
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.
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