ENDORSEMENTS:
"This is the book with which to begin the regrounding of one's own soul in the real and also from which to draw the materials for a regeneration of our civilization." James Matthew Wilson, Cullen Foundation Chair in English Literature, University of Saint Thomas "Kudos to Jordan Cooper for providing the Body of Christ with a helpful and incisive primer of how the traditional (Greco-Roman, Judeo-Christian) understanding of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty has been relativized and deconstructed by modern and postmodern theories that are both theoretically and practically unsustainable. " Louis Markos, Professor in English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University; author of Atheism on Trial: Refuting the Modern Arguments Against God. "This is an excellent introduction to philosophy and its decline in modernity. The classical tradition of the Good, the True and the Beautiful is waiting to be rediscovered by jaded moderns who are tired of sophistry and relativism. This book is a door into a past that is still as relevant as ever because it sees reality as it really is." Craig A. Carter, Research Professor of Theology at Tyndale University; author of Contemplating God with the Great Tradition. |
TITLE: In Defense of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful: On the Loss of Transcendence and the Decline of the West
SERIES: Christ and Culture AUTHOR: Jordan B. Cooper DESCRIPTION: The modern Western world is full of confusion. Divides over religion, politics, and ethics continue to grow faster by the day. In the midst of this turmoil, a number of proposals have been offered as to why this is happening, along with a variety of solutions to these problems. Jordan Cooper argues that most treatments of our cultural condition do not go far enough in capturing the essential philosophical and theological shifts that have shaped the modern world. Cooper contends that the crisis faced by Westerners in the twenty-first century cannot be rightly discussed apart from the three transcendentals that shaped the Western tradition from Socrates through the Protestant Reformation: truth, goodness, and beauty. Western man's greatest need is not more technological development, better politicians, or radical revolution; our need is to be connected to the transcendental ground of our own being: God himself. In this work, these three transcendentals are discussed first as they were developed in classic Western thought, and second, as their importance has declined in the modern world. 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jordan Cooper is an ordained Lutheran pastor in the American Association of Lutheran Churches, a Professor of Systematic Theology, the Executive Director of Just and Sinner, and the President of the American Lutheran Theological Seminary. He has also held positions in multiple Christian organizations on campus at Cornell University. Cooper has authored several books, including his ongoing A Contemporary Protestant Scholastic Theology series, as well as theological articles in a variety of publications, including: Credo, Modern Reformation, Logia, Conspectus, Sapientia, the Christian Research Journal, the Issues Etc. Journal, Rowan and Littlefield's Encyclopedia of Martin Luther and the Reformation, and more. He has hosted the Just and Sinner Podcast since 2012, and also has a popular YouTube channel. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his wife Lisa and their two sons. |