
Carl R. Trueman
Fellow
Carl R. Trueman is a fellow in EPPC’s Evangelicals in Civic Life Program, where his work focuses on helping civic leaders and policy makers better understand the deep roots of our current cultural malaise. In addition to his scholarship on the intellectual foundations of expressive individualism and the sexual revolution, Trueman is also interested in the origins, rise, and current use of critical theory by progressives. He serves as a professor at Grove City College.
Carl R. Trueman is a fellow in EPPC’s Evangelicals in Civic Life Program, where his work focuses on helping civic leaders and policy makers better understand the deep roots of our current cultural malaise. In addition to his scholarship on the intellectual foundations of expressive individualism and the sexual revolution, Trueman is also interested in the origins, rise, and current use of critical theory by progressives. He serves as a professor at Grove City College.
Trueman is the author of the best-selling, award-winning 2020 book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution. Born and raised in England, Trueman is a graduate of the Universities of Cambridge (M.A.) and Aberdeen (Ph.D), and has taught on the faculties of the Universities of Nottingham and Aberdeen before moving to the United States in 2001 to teach at Westminster Theological Seminary (PA). In 2017-18 he was the William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in Religion and Public Life in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. Since 2018, he has served as a professor at Grove City College in the Calderwood School of Arts and Humanities.
Trueman’s earlier academic work focused on Reformation and post-Reformation Protestantism, particularly the reception of Martin Luther’s thought in the English context and also the use of late medieval philosophy by seventeenth century Reformed thinkers. More recently, he has studied the rise of modern therapeutic culture, specifically as it shapes popular attitudes to sexual morality, gender identity, and freedom of speech and religion.
Trueman’s latest book, the best-selling The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, explores the nature of the sexual revolution against the background of the development of expressive individualism. It has been described by Rod Dreher, writing in the Wall Street Journal as “one of the most important religious books of the decade” and by Ben Shapiro as “the most important book of our moment.” A concise version of his argument, Strange New World, is due to be published in February 2022, with a foreword authored by EPPC President Ryan T. Anderson.
Trueman has published widely, with scholarly articles in books from Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Brill. His commentaries on contemporary issues appear regularly in First Things, where he is a contributing editor, and he has also published in Public Discourse, Deseret News, and Catholic World Report. Trueman has had a longstanding interest in Marxist theory and he is currently working on a book examining the origins of critical theory in the western Marxist tradition of the early twentieth century.
Punch left, too
Carl R. Trueman

Critics of Trump’s nihilism should not turn a blind eye to progressives’ own more powerful and pervasive nihilism.
WORLD Opinions / November 16, 2023
Protestants Need to go Back to Basics
Carl R. Trueman

Hence, doctrines such as simplicity, immutability, and eternal generation have been redefined or have vanished altogether in certain Protestant communities, even as many who played a role in this maintained a verbal commitment to the Nicene Creed or the Westminster Confession of Faith.
First Things / November 16, 2023
Our children deserved better from us
Carl R. Trueman

We may be seeing the beginning of the end of trans madness.
WORLD Opinions / November 8, 2023
The Future of Manufactured Children
Carl R. Trueman

Last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal featured an article as fascinating as it was disturbing: “What If Men Could Make Their Own Egg Cells?”
First Things / November 2, 2023
Dylan Mulvaney and the Real Clash of Civilizations
Carl R. Trueman

The moral aporias of contemporary progressive politics are becoming more obvious on a regular basis.
First Things / October 19, 2023
Critical Grace Theory
Carl R. Trueman

As debates over critical race theory rage on, both in society and within the church, one important point seems to have been missed by all sides.
First Things / October 16, 2023
Enemies in all directions
Carl R. Trueman

Christianity is the rock against the sand of extremism.
WORLD Opinions / October 16, 2023
Offense is inevitable
Carl R. Trueman

But Christians shouldn’t forget the person behind the argument.
WORLD Opinions / October 5, 2023
When Being Affirming Isn’t Loving
Carl R. Trueman

Two events of the last week witness to a significant shift in the times in which we live.
First Things / October 5, 2023
The Battle for the Body
Carl R. Trueman

Given the chaotic and volatile nature of our culture, what should the church focus on in her teaching?
First Things / September 21, 2023