From My Shelf This Week
Critical Theory, Goblins, and the Great Divorce
This past week, I had the opportunity to read through several books that challenged my thinking, deepened my faith, and stirred my imagination. From thoughtful critiques of modern ideologies to rich works of fiction infused with spiritual insight, each book offered something meaningful. Here’s a quick look at what I’ve been reading and reflecting on.
1. To Change the World by Carl Trueman
Recommendation – Critical Theory was once confined to the halls of academia, its influence mostly limited to ivory towers. Since 2020, however, its effects have become increasingly visible in nearly every sphere of public life—politics, education, media, and even the church. Carl Trueman does a phenomenal job of tracing the philosophical history behind these ideas, connecting thinkers like Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Freud to today's social ideologies. By following the intellectual roots of these worldviews, Trueman equips Christians to engage thoughtfully and biblically with the modern age.
Notable Quotes:
"The purpose of critical theory is to destabilize the status quo by transforming the consciousness." (p. 102)
"Further, as Christians, we know that most important things in life are not measurable or calculable. Instrumental reason gives us no insight into love, friendship, loyalty, beauty, self-sacrifice, and all the other things that make us human." (p. 143)
2. Critical Dilemma by Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer
Recommendation – This book offers a thorough and balanced critique of modern critical theory from a Christian worldview. Shenvi and Sawyer avoid caricature or fearmongering, opting instead to provide an even-handed, biblically grounded analysis. They acknowledge that critical theory highlights real issues, but they also expose where it conflicts with the gospel and undermines biblical truth. This is essential reading for believers who want to think critically, charitably, and clearly in our cultural moment.
Notable Quotes:
“The attraction of critical theories for Christians lies in the fact that they grasp an aspect of the truth. The problem lies in the fact that they press this to the point where other truths are marginalized, subverted, or even rejected.”
“Society is divided into oppressed groups and oppressor groups along lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, physical ability, age, and a growing list of other identity markers.”
“If these claims are to be believed, then the only non-oppressed people in the United States are middle-aged rich, White, heterosexual, cis-gendered, male, able-bodied, non-immigrant Christians. Everyone else, upwards of 95% of the U.S. population, is oppressed in some way.”
“Every truth claim must be evaluated on the basis of whether it corresponds to reality and not on the basis of the identity of the person making the claim.”
Fiction & Other
3. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Recommendation – George MacDonald’s fairy tales inspired both C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The Princess and the Goblin is a short, whimsical story filled with deep spiritual insight. Through the adventures of Princess Irene and her mysterious grandmother, MacDonald explores the nature of faith, trust, and unseen realities. It’s a delightful read with profound moral depth that still resonates today.
Notable Quotes:
“Seeing is not believing – it is only seeing.”
“We are all very anxious to be understood, and it is very hard not to be. But there is one thing much more necessary.
‘What is that, grandmother?’
‘To understand other people.’
‘Yes, grandmother. I must be fair – for if I'm not fair to other people, I'm not worth being understood myself. I see.’”
“People must believe what they can, and those who believe more must not be hard upon those who believe less. I doubt if you would have believed it all yourself if you hadn't seen some of it.”
4. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
Recommendation – I firmly believe this is Lewis's best work of fiction. The Great Divorce takes the reader on a spiritual journey from the outer fringes of Hell toward the foothills of Heaven. It’s an allegorical exploration of the choices we make in life, and how they shape our eternal destiny. Functioning somewhat as a counterpart to The Screwtape Letters, this book imagines a bus ride between the two realms, filled with conversations that reveal the human heart in its pride, resistance, and longing for grace.
Notable Quotes:
“There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.”
“You cannot love a fellow creature fully till you love God.”
“There have been men before … who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself… as if the good Lord had nothing to do but to exist. There have been some who were so preoccupied with spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ.”
“And yet all loneliness, angers, hatreds, envies, and itchings that (Hell) contains, if rolled into one single experience and put into the scale against the least moment of the joy that is felt by the least in Heaven, would have no weight that could be registered at all. Bad cannot succeed even in being bad as truly as good is good.”
“If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.”
“Every natural love will rise again and live forever in this country: but none will rise again until it has been buried.”