Seeking Truth? Check Out “Total Truth” by Nancy Pearcey

Truth seems to be on trial these days.

And what makes it even worse is that so many say they’re seeking truth when in all reality they’re seeking their version of the truth. That’s one of the drawbacks of all the “ism” worldviews that plague our society today.

Truth either is or it isn’t. We don’t get to choose our own truth. And to even try is self-exaltation of the worst kind.

I guess that’s my motivation for searching for apologetic books on truth. I want to understand the “isms” in order to better present the one and only absolute truth. I wasn’t disappointed with Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey. (You can see my review of Finding Truth by Nancy Pearcey here.)

Total Truth – About the Book

Does God belong in the public arena of politics, business, law, and education? Or is religion a private matter only-personally comforting but publicly irrelevant?

In today’s cultural etiquette, it is not considered polite to mix public and private, or sacred and secular. This division is the single most potent force keeping Christianity contained in the private sphere-stripping it of its power to challenge and redeem the whole of culture.

In Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey offers a razor-sharp analysis of the public/private split, explaining how it hamstrings our efforts at both personal and cultural renewal. Ultimately it reflects a division in the concept of truth itself, which functions as a gatekeeper, ruling Christian principles out of bounds in the public arena.

How can we unify our fragmented lives and recover spiritual power? With examples from the lives of real people, past and present, Pearcey teaches readers how to liberate Christianity from its cultural captivity. She walks readers through practical, hands-on steps for crafting a full-orbed Christian worldview.

Finally, she makes a passionate case that Christianity is not just religious truth but truth about total reality. It is total truth.

This new study guide edition is filled with fresh stories, examples, and illustrations. Based on questions and comments raised by readers of the book, it is ideal for individual or group study.

“This book continues the Schaeffer-inspired project that Nancy Pearcey and Chuck Colson began in How Now Shall We Live?-awakening evangelical Christians to the need for a Christian ‘worldview,’ which Pearcey defines as ‘a biblically informed perspective on all reality.’ This is the rare long book that leaves one wanting to read more.”

—Publisher’s Weekly

Total Truth – About the Author

Nancy Pearcey is author of Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, which was a 2005 ECPA Gold Medallion Award winner, and How Now Shall We Live? (coauthored by Harold Fickett and Chuck Colson), which was a 2000 ECPA Gold Medallion Award winner. Her latest book is Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes.

Formerly an agnostic, Pearcey studied under Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri in Switzerland. She earned an MA from Covenant Theological Seminary and pursued further graduate work in History of Philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto.

Heralded as “America’s pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual” (The Economist), Pearcey is professor and scholar in residence at Houston Baptist University. She is a fellow of the Discovery Institute and editor-at-large of The Pearcey Report. As founding editor of the radio program BreakPoint, she also coauthored a monthly column with Chuck Colson in Christianity

Today.

Pearcey has contributed to several books and published more than a hundred articles. She has spoken in the US Capitol and the White House; at universities such as Princeton, Stanford, and Dartmouth; to actors in Hollywood and artists in New York City; on NPR and C-SPAN. Her earlier books include The Soul of Science and Saving Leonardo.

Total Truth – My Review

There were so many things I loved about this book that I hardly know where to begin.

I found the history of how we’ve come to shelve our religious beliefs into a compartment called private fascinating, important, and oh-so true. I also enjoyed seeing how Darwinism, science, and even the history of the family in America has impacted Christianity.

More than anything, my eyes were opened to the importance of living out our faith–not only in our families and churches–but also in the secular realm.

Total Truth has earned a permanent spot on my bookshelves, and I know it is a book I will refer to often. I highly recommend this book for seekers of truth and for those who, like me, long to reveal that the actual truth is a steady and stalwart anchor for our lives.

PURCHASE: | Print | Kindle |
Chit-chat Fodder: What impact can you see on our country by the tendency to keep our faith in the private realm rather than a means for living each part of our lives?

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