Book Review of Total Truth

Let your mind be captured not by the world but by the word

Pearcey, Nancy Total Truth Crossway, 2004

Hey my name is Lindsey Campbell and I just finished reading this book called Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey it looks at what it means to have a Christian worldview. First, a worldview is the lens through which we view the world and our worldview should be based on what is true. As Christians we are called to redeem entire cultures we do this by living out a biblical worldview. This book helps to liberate you from the world’s, cultural and philosophical captivity. Pearcey describes how often even Christians’ minds are separated by a two story dichotomy with values on the top and facts on the bottom separating religion from anything logical. This intellectual split is what often leads to the falling away of the churches children upon entrance into college. Suddenly other ideologies are providing something Christianity did not.

Christians should not be separating their life into sacred items like going to church, praying and secular items like eating, sleeping, working 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “Whatever we do whether we eat or drink we are to do it all to the glory of God.” This book will help Christians discuss their beliefs in a way that non-Christians will understand philosophically. Often on one side of the college campuses we will see the bottom story of facts and science eating up the upper story of ethics or values. Move to the humanities department and the upper story of values takes over, getting rid of objective truth moving to the subjectivism of modernism, multiculturalism, and political correctness. 1 Peter 3:15 say “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. The Greek word defense is apologia which is the root word for apologetics, the defending of the faith. Apologetics is a crucial skill for Christians in our day.

This book educates Christians on the “isms” of our culture such as Marxism, Darwinism, and postmodernism by revealing the lie they are based on. Pearcey talks about three aspects that every worldview has first they all have some kind of Creation how the world came to be and what purpose it has second, a fall what happened or why there are their bad things that happen and Third redemption or how to make it better. “All truth is God’s truth” said John Milton with that in mind there is a solidly Biblical way to look at and be involved in every area of life.

Pearcey thoroughly takes her readers threw a tour of Darwinism and its errors then she shows us from a pragmatist perspective exactly where Darwinism will take you. Next, Pearcey talked about the first and second great awakening that led to the general “Christianization” of America but also led to the down play of the intellectual role of Christianity instead emphasizing emotional conversions. Pearcey also takes a look at the feminist movement which began when jobs were placed outside the home no longer a family farm or store front but instead work in a factory or office. This led to the need for someone to stay home rather than the family working together. All people long to contribute to something larger then themselves, what we to often forget is that we don’t need competition or a career to fulfill God’s purpose in the world. In the last chapter Pearcy talks simply about the need to live it out by saying “Even worldview studies can become a seedbed for pride instead of a process of submitting our minds to the Lordship of Christ.” I encourage you to read this book and learn what it means to live by a Christian worldview.