, what you do and why you do it.
It is in our fallen nature that we hide from God and in hiding from God we create idolatry in our lives. It is idolatry the hidden sin that drives all other sins. (page 19)
We are given 5 steps to propose a biblical alternative to secular and pagan worldviews.
Identify the Idol-what or who is put before the worship of God.
Identify the Idol’s reductionism – always leads to a lower view of human life
Test the Idol: Does it contradict what we know about the world? - Does it go against reality? Applying a world view to its own standard of truth and does it commit suicide. Can it stand against its own truth?
Replace the Idol: Make the Case for Christianity
What is Christianity made of? Is it purely devotional or can we as Christians confidently engage the culture with the truth? The feel good Christianity will not sustain but how we are able to wrestle with the hard questions of Christianity will. In our quest to distinguish between good and evil without truth, we are unable to conquer evil. Our world view is our starting point of “truth”. Does it hold?
Nancy Pearcey shows how world views can keep us trapped. Jesus shared truth that when we seek him in truth, the truth will set us free. World view always sets us up in bondage.
Christianity provides the context to all world views.
I love this quote…
“My professor should not have let me off so easy. He should not have allowed me to walk out of his office thinking that Nietzsche had obliterated nineteen hundred years of Christian intellectual and moral accomplishment. He should have said something like this: Nietzsche was a brilliant, tormented genius who gave us the blueprint for spiritual disintegration and Hell on earth. He beat you up because you're weak, rebellious, and ignorant. Worse, you’re proud of it. Take your paper and write it again.”
Seeing the different world views and comparing it to how it identifies with idols, I can see how we think less of ourselves in light of that we are made in the image of God and by doing so, we do not value life and in by not valuing life, we devalue the things of God. We have a downfall of morals and by the same token, we can of a higher view of ourselves that we do not humble ourselves and become our own gods.
We are encouraged to help seekers to identify their own idols as a way to engage in the Gospel. It is in our idols where we become enslaved. History has shown that leaders promising liberation have instead enslaved because of the idols they worshipped. It is in a biblical worldview that we find true freedom and the rights of human life is honored.
So how do we test a world view in our everyday life? What questions do we ask ourselves? Does it fit reality? Does it match what we know about the world? Applying a world view to its own standard of truth does not
This is a two-fold book; it will give you confidence of a biblical world view and to be able to engage with others as you understand the weakness of other world views.
A special thank you to David C Cook and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
Suppressing the truth spoken in Romans 1 still speaks to us today. Why do we suppress the truth? When faced with a living God we either humble ourselves or acknowledge him or we in fear, dread or plain pride deny Him. Another question that is addressed is do we have responsibility to the truth? How you answer this question can determine who you are, what you do and why you do it.
It is in our fallen nature that we hide from God and in hiding from God we create idolatry in our lives. It is idolatry the hidden sin that drives all other sins. (page 19)
We are given 5 steps to propose a biblical alternative to secular and pagan worldviews.
Identify the Idol-what or who is put before the worship of God.
Identify the Idol’s reductionism – always leads to a lower view of human life
Test the Idol: Does it contradict what we know about the world? - Does it go against reality? Applying a world view to its own standard of truth and does it commit suicide. Can it stand against its own truth?
Replace the Idol: Make the Case for Christianity
What is Christianity made of? Is it purely devotional or can we as Christians confidently engage the culture with the truth? The feel good Christianity will not sustain but how we are able to wrestle with the hard questions of Christianity will. In our quest to distinguish between good and evil without truth, we are unable to conquer evil. Our world view is our starting point of “truth”. Does it hold?
Nancy Pearcey shows how world views can keep us trapped. Jesus shared truth that when we seek him in truth, the truth will set us free. World view always sets us up in bondage.
Christianity provides the context to all world views.
I love this quote…
“My professor should not have let me off so easy. He should not have allowed me to walk out of his office thinking that Nietzsche had obliterated nineteen hundred years of Christian intellectual and moral accomplishment. He should have said something like this: Nietzsche was a brilliant, tormented genius who gave us the blueprint for spiritual disintegration and Hell on earth. He beat you up because you're weak, rebellious, and ignorant. Worse, you’re proud of it. Take your paper and write it again.”
Seeing the different world views and comparing it to how it identifies with idols, I can see how we think less of ourselves in light of that we are made in the image of God and by doing so, we do not value life and in by not valuing life, we devalue the things of God. We have a downfall of morals and by the same token, we can of a higher view of ourselves that we do not humble ourselves and become our own gods.
We are encouraged to help seekers to identify their own idols as a way to engage in the Gospel. It is in our idols where we become enslaved. History has shown that leaders promising liberation have instead enslaved because of the idols they worshipped. It is in a biblical worldview that we find true freedom and the rights of human life is honored.
So how do we test a world view in our everyday life? What questions do we ask ourselves? Does it fit reality? Does it match what we know about the world? Applying a world view to its own standard of truth does not
This is a two-fold book; it will give you confidence of a biblical world view and to be able to engage with others as you understand the weakness of other world views.
A special thank you to David C Cook and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.
January 23, 2019
Finding Truth, by Nancy Pearcey is another fine contribution that deserves to be read. The author maintains with Romans 1–2 that all people have
Finding Truth is an essential toolbox for thinking Christians. Pearcey does a dual service for readers as she not only instructs readers to analyze and demolish competing worldviews (2 Cor. 10:5); she encourages readers to go deeper in the Christian faith which is informed by biblical reality and rock-solid facts. A more accurate description, however, would be a treasure chest. This is required reading which will only enrich one's Christian life and effectiveness in the marketplace of ideas!
baldreformer.wordpress.com
Finding Truth is an essential toolbox for thinking Christians. Pearcey does a dual service for readers as she not only instructs readers to analyze and demolish competing worldviews (2 Cor. 10:5); she encourages readers to go deeper in the Christian faith which is informed by biblical reality and rock-solid facts. A more accurate description, however, would be a treasure chest. This is required reading which will only enrich one's Christian life and effectiveness in the marketplace of ideas!
baldreformer.wordpress.com
February 10, 2017
Such a good book! The book lives up to its title and will help you realize flaws in arguments you hear from atheists and secularists. This book also made me worship as I contemplated God's sovereign design of the universe, and how any worldview that doesn't flow from His Word can't hold water.
Read a short summary I shared on my blog.
Read a short summary I shared on my blog.
September 5, 2015
As much a case for critical thinking in the church as it is an examination and critique of contrary worldviews. Fascinating background on movements and ideas that have shaped contemporary thought and a biblical approach to discerning and challenging them. Highly recommended!
July 12, 2022
Love how this was presuppositional (specifically Romans 1 is consistently used) and yet offers a clear defense for those in secular atmospheres. One of the best apologetic/philosophy books I have read on defending the faith :)
Read
March 9, 2016When I first came across Nancy Pearcey in 2007 it was through her ground breaking book Total Truth. At the time many were comparing her to Francis Schaeffer . . . and for good reasons. She had studied at L'Abri under Schaeffer and his influence on her appears to have left an indelible imprint upon her mind. When I finished reading Total Truth I came to the agonizing conclusion that this was a rare instance of a disciple being above her master. It's no exaggeration to say that I was agonizing over this. Though I had never studied under Schaeffer he taught me a lot about the world and how I ought to view it. He taught me to pursue truth above all else and that truth matters. These were all ideas that I had been taught from childhood by my Father so reading Schaeffer has always felt a bit like being home. Reading Nancy Pearcey gives me that same feeling of being at home. The reason for me putting her a notch above Schaeffer in my list of favorites is simple: Pearcey shares the same penetrating insight of Schaeffer but with a much smoother delivery.
Finding Truth is her latest book published a year ago and it was pleasantly familiar. This time, Pearcey has taken it to the next level by writing a book designed to help the average person deconstruct any unbiblical worldview. Using Romans 1 as her outline, she demonstrates an apologetic that I can only describe as compassionate presuppositionalism with soul. It's presuppositional because it starts with scripture as the baseline for truth and assumes that any contrary truth claim is a deviation from biblical truth. It's compassionate because, unlike so many apologists, Pearcey comes across as having a genuine love for those held captive by falsehood. There's no pretense in her writing which you find so often when reading the presuppositionalists. Finally, her approach to apologetics has soul because, as you read through the pages of Finding Truth, you can't help but realize that she isn't writing from the vantage point of a casual observer but has had real world experiences that have shaped and influenced who she is and the way in which she writes.
To avoid rehashing the entire book (which I could easily do because I get excited when writing about this) I'll simply say that her approach looks at five key principles found in Romans 1 which demonstrate that any deviation from truth is idolatry and that the error can be exposed for what it is by fully understanding what Paul is describing.
Those familiar with Pearcey will be delighted to know that she takes the reader on one of her magical tours of philosophy to expose the origin of those beliefs that we subconsciously hold. This is where she shines the brightest in my opinion. The book is full of useful citations and includes a very practical study guide that readers will find useful a they read through the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who truly desires to see those captives set free from their attachment to the empty deceit found in so much of the philosophy and world view of our time.This book will be extremely useful for those about to enter college or for a part a homeschool curriculum for those in their final year. I would also recommend this for anyone who has an interest in apologetics and is wanting more than a way to win an argument. I wouldn't hesitate to grab this book first if your church or small group is interested in doing a study on apologetics.
Click here to purchase a copy of Finding Truth on Christian Books or Here to Search the Best Price on Amazon
This review first appeared on my blog at http://www.teleiaphilia.com/
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from David C. Cook in exchange for an online review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Finding Truth is her latest book published a year ago and it was pleasantly familiar. This time, Pearcey has taken it to the next level by writing a book designed to help the average person deconstruct any unbiblical worldview. Using Romans 1 as her outline, she demonstrates an apologetic that I can only describe as compassionate presuppositionalism with soul. It's presuppositional because it starts with scripture as the baseline for truth and assumes that any contrary truth claim is a deviation from biblical truth. It's compassionate because, unlike so many apologists, Pearcey comes across as having a genuine love for those held captive by falsehood. There's no pretense in her writing which you find so often when reading the presuppositionalists. Finally, her approach to apologetics has soul because, as you read through the pages of Finding Truth, you can't help but realize that she isn't writing from the vantage point of a casual observer but has had real world experiences that have shaped and influenced who she is and the way in which she writes.
To avoid rehashing the entire book (which I could easily do because I get excited when writing about this) I'll simply say that her approach looks at five key principles found in Romans 1 which demonstrate that any deviation from truth is idolatry and that the error can be exposed for what it is by fully understanding what Paul is describing.
Those familiar with Pearcey will be delighted to know that she takes the reader on one of her magical tours of philosophy to expose the origin of those beliefs that we subconsciously hold. This is where she shines the brightest in my opinion. The book is full of useful citations and includes a very practical study guide that readers will find useful a they read through the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who truly desires to see those captives set free from their attachment to the empty deceit found in so much of the philosophy and world view of our time.This book will be extremely useful for those about to enter college or for a part a homeschool curriculum for those in their final year. I would also recommend this for anyone who has an interest in apologetics and is wanting more than a way to win an argument. I wouldn't hesitate to grab this book first if your church or small group is interested in doing a study on apologetics.
Click here to purchase a copy of Finding Truth on Christian Books or Here to Search the Best Price on Amazon
This review first appeared on my blog at http://www.teleiaphilia.com/
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from David C. Cook in exchange for an online review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
April 27, 2019
Pearcey, Nancy. Finding Truth. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2015.
Remember James Sire’s The Universe Next Door? This is an updated version of that. It’s a much better version. It responds to current challenges (materialism) with updated scholarship. It’s not a stand alone book. While Pearcey gives good suggestions on how to collapse worldviews, you need to spend a lot of time studying the primary sources and leading monographs. You just do.
Following Roy Clouser, Pearcey argues that “the divine” is at the root of one’s system. In other words, everyone has a religious commitment. It just might not be a personal deity. This idol or commitment can be something you use to explain the rest of the world (Forms, physics, etc.).
The Greeks: everything began as a chaotic primeval substance. This is the arche.
Marxism: economic determinism. Humans are defined by how they relate to matter (72).
Pearcey outlines 5 principles in the worldview discussion.
Principle #1: Twilight of the Gods--Identify the Idol
Principle #2: How Nietzsche Wins
Turn reductionisms back upon themselves
* How does consciousness emerge from matter? Simply saying “emergentism” doesn’t answer the question (108ff). Mental states are precisely not like physical states. A rose is prickly. My thought about a rose is not. Mental states, further, are always *about* something.
For the coup de gras, Pearcey quotes the pious and right-thinking Thomas Reid: “we may call this metaphysical lunacy.”
Principle #3: Secular Leaps of Faith
Principle #4: Why Worldviews Commit Suicide
Principle #5: Freeloading Atheists
Pearcey has some good suggestions on dealing with teens and young adults who have “left the faith.” If they didn’t leave because they are sexually loose or angry at their parents, they probably left because “the Church couldn’t answer their questions.” At this point start asking them which god they believe in. Press them on epistemology. More often than not, they haven’t thought these things through. If they are now “captain of their souls,” and if “man is the measure of all things,” start measuring. How do you account for justified, true belief?
July 2, 2017
Nancy Pearcey has written several books now, all making the case that Christian faith is not, nor should it ever be a "leap of faith." Pearcey, like Francis Schaeffer, whose L'Abri was so formative in her thinking, strives to help Christians find the intellectual foundation for Christianity that too many doubt exists.
"Finding Truth" is primarily about finding the inconsistencies in non-biblical worldviews. She writes, "Finding Truth argues that no secular worldview adequately accounts for the phenomena of man and the cosmos—what we know of human nature and physical nature. For these worldviews see only a slice of reality and then try to direct human beings into measuring themselves by that narrow slice and living accordingly."
The book is very similar to Voddie Baucham's "Expository Apologetics" in that it teaches its reader on how to expose the inconsistencies and inadequacies in unchristian worldviews.
She writes, "At some point, every idol-based worldview contradicts reality. This creates an opportunity to make a positive case for Christianity. Because it is not reductionistic, it does not dismiss important parts of human experience as illusions. It does not create a gap or dichotomy in thinking. It does not lead to cognitive dissonance. Instead Christianity is total truth—consistent, coherent, and comprehensive. It can be lived out in the real worldview without contradicting our most basic human experience."
The book has many important things to say, and is well written and engaging. There isn't necessarily a lot of new ground broken in this work, that hasn't been written elsewhere, as I said, it is very similar to other books, even her own. But those who have not read her other books, or books on the same ideas, will find much value here.
"Finding Truth" is primarily about finding the inconsistencies in non-biblical worldviews. She writes, "Finding Truth argues that no secular worldview adequately accounts for the phenomena of man and the cosmos—what we know of human nature and physical nature. For these worldviews see only a slice of reality and then try to direct human beings into measuring themselves by that narrow slice and living accordingly."
The book is very similar to Voddie Baucham's "Expository Apologetics" in that it teaches its reader on how to expose the inconsistencies and inadequacies in unchristian worldviews.
She writes, "At some point, every idol-based worldview contradicts reality. This creates an opportunity to make a positive case for Christianity. Because it is not reductionistic, it does not dismiss important parts of human experience as illusions. It does not create a gap or dichotomy in thinking. It does not lead to cognitive dissonance. Instead Christianity is total truth—consistent, coherent, and comprehensive. It can be lived out in the real worldview without contradicting our most basic human experience."
The book has many important things to say, and is well written and engaging. There isn't necessarily a lot of new ground broken in this work, that hasn't been written elsewhere, as I said, it is very similar to other books, even her own. But those who have not read her other books, or books on the same ideas, will find much value here.
May 29, 2025
I cannot recommend this book enough. It is SO GOOD! We read and discussed it in our homeschool and learned so much.
Nancy Pearcey lays out five principles for unmasking the different worldviews by which people live and demonstrates how each one fails to account for all of human experience. By choosing to believe in a limited worldview, a person experiences cognitive dissonance in their life: since their worldview doesn’t account for all of their experience, they must borrow from the Christian worldview to complete the circuit. For example, a person claims they are an atheist, yet thinks it is unjust when someone steals their property. Justice is not an atheistic ideal, it is a Christian one.
“It is a serious mistake for Christian parents, teachers, or churches to dismiss young people's doubts and questions, or to think they can be overridden merely by cultivating a more intense devotional life. Because we are created in God's image, we are all endowed with a mind and a natural urge to make sense of life.”
Nancy Pearcey lays out five principles for unmasking the different worldviews by which people live and demonstrates how each one fails to account for all of human experience. By choosing to believe in a limited worldview, a person experiences cognitive dissonance in their life: since their worldview doesn’t account for all of their experience, they must borrow from the Christian worldview to complete the circuit. For example, a person claims they are an atheist, yet thinks it is unjust when someone steals their property. Justice is not an atheistic ideal, it is a Christian one.
“It is a serious mistake for Christian parents, teachers, or churches to dismiss young people's doubts and questions, or to think they can be overridden merely by cultivating a more intense devotional life. Because we are created in God's image, we are all endowed with a mind and a natural urge to make sense of life.”
May 22, 2019
Extremely practical! I listened to the audio version and I think I need to buy a physical copy and follow the study guide.
June 26, 2020
Nancy Pearcey is one of those authors the breadth and depth of whose research is simply astounding. It would take me five lifetimes to read the books and authors she cites in Finding Truth.
The modern evangelical church (in general—there are exceptions) has not done well in dealing with the honest skepticism of young adults. Rather than being eager to field tough questions and face intellectual challenges, it seems we have become fearful of them—perhaps even intolerant of hearing them. Nancy Pearcey shows us how to recover the honest intellectual punch that Christianity actually possesses to interact fruitfully with non-Christian worldviews and belief systems.
Pearcey assembles a methodology in five principles by which alternate worldviews can be examined and then respectfully but firmly repudiated. The first principle is Identify the Idol. All non-biblical worldviews have some sort of starting point—some faith-based assumption on which the rest of their worldview is built. Some God-substitute (inevitably, a limited part of creation) is elevated to ultimate or divine status.
The second principle is Identify the Idol’s Reductionism, and it is based on the fact that “when an idol absolutizes some part of creation, everything else must be explained in terms of that one limited part” [98]. The result dehumanizes people. “When we define God as a something instead of a Someone, we will tend to treat humans as somethings too” [98, emphasis original]
Principle three is to Test the Idol: Does It Contradict What We Know about the World? I once heard Dr. Bill Edgar (Westminster Seminary) describe a similar approach as climbing inside someone else’s worldview and taking it out for a spin, to see if it works. News Flash: it won’t. No one can live consistently with an idolatrous worldview—at some point their life will contradict their professed belief.
The next principle is more philosophical: Test the Idol: Does It Contradict Itself. Pearcey walks through a number of worldviews and unmasks the fact that they are internally inconsistent and self-refuting. For instance, she takes aim at logical positivism:
What happened, though, when the test of logical positivism was applied to itself? Its central claim was that statements are meaningful only if they are empirically testable. But is that statement empirically testable? Of course not. It is not an empirical observation. It is a metaphysical rule—an arbitrary definition of what qualifies as knowledge. Thus when the criterion of logical positivism was applied to itself, it was discredited. It stood self-condemned. [185]
The final step is Replace the Idol: Make the Case for Christianity. One of the ways she makes the case is to help people understand that other worldviews are free-loading on Christian principles, most frequently Christian morals. They are assuming Christian principles, but have no logical support from their own worldview to do so. In her words, “You might say they function as if Christianity is true” [220, emphasis original]. Her point is to gently confront the individual by showing them their ethics cannot arise out of their worldview, but only out of a Christian one.
The clarity of Pearcey’s writing, the extensive use she makes of the books and statements of non-Christian thinkers, and the comprehensive documentation of all her points and citations makes this book an invaluable resource. Highly recommended—five stars.
The modern evangelical church (in general—there are exceptions) has not done well in dealing with the honest skepticism of young adults. Rather than being eager to field tough questions and face intellectual challenges, it seems we have become fearful of them—perhaps even intolerant of hearing them. Nancy Pearcey shows us how to recover the honest intellectual punch that Christianity actually possesses to interact fruitfully with non-Christian worldviews and belief systems.
Pearcey assembles a methodology in five principles by which alternate worldviews can be examined and then respectfully but firmly repudiated. The first principle is Identify the Idol. All non-biblical worldviews have some sort of starting point—some faith-based assumption on which the rest of their worldview is built. Some God-substitute (inevitably, a limited part of creation) is elevated to ultimate or divine status.
The second principle is Identify the Idol’s Reductionism, and it is based on the fact that “when an idol absolutizes some part of creation, everything else must be explained in terms of that one limited part” [98]. The result dehumanizes people. “When we define God as a something instead of a Someone, we will tend to treat humans as somethings too” [98, emphasis original]
Principle three is to Test the Idol: Does It Contradict What We Know about the World? I once heard Dr. Bill Edgar (Westminster Seminary) describe a similar approach as climbing inside someone else’s worldview and taking it out for a spin, to see if it works. News Flash: it won’t. No one can live consistently with an idolatrous worldview—at some point their life will contradict their professed belief.
The next principle is more philosophical: Test the Idol: Does It Contradict Itself. Pearcey walks through a number of worldviews and unmasks the fact that they are internally inconsistent and self-refuting. For instance, she takes aim at logical positivism:
What happened, though, when the test of logical positivism was applied to itself? Its central claim was that statements are meaningful only if they are empirically testable. But is that statement empirically testable? Of course not. It is not an empirical observation. It is a metaphysical rule—an arbitrary definition of what qualifies as knowledge. Thus when the criterion of logical positivism was applied to itself, it was discredited. It stood self-condemned. [185]
The final step is Replace the Idol: Make the Case for Christianity. One of the ways she makes the case is to help people understand that other worldviews are free-loading on Christian principles, most frequently Christian morals. They are assuming Christian principles, but have no logical support from their own worldview to do so. In her words, “You might say they function as if Christianity is true” [220, emphasis original]. Her point is to gently confront the individual by showing them their ethics cannot arise out of their worldview, but only out of a Christian one.
The clarity of Pearcey’s writing, the extensive use she makes of the books and statements of non-Christian thinkers, and the comprehensive documentation of all her points and citations makes this book an invaluable resource. Highly recommended—five stars.
August 14, 2020
Joelle Reads Her Bookcase #36
After reading "No Little Women", I picked up this book with a skeptical frame of mind. However, Pearcey is solid with what she writes, and this book is an asset for every Christian. She approaches each point from the basis of Scripture, and is clear that the only revelation we need comes from Scripture. Arguing that we shouldn't insulate ourselves from different worldviews and philosophies, Pearcey shows how to understand why they are nothing more than copies of the very Biblical worldview they try so hard to refute. As Christians, questions shouldn't scare us; we should ask them, and we should welcome the ones that are posed to us. We have the ability to find all the answers we need, but it is our responsibility to diligently seek the truth. It is also important that we be able to articulate the truth, for we were intelligently created, and there is no shame in proving our design.
After reading "No Little Women", I picked up this book with a skeptical frame of mind. However, Pearcey is solid with what she writes, and this book is an asset for every Christian. She approaches each point from the basis of Scripture, and is clear that the only revelation we need comes from Scripture. Arguing that we shouldn't insulate ourselves from different worldviews and philosophies, Pearcey shows how to understand why they are nothing more than copies of the very Biblical worldview they try so hard to refute. As Christians, questions shouldn't scare us; we should ask them, and we should welcome the ones that are posed to us. We have the ability to find all the answers we need, but it is our responsibility to diligently seek the truth. It is also important that we be able to articulate the truth, for we were intelligently created, and there is no shame in proving our design.
July 1, 2022
This was truly a very important for every Christian to read. I read "Total Truth" a few years ago by the same author. It also is an important book. This book present the Biblical, Christian worldview and shows how it is so much more logical consistent than the other popular world views of our day.
I highly recommend this books to all Christians, especially those who have teenage and college children who are going to be confronted with so many secular worldviews.
I highly recommend this books to all Christians, especially those who have teenage and college children who are going to be confronted with so many secular worldviews.
July 13, 2016
This is one of the finest books on Christian apologetics available today. It's great because it teaches the reader how to identify false worldviews. It is not a compendium of various arguments for the existence of God, or defenses of various attacks launched at Christianity. If you want solid books that offer such things, you may want to read Tim Keller's The Reason for God or Douglas Groothuis's Christian Apologetics. Here, Pearcey provides five principles for how to counter false worldviews.
The five principles are: One, identify the idol. In this book, Pearcey takes down philosophical idols, various -isms like naturalism, relativism, Marxism, postmodernism, and so forth. Two, identify the idol's reductionism. In other words, how does the false worldview try to reduce reality. In the case of material naturalism, anything material and supernatural is excluded. So the description of reality is reduced to matter. That naturally excludes God, the soul, spiritual longings, and other important matters. Three, test the idol: does it contradict what we know about the world? If the worldview is a box and reality is a physical item, something of reality is going to be left hanging outside the box. Something important to our lives will not be included in a false worldview. Or, more obviously, something important to our lives will be denied by the false worldview, and therefore the false worldview isn't livable. Example: if we are the products of a deterministic, impersonal, and unintelligent process of evolution, then we shouldn't expect to have conscious thought and any variety of free will. But we do have these things. Therefore, any system of belief that rules out such realities is false. Four, test the idol: does the idol contradict itself? Are there internal contradictions within the false worldview? (If someone claims there is no such thing as truth, they are trying to make a true statement. They are therefore exempting themselves from their sweeping statement. But the statement as it stands is a self-referential absurdity. If there is no truth, then the statement that there is no truth isn't true, which means there is truth. That reminds of a conversation I once had a with a "progressive" Christian who said that "in the West" we put too much emphasis on our theological opinions. I didn't say much at the time, but later I realized I should have asked him, "Is that your opinion?") Five, replace the idol: make the case for Christianity. Show how the non-Christian is actually free-loading off of the Christian worldview. Show how the Christian worldview provides a grounding for belief in things that matter to us.
This book is written clearly so that those who have little prior philosophical training can make sense of it. It's an improvement on Pearcey's Total Truth, which had some flaws. I highly recommend it.
The five principles are: One, identify the idol. In this book, Pearcey takes down philosophical idols, various -isms like naturalism, relativism, Marxism, postmodernism, and so forth. Two, identify the idol's reductionism. In other words, how does the false worldview try to reduce reality. In the case of material naturalism, anything material and supernatural is excluded. So the description of reality is reduced to matter. That naturally excludes God, the soul, spiritual longings, and other important matters. Three, test the idol: does it contradict what we know about the world? If the worldview is a box and reality is a physical item, something of reality is going to be left hanging outside the box. Something important to our lives will not be included in a false worldview. Or, more obviously, something important to our lives will be denied by the false worldview, and therefore the false worldview isn't livable. Example: if we are the products of a deterministic, impersonal, and unintelligent process of evolution, then we shouldn't expect to have conscious thought and any variety of free will. But we do have these things. Therefore, any system of belief that rules out such realities is false. Four, test the idol: does the idol contradict itself? Are there internal contradictions within the false worldview? (If someone claims there is no such thing as truth, they are trying to make a true statement. They are therefore exempting themselves from their sweeping statement. But the statement as it stands is a self-referential absurdity. If there is no truth, then the statement that there is no truth isn't true, which means there is truth. That reminds of a conversation I once had a with a "progressive" Christian who said that "in the West" we put too much emphasis on our theological opinions. I didn't say much at the time, but later I realized I should have asked him, "Is that your opinion?") Five, replace the idol: make the case for Christianity. Show how the non-Christian is actually free-loading off of the Christian worldview. Show how the Christian worldview provides a grounding for belief in things that matter to us.
This book is written clearly so that those who have little prior philosophical training can make sense of it. It's an improvement on Pearcey's Total Truth, which had some flaws. I highly recommend it.
June 9, 2020
Where Van Til and Bahnsen are the philosophy reads behind presuppositional apologetics, Pearcey is the application portion. As of the date of this review, this is probably the most up to date writing on the topic and includes a lot of current issues. If you've read anything by Francis Schaeffer, you'll get a taste of him in this writing.
Pearcey has a very simple and well thought out process using Romans 1 to witness to people on a presuppositional/worldview level. Her theory is sound and her examples are numerous and well explained. This isn't going to go over someone's head but some effort will have to be put into the process.
Only a few times did I have to question her conclusions however they were more on the level of jumping to certain conclusions without proving them first.
Pearcey provides accurate counter-Christian worldviews and quotes some very interesting quotes from scholars on the other side.
I would still say that Dr. Jason Lisle's book "Ultimate Proof of Creation" is the best primer for presup./worldview apologetics. I would say "Finding Truth" would be an excellent follow up. Since both use Bahnsen as their basis, they overlap each other quite nicely.
I still have yet to see an argument that goes against presuppositional/worldview apologetics and Pearcey provides even more tools for a biblical Christian to use.
Pearcey has a very simple and well thought out process using Romans 1 to witness to people on a presuppositional/worldview level. Her theory is sound and her examples are numerous and well explained. This isn't going to go over someone's head but some effort will have to be put into the process.
Only a few times did I have to question her conclusions however they were more on the level of jumping to certain conclusions without proving them first.
Pearcey provides accurate counter-Christian worldviews and quotes some very interesting quotes from scholars on the other side.
I would still say that Dr. Jason Lisle's book "Ultimate Proof of Creation" is the best primer for presup./worldview apologetics. I would say "Finding Truth" would be an excellent follow up. Since both use Bahnsen as their basis, they overlap each other quite nicely.
I still have yet to see an argument that goes against presuppositional/worldview apologetics and Pearcey provides even more tools for a biblical Christian to use.
June 21, 2020
A fantastic book of Christian apologetics and one to buy for family, friends or any genuine truth seekers. Nancy offers a number of simple principles, which can highlight the idolatrous folly in any worldview not beginning and ending in Christ, The Logos.
Pearcey describes and prophetically critiques various forms of materialism, Islam, New-Age spiritualities and much else besides. I spent much more time than usual highlighting and taking notes, as Nancy took down the naivety of new atheism and floundering pretentions of postmodernism through their own literature.
Pearcey describes and prophetically critiques various forms of materialism, Islam, New-Age spiritualities and much else besides. I spent much more time than usual highlighting and taking notes, as Nancy took down the naivety of new atheism and floundering pretentions of postmodernism through their own literature.
January 7, 2021
كتاب لطيف، يسّر فيه الرد على الملاحدة، وفك عقد الحجج المنطقية بأسلوب سهل.
يعاب عليه جهله بالإسلام ومن ثَم تعصبه ضده، وربما العكس!
حاولت الكاتبة نقض كل فلسفة من داخلها.
يعاب عليه جهله بالإسلام ومن ثَم تعصبه ضده، وربما العكس!
حاولت الكاتبة نقض كل فلسفة من داخلها.
November 23, 2023
Easy, easy five stars. This book has been added to the shortlist of books I want to make sure my children read before leaving my home.
It is not an EASY read; Nancy Pearcey is brilliant at presenting concepts simply, but the concepts themselves are complex. I would recommend for upper high school, and I think some introduction to philosophy and worldview ahead of time would make it easier for students to engage with the ideas presented.
Essentially, Pearcey applies a Romans 1 paradigm of analyzing worldviews to demonstrate that every worldview that rejects the biblical God elevates something else to his place as the prime reality. In so doing, they degrade everything else, for nothing can transcend whatever has been appointed as the prime reality - not even humanity, who are thus always subject to reductionism and dehumanization.
Pearcey shows how each one of these idol-based worldviews tries to fit the entirety of the universe into a smaller box than it requires, and thus, some part always “sticks out” - for example, the idea of free will, which materialism has no place for, but which each of us feels keenly and instinctively, and without which society really cannot function. These parts that “stick out” are usually denigrated by those who hold the idol-based worldview as imaginary or unreal, but they are in fact testimonies of general revelation that point to the reality of the biblical God.
Finally, Pearcey shows how many people who hold idol-based worldviews “borrow” elements from a biblical worldview (ideas such as free will, the value of the human person, objective morality, the trustworthiness of reason, and mankind’s ability to KNOW anything at all), whether consciously or not, in order to make their own lives livable, thus creating an irreconcilable conflict between what they profess and how they actually live in everyday life. Their need to do so, in turn, testifies that the biblical worldview is a reliable picture of reality.
The author walks the readers through a number of examples, showing how these principles play out in practice. A study guide and even a sample test included at the end make this material easy to use as an independent curriculum or in a classroom or group setting.
Highly recommended. I think this would be an incredibly helpful book for any student to read and engage with before going off to college or even just plunging into the chaotic marketplace of ideas that is the adult world.
It is not an EASY read; Nancy Pearcey is brilliant at presenting concepts simply, but the concepts themselves are complex. I would recommend for upper high school, and I think some introduction to philosophy and worldview ahead of time would make it easier for students to engage with the ideas presented.
Essentially, Pearcey applies a Romans 1 paradigm of analyzing worldviews to demonstrate that every worldview that rejects the biblical God elevates something else to his place as the prime reality. In so doing, they degrade everything else, for nothing can transcend whatever has been appointed as the prime reality - not even humanity, who are thus always subject to reductionism and dehumanization.
Pearcey shows how each one of these idol-based worldviews tries to fit the entirety of the universe into a smaller box than it requires, and thus, some part always “sticks out” - for example, the idea of free will, which materialism has no place for, but which each of us feels keenly and instinctively, and without which society really cannot function. These parts that “stick out” are usually denigrated by those who hold the idol-based worldview as imaginary or unreal, but they are in fact testimonies of general revelation that point to the reality of the biblical God.
Finally, Pearcey shows how many people who hold idol-based worldviews “borrow” elements from a biblical worldview (ideas such as free will, the value of the human person, objective morality, the trustworthiness of reason, and mankind’s ability to KNOW anything at all), whether consciously or not, in order to make their own lives livable, thus creating an irreconcilable conflict between what they profess and how they actually live in everyday life. Their need to do so, in turn, testifies that the biblical worldview is a reliable picture of reality.
The author walks the readers through a number of examples, showing how these principles play out in practice. A study guide and even a sample test included at the end make this material easy to use as an independent curriculum or in a classroom or group setting.
Highly recommended. I think this would be an incredibly helpful book for any student to read and engage with before going off to college or even just plunging into the chaotic marketplace of ideas that is the adult world.
January 14, 2021
Pearcey tests idol-based worldviews such as Postmodernism and Atheism showing how they fail to live up to a holistic, life-affirming view and shows how the Christian worldview is not only not limiting but big enough to answer the hard questions of life with sustainable Truth. This book is indispensable for the Christian seeking to live a confident faith in today’s culture.
January 19, 2023
Fantastic book with simple principles for understanding the foundation of ideas. We don't often think about where ideas originate from or how to evaluate them, but Pearcey helps us do just that. She argues for the superiority of the Christian worldview to all other conceptions of the world with winsomeness and persuasiveness.
January 20, 2020
Wow
This book reminds me how powerful apologetics can be at fostering faith. I’m astounded by the explanatory power of Christianity to the individual as well as to society. I have always known about Nancy Pearce, but somehow never read anything by her until now. This is a definite must for someone looking to explore the strong foundations for Christianity.
This book reminds me how powerful apologetics can be at fostering faith. I’m astounded by the explanatory power of Christianity to the individual as well as to society. I have always known about Nancy Pearce, but somehow never read anything by her until now. This is a definite must for someone looking to explore the strong foundations for Christianity.
March 29, 2020
Descubriendo la Verdad en medio de nuestra generación
Una de las cosas q todo cristiano necesita es discernir los tiempos y estar asentados en la Verdad. Nancy Pearce nos ayuda a tener herramientas para desenmascarar las filosofías reinantes que se oponen a la Verdad de Dios.
Una de las cosas q todo cristiano necesita es discernir los tiempos y estar asentados en la Verdad. Nancy Pearce nos ayuda a tener herramientas para desenmascarar las filosofías reinantes que se oponen a la Verdad de Dios.
November 2, 2019
4.5 Stars. A good thought provoking book.
January 26, 2024
excellent book that uses Romans 1 to identify other worldviews and to critically analyze them! Christianity truly makes sense of all of reality.
April 17, 2017
The following sentence made me laugh because it rings so true: He allows us to live out the consequences of our idols in order to intensify the cognitive dissonance ( the mental stress of harboring concepts that contradict one another) ultimately to press us to the point of making a decision.
Wonderfully informative and timely.
Wonderfully informative and timely.
February 5, 2023
Nancy Pearcey, a former agnostic, writes “Finding Truth” with a heart to walk alongside those who are questioning faith. “Finding Truth” is Pearcey’s attempt to demonstrate the flaws in a materialist, determinist, or relativist worldview and demonstrate the believability of the Christian faith.
Pearcey utilizes five principles to demonstrate how all non-Christian philosophies are unsatisfactory. The final three of these are probably the most important: demonstrating the leaps of faith these philosophies take; demonstrating how these philosophies fall in on themselves; and demonstrating how these philosophies borrow from Christianity.
She begins, “Materialists thereby deny the reality of mind (while they use their minds to advance materialism), determinists deny the reality of human choice (while they choose determinism), and relativists deny the fact of right and wrong (while they judge you if you disagree).”
One issue is how the earth is so precisely fine-tuned for life. This Goldilocks dilemma ought to make one pause as there is no cause one can point to explain it. Similar questions remain for the coding of our DNA. Pearcey concludes that, “The existence of personal beings constitutes evidence that they were created by a personal God, not by any non-personal cause.” From this she draws these conclusions, “Because humans are capable of knowing, the first cause that produced them must have a mind. Because humans are capable of choosing, the first cause must have a will. And so on.” And again, “Philosopher Étienne Gilson captures the argument neatly: because a human is a someone and not a something, the source of human life must be also a Someone.”
Pearcey believes the Christian doctrine of sin is a powerful explanation for the distortion and not-rightness in the world we all experience.
Pearcey similarly believes that the human conviction of freedom is an ever-present challenge to materialistic determinism. As the philosopher Searle says, “we can’t just give it up. If we tried to, we couldn’t live with it.” Pearcey notes, “It is ironic that people who reject Christianity—who think that without God they can finally be free—end up with philosophies that deny human freedom.”
Pearcey’s book is a great starting place to understand some of the basic schools of contemporary philosophy. She gives credit to each school for understanding a part of the whole. “Rationalism gets something right because God did create the world with a rationally knowable structure.” “Empiricism gets some things right because God did create a world with a sensory dimension, and he equipped humans with their five senses.” “Romanticism was right to oppose Enlightenment worldviews that reduce humans to complex mechanisms. It was right to assert human freedom and creativity.”
Pearcey points out that contemporary ethics all flow from a Christian fountainhead. But one cannot arise at the ethical principles without the source. She shares, “it can often be effective to walk people through the implications of their worldview to show that it provides no basis for their own highest moral and humanitarian ideals.” “Postmodernism gets some things right. It has done good service in countering the lonely individualism of the Enlightenment’s autonomous self.”
She deploys the analogy of a two story building: the physical universe being the lower story and the upper story being the moral and spiritual story. One cannot demolish the second story and then maintain the same ethics.
Pearcey explains how Christianity speaks to the truths founds in the various streams of contemporary philosophy. “Christianity offers an answer that is surprising and unique. It teaches that the human race was created in the image of a God who is a tri-unity—three Persons so intimately related as to constitute one Godhead. God’s own nature consists in reciprocal love and communication among the Persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit). Both the one and the many, both individuality and relationship, exist within the divine nature.” She continues, “Against postmodernism’s dissolution of the self, the Trinity implies the dignity of the individual self.”
Pearcey admonishes Christians to not just pull down the empty philosophies this world has to offer, but to offer something better. She says, “As we topple idols, it is imperative that we replace it with something better.” She suggests that, “Christianity imparts greater value to the material realm than any version of materialism.” And, “To counter empiricism, Christians can show that a biblical worldview offers a better basis for trusting our senses.” She continues, “To counter rationalism, we can show that Christianity honors human rationality as part of the image of God.” And finally, “To counter postmodernism, Christianity offers an even more radical insight into the contingency of human knowledge.”
Pearcey encourages Christians to be thoughtful listeners. “One of the best ways to craft biblical answers is to listen more closely to the questions.” “No matter how skeptical someone is, some things are virtually impossible to doubt—at least in practice.”
Pearcey believes that Christians can be confident. The truth is satisfying in the way the world’s philosophies will never be. Rorty “cheerfully admits that he reaches over and borrows the concept of universal rights from Christianity.” Further, “We could say that humanists do not want to live within the confines of their own materialist box. So they smuggle in ladders from a Christian worldview to climb out of the box.”
My only minor critique with “Finding Truth” is that Pearcey doesn’t properly navigate the reality that there isn’t a pure Christian philosophy that can be separated from the philosophies that have arisen. In other words, a question she dodges is, what philosophy best articulates a biblical understanding of the universe? I understand that is not the primary objective of “Finding Truth,” but I think that she can lead the reader to believe that Christianity can stay above the philosophical fray in relation to some of the basic questions it asks. That is a bit disingenuous.
The famous atheist Bertrand Russell once conceded that atheists must build their philosophy on the unrelenting reality of despair. How true is it that the we are those who bear good news? Let us not despair over the questions the world asks. Let us not fear the competing philosophies of the world. Let us offer the truth of God with confidence. I’m grateful for Nancy Pearcey’s significant contribution to this in “Finding Truth.”
For more reviews see thebeehive.live.
Pearcey utilizes five principles to demonstrate how all non-Christian philosophies are unsatisfactory. The final three of these are probably the most important: demonstrating the leaps of faith these philosophies take; demonstrating how these philosophies fall in on themselves; and demonstrating how these philosophies borrow from Christianity.
She begins, “Materialists thereby deny the reality of mind (while they use their minds to advance materialism), determinists deny the reality of human choice (while they choose determinism), and relativists deny the fact of right and wrong (while they judge you if you disagree).”
One issue is how the earth is so precisely fine-tuned for life. This Goldilocks dilemma ought to make one pause as there is no cause one can point to explain it. Similar questions remain for the coding of our DNA. Pearcey concludes that, “The existence of personal beings constitutes evidence that they were created by a personal God, not by any non-personal cause.” From this she draws these conclusions, “Because humans are capable of knowing, the first cause that produced them must have a mind. Because humans are capable of choosing, the first cause must have a will. And so on.” And again, “Philosopher Étienne Gilson captures the argument neatly: because a human is a someone and not a something, the source of human life must be also a Someone.”
Pearcey believes the Christian doctrine of sin is a powerful explanation for the distortion and not-rightness in the world we all experience.
Pearcey similarly believes that the human conviction of freedom is an ever-present challenge to materialistic determinism. As the philosopher Searle says, “we can’t just give it up. If we tried to, we couldn’t live with it.” Pearcey notes, “It is ironic that people who reject Christianity—who think that without God they can finally be free—end up with philosophies that deny human freedom.”
Pearcey’s book is a great starting place to understand some of the basic schools of contemporary philosophy. She gives credit to each school for understanding a part of the whole. “Rationalism gets something right because God did create the world with a rationally knowable structure.” “Empiricism gets some things right because God did create a world with a sensory dimension, and he equipped humans with their five senses.” “Romanticism was right to oppose Enlightenment worldviews that reduce humans to complex mechanisms. It was right to assert human freedom and creativity.”
Pearcey points out that contemporary ethics all flow from a Christian fountainhead. But one cannot arise at the ethical principles without the source. She shares, “it can often be effective to walk people through the implications of their worldview to show that it provides no basis for their own highest moral and humanitarian ideals.” “Postmodernism gets some things right. It has done good service in countering the lonely individualism of the Enlightenment’s autonomous self.”
She deploys the analogy of a two story building: the physical universe being the lower story and the upper story being the moral and spiritual story. One cannot demolish the second story and then maintain the same ethics.
Pearcey explains how Christianity speaks to the truths founds in the various streams of contemporary philosophy. “Christianity offers an answer that is surprising and unique. It teaches that the human race was created in the image of a God who is a tri-unity—three Persons so intimately related as to constitute one Godhead. God’s own nature consists in reciprocal love and communication among the Persons of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit). Both the one and the many, both individuality and relationship, exist within the divine nature.” She continues, “Against postmodernism’s dissolution of the self, the Trinity implies the dignity of the individual self.”
Pearcey admonishes Christians to not just pull down the empty philosophies this world has to offer, but to offer something better. She says, “As we topple idols, it is imperative that we replace it with something better.” She suggests that, “Christianity imparts greater value to the material realm than any version of materialism.” And, “To counter empiricism, Christians can show that a biblical worldview offers a better basis for trusting our senses.” She continues, “To counter rationalism, we can show that Christianity honors human rationality as part of the image of God.” And finally, “To counter postmodernism, Christianity offers an even more radical insight into the contingency of human knowledge.”
Pearcey encourages Christians to be thoughtful listeners. “One of the best ways to craft biblical answers is to listen more closely to the questions.” “No matter how skeptical someone is, some things are virtually impossible to doubt—at least in practice.”
Pearcey believes that Christians can be confident. The truth is satisfying in the way the world’s philosophies will never be. Rorty “cheerfully admits that he reaches over and borrows the concept of universal rights from Christianity.” Further, “We could say that humanists do not want to live within the confines of their own materialist box. So they smuggle in ladders from a Christian worldview to climb out of the box.”
My only minor critique with “Finding Truth” is that Pearcey doesn’t properly navigate the reality that there isn’t a pure Christian philosophy that can be separated from the philosophies that have arisen. In other words, a question she dodges is, what philosophy best articulates a biblical understanding of the universe? I understand that is not the primary objective of “Finding Truth,” but I think that she can lead the reader to believe that Christianity can stay above the philosophical fray in relation to some of the basic questions it asks. That is a bit disingenuous.
The famous atheist Bertrand Russell once conceded that atheists must build their philosophy on the unrelenting reality of despair. How true is it that the we are those who bear good news? Let us not despair over the questions the world asks. Let us not fear the competing philosophies of the world. Let us offer the truth of God with confidence. I’m grateful for Nancy Pearcey’s significant contribution to this in “Finding Truth.”
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October 11, 2015
This is an excellent book on apologetics designed for a post-modern age. The entire structure of the book presumes that the people we talk to may be modernist or post-modern, and thus does not presume a common ground. Rather it looks at the presumptions of non (or anti) Christian world-views and where they fail. They will be at times inconsistent with the reality that we experience. They will also be philosophically inconsistent (like scientism, whose very basis contradicts its claims). The apologetic challenge is to identify the deficiencies and then eventually show or demonstrate that the Christian world-view provides a more intellectually honest framework for the world we find ourselves in.
The book seems to be designed for an introduction to Christian Apologetics course, with a prerequisite of some philosophy. The book even ends with a study guide followed by an example exam. I recommend it to any Christian who is interested in apologetics in the 21st Century. While I have given it my highest rating, the book is far from perfect. Too many of the scriptural references were inappropriate in their context, and appeared to be included after doing a word search. I would caution the reader regarding the context of the quotations.
The book seems to be designed for an introduction to Christian Apologetics course, with a prerequisite of some philosophy. The book even ends with a study guide followed by an example exam. I recommend it to any Christian who is interested in apologetics in the 21st Century. While I have given it my highest rating, the book is far from perfect. Too many of the scriptural references were inappropriate in their context, and appeared to be included after doing a word search. I would caution the reader regarding the context of the quotations.
October 17, 2016
I read Total Truth years ago (really... it's probably been 10-12 years) and, as a newly Reformed teenager just introduced to classical Christian education, logic, apologetics, and philosophy, it was kind of mind-blowing (and mind-bending...I probably understood about half of it). Now, having received my B.A. from a classical Christian liberal arts college and being halfway through my M.A. at the same institution, I am in a very different spot in life. I gave this 3 stars primarily because I think Pearcey needed at least one more editor (or two). It was very repetitive and at times I swear I was reading the same exact sentence over and over again... However, repetition isn't always a bad thing, especially if these are all new concepts. And this book does seem geared towards people to whom this is revelatory information - and not at all like a sequel to Total Truth which may have been part of the reason I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I was prepared to. Overall, this was a solid book, well-written and cogent but that could have been half as long. And if you've already taken Dr. Stokes' philosophy of math class ... I probably wouldn't put it at the top of your list.
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