BOOK REVIEW: Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age (Rosaria Butterfield)
by Michael J. Penfold
The lies exposed in “Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age” by Rosaria Butterfield are:
- Homosexuality is normal
- Being a spiritual person is kinder than being a biblical Christian
- Feminism is good for the world and the church
- Transgenderism is normal
- Modesty is an outdated burden that serves male dominance and holds women back
What qualifies Rosaria Butterfield to tackle such controversial and sensitive questions in such a head-on way?
Born in the USA, and raised by a staunchly feminist mother in a nominally Roman Catholic but religiously pro-choice home, Rosaria imbibed feminism early on as a “worldview of rescue” from the oppressive biblical idea of patriarchy. An atheist by the time she reached adulthood, Rosaria’s hero was Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), the founder of feminism. Rosaria went on to live for a decade as a lesbian feminist-activist English professor. At Syracuse University she wrote their first domestic-partnership policy for same-sex couples and taught classes in queer theory.
To state that Rosaria’s views have changed would be a massive understatement. She now believes, for example, that “Biblical patriarchy protects women by giving a wife a godly man as ‘head’ to love and protect her; a daughter, a godly father; and a single woman, a church to protect her” (p. 188). What happened to revolutionise her views so thoroughly? Through the power of the Word of God, the Bible, and through the new birth, Rosaria was transformed into a new person in Christ. (She tells the utterly fascinating story of her journey in her book The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert).
From her unique perspective, Rosaria writes with clarity and boldness. Her new book is supremely useful, informed and up-to-date – on everything from sexual orientation, to intersectionality, to gender dysphoria, to the condition known as intersex. Rosaria knows whereof she speaks. She knows the history and philosophy of the LGBTQ+ movement from the inside. I could not put her new book down. With refreshing power, Rosaria sets out the contrast between the present lies of our woke culture and the truth of God’s Word the Bible, in a way that is easily understood. She also tackles the so-called “gay Christian movement” and exposes its deceptive call to normalise within ‘the Church’ what is condemned in the Word of God.
If you only read one book on the LGBTQ+ issue, may I recommend you make it “Five Lies of our Anti-Christian Age” by Rosaria Butterfield (Crossway: 9781433573538).
Contact: info@webtruth.org
Note to Webtruth readers: Rosaria is a Presbyterian Christian who takes a post-millennial view of eschatology, and attends a church that practises exclusive psalmody. Both of these views make a low key appearance in her book.
