“Crisis of Confidence” by Carl R. Trueman – Some Thoughts

By John-Mark Allmand-Smith

Carl Trueman’s new & revised edition of “The Creedal Imperative” is needed now more than ever. Published under the title Crisis of Confidence, he shows why the forces against the use of creeds and confessions have only grown in recent times. In 2012, there would have been few readers of “The Creedal Imperative” dealing with the question of gender pronouns in their churches, but times have changed. As Trueman says, we have woken up in a “strange new world” and unless we firmly anchor ourselves to the seafloor, we will be left helplessly drowning in the cultural waters within which we swim.
 

This book brings together, in a concise form, some of the excellent research Trueman presents in “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self”. His diagnosis of our cultural mindset as one of expressive individualism and self-identity is truly insightful. As a younger person I often find attempts at diagnosing the culture a little over-simplistic and shallow, but Trueman’s is neither. He shows the impact of consumerism, technology, anti-authoritarianism and several other themes upon the western psyche and points out how they all turn churches against the plain, old and authoritative creeds and confessions of the past.

This update adds much renewed cultural analysis and readers will find fresh insight amidst the other pages from discussion on the validity of a “no creed but the Bible” approach to the doxological nature of confessionalism.

I pray that this book will contribute to the formation of a genuine confessionalism in more and more churches throughout the Western world. It is one of the great needs of our times and all of us who pursue it face an uphill battle as we seek to fight against the cultural air we breathe. The fact is that although there has been a general embrace of confessions of faith by the evangelical community since Trueman first published his book, seeking a practical confessionalism in the West is still regarded as slightly odd, sectarian and a slippery slope towards mediaeval religion. This is sadly truer in my own country of the United Kingdom than the United States, but it could easily be said for both.

This ought not to discourage us, for if Trueman is right, it will take a total shift of mindset and first-principles for any church to genuinely seek a confessional approach to the faith. If it does, it will be on the front foot before this “strange new world”, but if it doesn’t, it will be forever playing catch-up.

Read “Crisis of Confidence”, give it to a friend, and pray that the Lord would use it to reform his Church.

Footnotes

¹ Carl R. Trueman, Crisis of Confidence: Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity (Wheaton, Crossway, 2024).

Picture of John-Mark Allmand-Smith

John-Mark Allmand-Smith