Review: The Lies We Are Told, The Truth We Must Hold by Sharon James
Sharon James has some impressive credentials: a degree in history from Cambridge University, an MDiv from Toronto Baptist Seminary and a PhD in government family policy from the University of Wales. She works as a social policy analyst for The Christian Institute and is the author of at least a dozen books.
We have been pleased to review one of her books before (you can read it here). And so it was with some anticipation I read her latest book, The Lies We Are Told, The Truth We Must Hold. Overall, I was not disappointed, but I have a caveat which I will come to at the end.
James is clear about her intentions: “This book is intended as a simple primer, a ‘road map’ of some of the complex worldview issues that challenge Bible-believing Christians today” (10). Her thesis is that the options of “silence, acquiescence, and/or celebration buys into lies and ignores the truth… The only solid basis for defending human dignity and achieving justice is a biblical worldview” (22–23).
Part One, titled The Lies We Are Told, is a truly insightful journey through the history of ideas that have shaped our current secular worldviews… ideas such as: there is no God, no absolute morality, no universal truth, no universal humanity. Clearly James is an astute historian, as she wheels out philosophers, academics, psychiatrists, brutal national leaders (mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries) and exposes the ‘bitter fruit’ of their bad ideas.
If you feel like you know little about history or the philosophy of ideas that have shaped our world, this book will fill in all the gaps. Each sub-section in each chapter is short enough to get a grasp of the big idea and the identities that formulated and advanced it. At the same time, James is exposing the tragic legacies of those ideas for us in the 21st century. This is where James is at her best.
I found her recounting of the results of the evil ideologies of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Tse-Tung and others particularly chilling. We tend to forget how vile Marxism was and is. For those who have not been exposed to much history at school, this book would be a great portal into how this worldview (where humans have no inherent dignity) emerged.
Part Two sets out the Biblical worldview which is, according to the chapter headings, the foundation of truth, freedom, dignity, and human flourishing. This is an orthodox, evangelical God-as-Creator treatment - a wonderful counterbalance to the ‘lies’.
Overall, the book is a masterful treatment of the way that sin has corrupted the way we see our world.
My caveat is there were times when I felt that James was making broad sweeping claims that were not nuanced.
For example, capitalism is portrayed as the only economic system worthy of Christian support. She quotes Chad Hovind, the American author of a book called Godonomics:
After [Adam Smith’s] book. ‘Wealth of Nations’ was published and its principles took hold, wages quadrupled in the next 50 years, and then quadrupled again over the next 50 years. Every society that has leaned into free enterprise has prospered and benefited the poor and needy. Profits are good. They are not a four-letter word. They are the incentive for work.’(p236)
Wayne Grudem and B Asmus in The Poverty of Nations says:
The creation mandate indicates that God’s design for humanity is not just for us to survive, but to flourish on earth. (p235)
Socialism, as distinct from Marxism, on the other hand, is presented as having no value or saving graces at all.
True, James does make the comment that we live in a sinful, corrupted world where no economic or political system will function perfectly, but ‘capitalism has been better for the poor than either socialism or traditional pre-industrial economies.’ (p236), and there is no further treatment of those ‘sins’ of capitalism.
I think this approach fails to recognise that the historical disenchantment with capitalism (demonstrated by profiteering, price-gouging, exploitation of labour) inevitably gave rise to the secular worldview of ‘Destroy Capitalism, Embrace Communism’ that she so rightly condemns. This calls for a more nuanced discussion of where some aspects of socialism get it right (e.g. safety nets for the poor, allowing labour to organise itself against exploitation, regulations on the owners of capital to protect the environment, amongst others). The book runs the risk of deterring the more skeptical reader because of the lack of nuance.
This is evident again in James’ treatment of racism and Critical Race Theory (CRT), which clearly has deep anti-Biblical constructs. But the CRT label seems to be applied to anyone who has a concern about racism and its effects on certain people.
But we need to draw a distinction between racism, which is always to be opposed, and the idea of ‘systemic racism’, as promoted by CRT. (p139)
Later she declares that ‘The Bible consistently teaches the unity of the human race…. There are no ‘absolute’ identities of ‘black’ and ‘white’. (p 212)
This is true but do we need to do more to confront the reality of racism? As I listen to my black Christian brothers and sisters around the world, particularly in the USA, there is a real problem with skin colour on the ground! The Black Lives Matter protests across America in 2020 are rightly to be condemned (and James describes the evils of BLM over 2 pages - pp153-154) but the catalyst for those protests, the death of George Floyd, is dismissed in one line (p153). We need to have a greater understanding of, and empathy for, the experiences of the victims of racism, not just tell them that what they are feeling is linked to a worldview that is a lie.
Do I think the book is worth reading? Yes. You will get a greater understanding of the sweep of ideas that have come down to us from history, and how they are opposed to God’s good purposes for us. But do read it with an eye that allows for some shade. The problems of the world are rarely simple.
Lesley Ramsayhas been in local church ministry with her husband, Jim, for 47 years. After university she trained as a teacher and then raised four children. Over the past 30 years she has worked as a Bible teacher and evangelist across Australia and overseas. She has written and edited several books and training packages that are sold and used internationally. She now works at Moore College in Sydney, in pastoral care to the students. To relax, she enjoys a good coffee and a good book and hanging out with her grandchildren.