Remaking the World

Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West
by Andrew Wilson

1. Would you Recommend this Book?
Absolutely.

2. What is the Main Point?
Wilson argues convincingly that the modern Western world has been built on top of Christian truths, but then has made efforts to keep the fruit while removing the roots. Wilson uses the year 1776 both as a lens and display of this reality. He takes Joseph Henrich’s acronym W.E.I.R.D. to describe the oddness historically of the Western world as Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, and adds Ex-Christian and Romantic, and then arguing that these things are the result of Christianity.

3. Which Parts should I read if I’m short on Time?
Chapters 1-3 will give you a good understanding of the thesis while the rest of the chapters put meat on the bones.
Chapter 2 may be my favorite chapter, as Wilson shows in very practical terms how much different the average modern western person is from virtually every other human in world history. For instance, you can read, you’ve been educated in a wide variety of subjects that don’t impact your daily life just for the sake of the education itself (and you keep seeking learning throughout your life, like your reading this), you’re sitting within 30 seconds of a toilet, you are neither too hot nor too cold thanks to air conditioning and heat, you have the right to vote, you believe you should be able to choose for yourself what you want to eat, who you want to marry, how big your family will be, and what your profession will be, you doubt the miraculous and struggle with mystery, you distinguish sharply between the religious and secular, you believe in religious liberty, you reject polygamy, you believe the King should be subject to the law, you believe the rich should care for the poor, you abhor slavery, you think the central unit in human relations is the self rather than the community to which the self belongs, you think love is more important than honor, and are more attracted to humility than pride, authenticity is more important than conformity, and the only real moral wrongs are that which cause harm or are unfair, and on and on and on Wilson goes about so many of the things that make us weird compared to all humans historically.

4. Why does this book Matter?
This book will greatly help you understand our American and Western world, and to see the gravity of how different we are as modern people than virtually any humans before us. It is similar to “The Air We Breathe,” and “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,” in making sense of the world we live in, two books I have already written recommendations for here.

5. Is this Book an “Easy-Read?” (Include Length)
Not particularly, but it isn’t because of heady jargon, just simply because it is pretty dense.

6. Who is this Author and what did you think of their writing?
Andrew Wilson is a brilliant pastor from London who is fun to read. I enjoyed this book perhaps mostly just for the wealth of history that Wilson laid out from cover to cover; if you like history, you will love this book; if you don’t . . . you may not.

7. What is One Key Take-Away or Application for my life?
This book (along with Scrivener’s and Truman’s), in the best way, has made me question so much that I simply took for granted. Why do I think democratic governments are best, why do I think pursuing education/learning for the sake of itself is a worthy endeavor? Wilson opens up the book of history to show how things have changed and thus how conversations with people in our worlds can be better understood. In all likeilihood, for instance, the non-Christian person I am talking to believes that all humans should be treated equally, but they are sitting on the branch that my Christianity is holding up while trying to saw it off of that tree and expecting it to stay in the air.

8. What was One point of Disagreement?
Not disagreement, but the reason I will recommend Scrivener’s book ahead of this one is because it is much more clear philosophically about Christianity as the cause of these “Weird” Western beliefs, while Wilson’s thesis can be lost amidst the breadth of history.

9. What are any other things that stood out to You?
2 things that stood out to me from the book as fascinating:
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he wrote, “I hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable;” however, Ben Franklin changed it to, “I hold these truths to be self-evident.” This subtle shift from sacred (Holy, set apart, Right) to self-evident shows the shift well that Wilson is outlining. By no means had those truths been self-evident to humans throughout history, but Franklin’s words were an effort to hold onto the good fruit of equality and human rights while cutting them off from the tree trunk of sacred Christian teaching.
Today, all nations but 6 worldwide claim to be democratic (even the ones that aren’t), so today over 7 billion people live in a nation that claims to be some form of democracy; in 1775 that number was Zero.

10. Have you read any books similar to this one that you would recommend one to read first to help with this one?
Yes, first read Glen Scrivener’s “The Air We Breathe,” and I would also read Truman’s “Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,” as mentioned above.