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.

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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. 

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Dire developments

Carl R. Trueman

The masters of technology are reshaping the world with little idea of the consequences.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / April 21, 2025

Are the Tech Bros Worse than Queer Theorists?

Carl R. Trueman

ast week, two signs of our times passed across my desk. First, a colleague drew my attention to the forthcoming…

Articles

First Things / April 17, 2025

Protestants Need Virtue Ethics

Carl R. Trueman

It is no profound insight to note that one of the great challenges of our time is how to respond…

Articles

First Things / April 3, 2025

Lessons from the Decline of Protestant Churches

Carl R. Trueman

Reports of the financial struggles and decline in membership among large American denominations have become so commonplace that they often…

Articles

First Things / March 20, 2025

Where they stand

Carl R. Trueman

A disturbing poll of Missouri-Synod Lutherans reveals the challenges facing Christian pastors.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / March 17, 2025

Anti-Humanism at Home and Abroad

Carl R. Trueman

Canada’s laws on medically assisted dying are remarkably progressive even by today’s standards. In 2022, the government reported that 4.1 percent of…

Articles

First Things / March 6, 2025

Human Battery Hens

Carl R. Trueman

Britain’s Daily Mail recently reported how around one hundred young Thai women were kept against their will, pumped full of hormones, and subjected…

Articles

First Things / February 20, 2025

The pope’s strict borders

Carl R. Trueman

Francis offers a deeply hypocritical broadside against Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / February 17, 2025

Purity Culture Isn’t the Problem

Carl R. Trueman

The last decade witnessed a sharp turn against the so-called purity culture that emerged in the 1990s American Christian scene….

Articles

First Things / February 6, 2025

Neil Gaiman and the Failure of Modern Sexual Ethics

Carl R. Trueman

A recent Vulture article reporting on the sexual proclivities and alleged abusive activities of fantasy author Neil Gaiman has rekindled debates about…

Articles

First Things / January 23, 2025

Blessing evil

Carl R. Trueman

The religious leaders who fail to see that mothers are not the only vulnerable ones in an abortion.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / January 22, 2025

Dawkins’s Gender Dilemma

Carl R. Trueman

On December 30, Richard Dawkins resigned from the honorary board of the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) after it retracted…

Articles

First Things / January 9, 2025