Truth Telling in a Post-Truth World

In recent years, truth has become a relative term. How can we recognize the truth when everyone does “what is right in their own eyes”? When we accept and expect lies, how is civil society possible? If everyone has their own moral compass, is there any compass at all?

Drawing on his expertise as an ethics scholar at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology, D. Stephen Long explains the vital role of truth in securing our freedom and the duty of people of faith to recognize the truth and speak it. “Truth Telling in a Post-Truth World” reminds all of us how to witness to the truth and share it as a beacon of hope.

D. Stephen Long is Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. He received his Ph.D. from Duke University and is an ordained United Methodist elder who has served churches in Honduras and North Carolina. He works in the intersection between theology and ethics and has published more than 50 essays and 14 books. He is an avid cyclist and is married to Ricka. They have three children. Long is also the editor of the Theopolitical Visions Series (Cascade) and the Ekklesia Series (Eerdmans). He is past president of the Christian Theological Research Fellowship; founding member of North Shore Theology; Association; and member of the Society of Christian Ethics, American Academy of Religion, and Wesleyan Theological Society.

Praise for Truth Telling in a Post-Truth World

“With characteristic intelligence, erudition and passion, Steve Long helps us see that the lie makes the achievement of justice impossible. Drawing on a storehouse of examples from history and the present, he shows how the refusal to tell the truth about wrongs makes impossible political alternatives to the lie. This is a book that can be read at many levels and hopefully will find its way to many readers.”

— Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Emeritus Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School and Duke University School of Law; and co-author of Resident Aliens

“With this important book, Steve Long renders a great service to Christians and to this nation. Long dives to considerable depths in scripture, theology, and philosophy to analyze and respond to how America arrived at a President Donald Trump— and why so many purportedly Christian Americans support him. This is timely, brave public theology.”

— David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics; Director, Center for Theology and Public Life, Mercer University; Past President American Academy of Religion, Society of Christian Ethics