Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
The Most Important Book I Read from the Past Year (and how knowing untruth can set you free)

The Most Important Book I Read from the Past Year (and how knowing untruth can set you free)

Last updated on: February 6, 2019 at 10:13 am by Brad Vaughn

The Most Important Book I Read from the Past Year (and how knowing untruth can set you free) 2019-02-06T10:13:27-07:00 Brad Vaughn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The most significant, insightful, and provocative book of 2018, in my opinion, was The Coddling of the American Mind (by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff). I’m far from the first person to make that claim. However, fewer people have identified ways that the book’s key ideas might impact the church and especially missionaries. This post prepares us to do just that.

The book expands on the authors’ article originally published in The Atlantic. I cannot write a summary that could possibly do the book justice. Instead, I’ll introduce a few key ideas below.

The next post will highlight insights from the book that will apply to the church and the work of missions. Both giving an introduction and offering application would be a bit much for a single post.

Untruths Will Not Set Us Free

Haidt and Lukianoff discuss three “untruths.”

1. The Untruth of Fragility: What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker

The authors observe, “gradually, in the twenty-first century, on some college campuses, the meaning of ‘safety’ underwent a process of ‘concept creep’ and expanded to include ‘emotional safety’” (p. 24).

The authors expose

the cult of safety—an obsession with eliminating threats (both real and imagined) to the point at which people become unwilling to make reasonable trade-offs demanded by other practical and moral concerns. (p. 32)

They explain the emergence of “safe spaces” and established policies to protect students from the “trauma” of emotional “triggers,” which colleges fear will cause PTSD (yes, PTSD).

2. The Untruth of Emotional Reasoning: Always trust your feelings

Micro-aggressions are a well-known manifestation of this distorted thinking. In the name of safety and unity, colleges actively train students to interpret others’ actions and speech in the least generous way possible.

Students are to judge moral correctness based on an action’s effect (including an individual’s being offended), not its intent. Haidt and Lukianoff conclude,

If someone wanted to create an environment of perpetual anger and intergroup conflict, this would be an effective way to do it. Teaching students to use the least generous interpretations possible is likely to engender precisely the feelings of marginalization and oppression that almost everyone wants to eliminate. (p. 46)

In so doing, dialogue becomes dangerous, even impossible. This accounts for a wave of speakers being disinvited by colleges.

The Untruth of Us Versus Them: Life is a battle between good people and evil people

Humans are social creatures who cannot shed our social skin. The growth of individualism simply causes us to realign our group identities. In the West, tribalism has bred “common-enemy identity politics,” aptly summarized in a line:

Identifying a common enemy is an effective way to enlarge and motivate your tribe. (p. 63)

“Unity” is illusory, at best fragile and fleeting. After all, we all belong to multiple groups. A white woman could be labeled “privileged” due to skin color but “oppressed” because of gender. According to the authors, this environment

produces a call-out culture in which almost anything one says or does could result in a public shaming. This can engender a sense of “walking on eggshells,” and it teaches students habits of self-censorship. (p. 77)

Common features that mark this cultural milieu such as “dogmatism, groupthink, a crusader mentality, and anti-intellectualism.” (p. 73)

What do these untruths look like in practice?

The book is chock-full of examples that illustrate how the each untruth plays out in real life. They exemplify new patterns of thinking and acting. For instance,

Words that give rise to stress or fear for members of some groups are now often regarded as a form of violence. (p. 97)

Organizations now encourage diversity in nearly every area except viewpoint. The book argues,

viewpoint diversity is necessary for the development of critical thinking, while viewpoint homogeneity (whether on the left or the right) leaves a community vulnerable to groupthink and orthodoxy. (p. 113)

Fear of outsider thinking stifles creativity and problem-solving.

Imagine the difficulties that emerge in the work place and in inter-personal relationships

Several cognitive distortions breed unhealthy patterns of parenting. A vicious cycle exists. Due to 24-hour needs and exaggerated news reports, parents have the misimpression that children are in less safe than they used to be. Therefore, overprotective dads and moms start to hover over every inch of their kids’ lives, which ironically produces children who are even more fragile and less independent.

I’ve only scratched the surface of what you’ll find inside the book. This introduction prepares us to consider potential implications for the church and for its missionaries.

In anticipation, I’d like to hear from you. How do you see the above dynamics influencing the church, your ministry, and the work of missions?

Culture (General)

coddling of the American Mind

untruth

Previous Post

January 30, 2019

“What’s a n***er?” How I answered my adopted daughter (Guest Post)

Next Post

February 13, 2019 The Coddling of the American Missionary

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Biblical Theology Book Reviews China Chinese Church Chinese Culture Chinese Language Collectivism Contextualization Culture (General) Ecclesiology Evangelism Gospel Honor & Shame (Face) Interpretation/Exegesis Justification/Righteousness Missiology Mission Methods One Gospel for All Nations Other Practical Contextualization Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes Resources Romans Salvation (General) Saving God's Face Seeking God's Face The Cross in Context Theological Contextualization Theological Education Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

The heavens declare God's glory without speech or words. Which psalm proclaims creation's silent testimony?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Psalm 104 Psalm 19 Psalm 148 Psalm 8

Books by This Author Books by Brad Vaughn

See All Titles »