You Tube Theology

Abortion, pornography, euthanasia: at the height of our technological development, most of the Western world seems unable to find purpose and meaning. Unable to overcome challenges and natural limits, we prefer altering nature—or at least we try. While politicians address issues like “sex work” and gender transitions, hordes of regular people waste time gambling and forgo marriage, childbearing, and all that truly matters in life. Some blame it all on a “disenchanted” world. Our returning guest, Professor and author Carl Trueman, suggests an even simpler and more radical answer which he explores in his latest book: we desecrated ourselves. The solution, however, is equally radical.

Tune in for more!
You can order (or pre-order) “The Desecration of Man” here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729796/the-desecration-of-man-by-carl-r-trueman/

🕰️ Timeline Summary
[0:00] – Introduction and welcome back to What We Can’t Not Talk About.
[1:30] – Introducing Dr. Carl Trueman: professor at Grove City College, fellow at Ethics and Public Policy Center, and returning guest.
[3:00] – From Strange New World to The Desecration of Man: how the question shifted from “how did we get here?” to something deeper.
[5:00] – Disenchantment vs. desecration: Benedetto Croce, Augusto Del Noce, and why “disenchantment” doesn’t go far enough.
[7:00] – How technology makes transgression imaginable: from the atom bomb and antibiotics to reshaping sexual morality.
[9:00] – Beyond sexual morality: technology’s promise to enhance human strength and transcend bodily limits.
[11:00] – Nietzsche’s parable of the madman: killing God and the exhilaration of desecration.
[13:00] – How desecration shows up today: anti-heroes in literature, reality TV, and treating people as things.
[15:00] – Three areas where desecration appears: sex, reproduction, and death—promises of liberation that reduce humans to instruments.
[17:00] – The connection to education: critical theory dominating the humanities and reducing learning to zero-sum power games.
[19:00] – Teaching The Abolition of Man: education beyond job-market commodification and the loss of learning from the past.
[21:00] – Re-enchantment versus consecration: why aesthetics alone aren’t enough and where humans are truly consecrated.
[24:00] – Speaking to a gathering of Muslims: finding shared ground on the sanctity of the body and natural limits.
[26:00] – Marriage as consecration: “you’re marrying the woman”—particularity, personhood, and what Christianity requires beyond aesthetics.
[28:00] – The danger of cultural Christianity without creed: a critique of Roger Scruton and why liturgy alone is not enough.
[30:00] – Creed, code, and cult: what Richard Dawkins means by “cultural Christian” and why the creed must come first.
[32:00] – Distinguishing “code” from “creed”: biology, normativity, and whether the body itself teaches us anything.
[34:00] – Hans Jonas and secular approaches to teleology: finding limits written into nature without theology.
[36:00] – Freud’s revolution: sex is no longer something we do but something we are—identity shaped by desire.
[38:00] – How asking someone to define “woman” reveals how deeply Freud’s framework has reshaped everyday thinking.
[40:00] – Pornography, desire, and identity: how exposure shapes who we think we are and why teleology matters.
[42:00] – Desecration as transgression: LGBTQ+ alliances with Hamas and the unifying spirit of negation.
[45:00] – The endless cycle: every transgression must eventually be transgressed—and why the movement can never stop.
[47:00] – Signs of hope: young people returning to church and the bankruptcy of modern liberalism becoming obvious.
[49:00] – Genuine metaphysical questions emerging in secular spaces: the Trigonometry podcast and a hunger for meaning.
[51:00] – Closing doors and commitment: freedom through marriage, relationships, and the refusal to keep all options open.

#Christianity #CarlTrueman #Modernism

🔗 Links & Resources
The Desecration of Man – by Carl R. Trueman (book): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729796/the-desecration-of-man-by-carl-r-trueman/
Strange New World – by Carl R. Trueman (previous book, referenced in discussion)
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self – by Carl R. Trueman (foundational work)
The Abolition of Man – by C.S. Lewis (discussed as educational model)
Grove City College – Dr. Trueman’s home institution: https://www.gcc.edu
Ethics and Public Policy Center – Dr. Trueman’s fellowship: https://eppc.org
Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture: https://www.austin-institute.org