Initial Thoughts
There is a war of ideas all around us. Unfortunately, the casualties in this war are stacking up.
Whether you’ve encountered “woke” challenges in your news feed, witnessed the sexual suicide of institutions, or experienced heartfelt discussions with a family member over an LGBTQ+ identity, you’ve likely wished for Biblical clarity on these matters.
In 2020, Carl Trueman published The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution to wide acclaim. His chief accomplishment was rooting the sexual revolution in the philosophical search for meaning and identity outside of scripture.
We had wanted to build a course around this material, but the book’s depth made it a bit too challenging for use in high school. In 2022, however, Trueman created a concise version of his argument in Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution. When Crossway published a companion study guide and a brief video series, we asked for permission to develop these materials into this course.
There are a few things we wanted to accomplish in this course:
First, we wanted to provide hope for families discussing the issue of sexual identity. Social media and modern reporting feed us a steady supply of controversial headlines and viral clips. Dr. Trueman lowers the volume of this noise by clearly identifying the roots of our current sexual confusion. That way, we can see what the Bible has to say on these matters.
Second, we wanted to pull together some of the sources that Trueman uses together with clips and current events. This gives families a way to explore difficult and sensitive topics at their own pace and away from endless news feeds.
Third, we wanted the format of the course to be flexible. Students can go deeper into topics that they find interesting—like Romantic poetry or the writings of Augustine. Sometimes the most rewarding learning happens as one follows the footnote trail!
In the foreword of the book, Ryan Anderson helpfully summarizes the book’s argument as “an account of how the person became a self, the self became sexualized, and sex became politicized.”
Content Advisory
We recommend this course for students age 16+ due in part to the nature of the topic. These subjects appear frequently:
- sexual dysphoria
- LGBTQ+ issues
- homosexuality
- lesbianism
- bisexuality
- transgenderism
- transsexuality
- queer, non-binary, and intersex identification
- feminism
The following terms are also used in the course. Sometimes they are not explained in detail by Dr. Trueman, but are included in a source quotations or aid in describing a legal issue involved:
- BDSM
- euthanasia
- genitalia
- masturbation
- pedophilia
- Playboy
- pornography
Specific Steps
Here’s how the class actually works.
The class is divided into 10 lessons. It is designed to cover one semester. However, although it can be finished in 10 weeks, some may find they want to go a little more slowly for things to sink in. To that end, you could follow the class over a year and make lessons last for two weeks or more. There is plenty of material to prompt student writing and study for that amount of time.
Everything begins with Dr. Trueman’s video lectures. They introduce the concepts explored in more detail in the corresponding book chapter. There are 11 videos, each of which lasts for about 11 minutes. The idea is that they lay the groundwork for getting the details explored in the rest of the material.
After the lecture, students will read the corresponding chapter in Trueman’s book. These are very readable, and we have heard from a number of students (including some of our own children) who have enjoyed them. For each chapter, we’ve selected representative quotations that capture the main point. These would be useful in family discussion during the course.
Each chapter is followed by a quiz in the course. This gives students a chance to gauge their comprehension of the chapter. Your student can see the correct responses for any that he misses by clicking “View Questions” once he completes the quiz.
Study questions from the chapter and video come next. The material created by Crossway here is really excellent at developing the student’s ability to apply biblical thinking to the issues of sexual identity. There is no key for these because they are largely open-ended.
The essay questions are a great way to wrap up your learning to share with others. They involve self-reflection, but we’ve outlined possible responses that students can view as a guide. Parents can also use these as writing prompts for longer student work for a writing course.
We’ve sometimes added a reading or video that provides personal background on a particular philosopher or philosophical issue. These will be called “Go Deeper” and will provide additional historical and biographical context for Trueman’s quotations in the book. In some cases, these include everything from complete works to selections found in a philosophy readers. In others, your student will read selections from Dr. John Frame’s excellent survey A History of Western Philosophy and Theology.
During the 2024 Spring Semester, we are also adding free facilitation with subscription to this course (or through a Premium Membership). A member of Compass Classroom staff will host weekly Zoom discussions on the material in this course. It’s a great way to make sure your student is tracking with the material, and gives him or her a chance to discuss with peers under a facilitator. Visit the Strange New World- Facilitated group and look for the pinned discussion thread for this new course!
Now it’s your student’s turn to get introduced to the course. We hope this study encourages your family mightily!