In To Change All Worlds, Carl Trueman takes a machete to the tangled intellectual jungle we now call “critical theory.” Beginning with Hegel (because where else would one begin if one wants to thoroughly confuse friends at dinner parties), Trueman traces the lineage from early Marx and Feuerbach to Freud, Reich, the ever-sullen Frankfurt School, and finally Foucault (the Frenchman who managed to make even “truth” sound suspicious). Trueman is characteristically erudite, bitingly insightful, and on rare occasions almost funny(ish). If you’ve ever wondered how phrases like “social construct,” “power dynamic,” or “hegemonic discourse” became part of your cousin’s Instagram bio, Trueman will show you... complete with footnotes.

Rather than turning the book into another hyperventilating culture war pamphlet, Trueman aims for clarity over caricature. He gives the theorists their due, explaining their origins and concerns with care, even as he shows where they go wrong, often spectacularly wrong. The central issue he identifies is anthropology: critical theory’s relentless suspicion of human nature, essentialism, and anything resembling fixed moral order. For thinkers like Marcuse and Reich, sex became salvation and repression the cardinal sin. But Trueman doesn’t settle for pearl-clutching; instead, he demonstrates how these theories, though once confined to lecture halls, are now the ambient air of modern discourse. We are all, in some sense, downstream of Frankfurt (whether we know it or not).

Where Trueman really earns his keep is not in merely critiquing critical theory, but in reminding Christians that the proper response is not a counter-theory, but a counter-life. The Church, he argues, doesn’t defeat cultural ideologies by producing longer bibliographies, but by embodying something far more subversive: communion, hospitality, humility, and worship. That may sound quaint to modern ears, trained to equate revolution with Twitter (er... "X") threads and televised outrage, but Trueman insists that the Church, rightly understood, is nothing less than a realized eschatology. We are a living contradiction to the claims of alienation, objectification, and despair that dominate both secular theory and, let’s be honest, plenty of Christian social media as well.

In the end, Trueman isn’t simply here to scold the modern West or wag his finger at Michel Foucault (though he still does that with academic precision). Rather, he offers a bracing and hopeful alternative: Christianity has better questions and better answers. He reminds us that, while critical theory may rightly identify the sickness of alienation, its prescribed cure of perpetual revolution and identity deconstruction is about as effective as curing a headache with a sledgehammer. Instead, Trueman calls the Church to be what it was always meant to be: the one place where people are not reduced to categories but seen as persons, made in the image of God. It’s a tall order. But then again, To Change All Worlds makes clear that we’re not meant to change the world through theory. We are simply meant to point others to the One who already has.

I need to begin this review with an honest confession: when I requested, I was not aware this was a book written to a Christian audience. Although I identify as a Christian, I stay away from a lot of Christian literature, as much of it comes across as less informative than homiletic. I stuck with this book, and am glad I did.
Critical theory is fascinating to me; the tenets of the Frankfurt School, Habermas, Marcuse, et al have always piqued my curiosity, but I don't feel like I have ever come across a useful introduction to them. (I'm not a philosopher, but have a steady grasp of earlier philosophy). I have tried to read some of the writing but feel like my background to these figures was not all that it could be to appreciate all of their ideas. Couple this curiosity with the recognition that "critical [race] theory" seems to be everywhere these days (in which I mean referenced or labeled, not actually practiced). If you share either of these motivations, I encourage you to read Trueman's work. He tackles both of these at the outset.
What really kept me reading onward past the first few pages was Trueman's ability to give deference where it is due. While he certainly, as a Christian, has some strong objections to critical theorists, as is certainly his right, he makes it clear that we should not dismiss their ideas in toto. Of all of the thinkers he describers, I was most familiar with Marx. Trueman echoes what I know about him. I say this not in declaring myself an expert, but that I cannot say Trueman is mischaracterizing him from some sort of Christian nationalism or fundamentalist reading. I could be wrong, as an armchair philosopher, but his explanation matched my fundamental understanding.
Trueman takes a lot of abstract ideas and makes them very relevant and easier to comprehend. The neologisms of philosophers are ubiquitous and Trueman's gift is to explain how a critical theorist might see it in today's culture.
I feel that reading this book will give all of those people who are ignorant (like me) about these theories a starting place if they want to learn more. More importantly, I think it can give those who deem themselves to be critics of critical theory a firm grasp of what they are rebelling against. While no chapter specifically deals with critical race theory, readers will see bits and pieces of it and be able to apply it to their own communities. He obviously is aware that people have been arguing against something that has been simplified to the point of inaccuracy. I have no objection to people opposing critical theory and arguing about its influence (I suppose neither would the theorists themselves, but again, who am I to say?) What I do object to is people arguing from a state of ignorance, as it (as Trueman says) only reinforces the ideas of the theorists. A good defense needs to begin with education, and then people should decide how to respond. Trueman clearly believes that thinking through some of the ideas of critical theory could make use better Christians, as could finding ways to address the theories that seem antithetical to Christianity. Begin with this book.