Divided in eleven chapters, an introduction and conclusion and then, chapters with more subtle titles, by the middle it dives on the hot button topics, such as abortion, homosexuality, race, and transgenderism.
Most of this information is not new to me but I’m not the target audience. As an introduction it works well, and it gave me a few pointers on critical race theory, which I’m less familiar with since I’m not from the US and race is lived differently in my country.
Dallas is a biblical counselor and speaker addressing sexual issues since 1987, ministering people who want to follow Christian sexual ethics. His expertise and knowledge show through the book providing good examples and counter examples, some sample replies to common objections and biblical references.
I would say that one of the errors is to assume that feminism also began with critical theory since the feminist movement predates the existence of Marxism and its contemporary interpretations, though to be fair, both are intertwined in some cases, and not all of them embrace gender ideology.
I must note that Dallas emphasizes the good will of possible adherents, and this is important. We must not lose sight of the other person’s sincere convictions. While much of the aggression get to us, unprepared and obviously not expecting such hostility, we must not give the same in return and therein lies part of the importance of witness..
We also have a responsibility not to speak white lies, not to be unkind, but also to speak the truth and live it. It’s for this reason that the last part of the book is dedicated to our lack of commitment with a true Christian life and, as a Catholic, I was surprised to see Dallas endorse the need for accountability by confessing the sins to another person (though it was not in the same way as we have it, it was nice to see that level of understanding).
I'd have liked it more if he added the idea that the trans movement borrows language from the disability rights movement, but I think it's very good for an introduction like this book intends to be.
One of the most interesting bits of information I got from the book was this: Sisterhood is Powerful, a feminist book, criticizes the 10,000 women die of illegal abortions exaggeration: "A study made in the 1930s, before the development of antibiotics made even illegal abortion less deadly than it used to be, came up with this number of 10,000 deaths; but it is no longer anywhere near the truth and has no place in any serious discussion of abortion”.
Opposing some of the current focus on those hot button issues doesn’t mean neglecting their existence and implications: racism is real, abortion keeps happening even if it’s not the best outcome for the people involved, and homosexuality is an objective evil even if we can’t freely assume that just because we don’t do that kind of sexual immorality, we don’t have to work on our own sins.
I also should distance myself from the way he portrays college. Being a student or teacher there is a very different experience through the world and this as an US centric book, so it talks about their system, whose programs are determined by sponsors, and whose system relies on alienation from the family circle. Even in countries where college is overwhelmingly state owned and students aren’t as prone to distance themselves from their relatives, some of the ideological indoctrination he talks about happens, but could be correctly counter balanced.
Also, because of Protestantism, it must be hard to find a church from your own denomination that follows their declaration of faith and morals in the same way, something that doesn’t happen with Catholicism, and when it does, it’s more than a difference of criteria, which protects the faithful from this kind of situations.