Thaddeus Williams (associate professor of theology, B.A. ’01, M.A. ’05) releases Don’t Follow Your Heart – Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship, a compelling vision for the kind of Christianity that is truly countercultural, that rebels against the status quo, that offers something genuinely revolutionary.
We were never meant to bear the impossible weight of creating and sustaining our identities, but with the steady stream of propaganda telling us to be true to ourselves and live our best lives, it’s no wonder many of us are. In Don’t Follow Your Heart, Thaddeus Williams builds a case that self-worship is not authentic, it’s arrogant. It is not satisfying, it robs us of awe. It is hardly new and edgy, but is hopelessly traditionalist, rehashing what is literally humanity’s oldest lie.
As he explores the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship, Williams calls for a new generation of heretics, iconoclasts, renegades, mavericks, and rebels who refuse to march like good little cows, mooing in unison with the herd. He points us to a life beyond the boring, conventional, and self-defeating dogmas of self-worship and shows us how much more meaningful a life centered on God can truly be.
Don’t Follow Your Heart features:
- A fascinating blend of theology, philosophy, science, psychology, and pop culture.
- Grim stories of many patron saints of self-worship including Nero, Rousseau, de Sade, Nietzsche, Sartre, Foucault, and Jim Morrison.
- Accounts of notable heretics who rebelled against self-worship, including Frederick Douglass, William Wilberforce, Sophie Scholl, and G.K. Chesterton.
- Testimonies through the voices of Joni Eareckson Tada, the Navarros, Jamal Bandy, J. P. Moreland, Josh McDowell, Alyssa Poblete, Trevor Wright, David Chung, Alisa Childers, and Walt Heyer.
- Straightforward ways to rebel against the mainstream message of self-worship.
With the publication of Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth, Professor Williams established himself as a leading evangelical philosophical theologian with a tender heart for Jesus and others. He also possesses a keen eye for the hot-button issues in culture that are undermining unbelievers and believers alike. Now comes Don’t Follow Your Heart, a penetrating book of insights that get deep into the heart of the emotional and spiritual suffering ubiquitous in our society. Not content to identify the fundamental problems, Williams goes on to provide us with ways to spot a set of problems in our own lives and practical steps to set them aside and live a more flourishing biblical life. The book is deep but quite accessible and fun to read. I strongly recommend this book.