Book Review: Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey

June 8, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

In the 2004 elections, why was the country so closely divided? Why is our culture in the state it’s in? What impact does philosophy have on our lives? If you’re looking for answers to these questions, and many more, Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey is the book for you

The book feels more like three books in one. Throughout it, the central principle is that Christianity is not just true for Sundays, it’s not just a private religious practice, but it is total truth- it applies to every area of life and culture

In the first part Nancy Pearcey lays out the basics of worldview thinking. Every worldview will in some way account for three things: creation, fall, and redemption. This worldview scheme is applied to several popular contemporary worldviews, like Marxism and Buddhism. Part one also deals extensively with the history of the Fact/Value split- that we separate our values from our facts such that facts are objective and knowable and values are subjective and variable

Part two of Total Truth dives into the naturalistic worldview and how it’s shaped certain parts of our culture. Mrs. Pearcey offers several defeaters for the common “examples” of Darwinian evolution, such as the “peppered moths.” She also discusses the Intelligent Design movement and offers three distinct arguments for a designer. The importance of knowing about naturalism is driven home by an example from the Berestain Bears, which teaches our children that “Nature… is all that IS, or WAS, or EVER WILL BE!” (157)

The third part is an evaluation of Evangelicalism. Mrs. Pearcey examines two strands of Evangelicalism- the populist which focused on revivalism and individual conversion, and the scholastic which emphasized theology and rationalism. She shows how these ideologies ended up leaving us with a public/private split. In her chapter “How Women Started the Culture War,” she shows how Feminism has further distorted the total truth of Christianity.

Part four consists of one chapter about how important true spirituality is to the total truth of Christianity. “Ultimately, this experience is the goal of developing a Christian worldview—not just studying and debating ideas, but dying and rising again in union with Christ.” (354)

Total Truth is one of the longest books I’ve read in some time. That said, if it takes you two years to read it, the time would be well spent. Nancy Pearcey is an engaging writer who could probably make anything sound interesting and important. I’m not much into science myself, but even the four chapters of the book strictly on science I found to be enriching. This book should be in the hands of everyone who wants to live a life completely surrendered to Christ. Many people said this was the book to read of 2004. I must agree, and I cannot recommend it more. It is also great for group studies, which will be aided by a study guide edition coming out 9/2005.