Saving Leonardo

Saving Leonardo - a call to resist the secular assault on mind, morals and meaning.

Kevin Moss | May 2014 - Highfields Book of the Month

By Nancy Pearcey - (2010) Nashville: B&H Publishing Group

This book will provide you with invaluable insights, and a sufficient grasp of culture and history to be able to provide a robust, counter-narrative, as an antidote to the poison of creeping secularism, which is damaging our children.

leoThis is one of the best books I have read.  Ever.  So, perversely, I am a little nervous of recommending it.  Why might that be?

Because 'Saving Leonardo' isn't yet out in paperback, and at £16.12 (Amazon price) my guess is that it's the kind of book that most Christians would need a quite a bit of persuading to buy.

It's a book for parents, seeking to understand the 'stuff' that will get forced into their children's brains, within our secularised education system

Of course, you could stump up £14.51 for the Kindle edition, but why would you?  Part of the joy of this 281-page volume (excluding endnotes) is the sheer quality of the production - the texture of the satin-sheen paper, the plethora of full-colour illustrations throughout, the visual impact of the thing on your coffee-table, inviting you to reach for it and turn the page.

This is a book to read and re-read.  It's a book for parents, seeking to understand the 'stuff' that will get forced into their children's brains, within our secularised education system.  It's a book for anyone who finds the onslaught of secularism at times too overwhelming.  It's a book for A-Level students, preparing to go off to college or university, and seeking to understand the intellectual pitfalls that they're likely to encounter.  It's a book for anyone who looks at our present culture, and is seeking to answer the question, "How on earth did we get here?".

It's a book for A-Level students, preparing to go off to college or university, and seeking to understand the intellectual pitfalls that they're likely to encounter

In short, Nancy Pearcey has written almost the perfect resource for Christians seeking to think Christianly about our culture.  She provides a well-structured, and incisively-written guide to the threat of secularism (part 1) and the two paths to secularism (part 2).  The book is, necessarily, an overview, but it is sprinkled so richly with specific examples and case-studies, that there is never any danger of polemic riding rough-shod over the facts.  In short, the author is not being alarmist, but she does unequivocally demonstrate the damage done to our culture by the systematic eradication of God, and Christian values from Western society.

Nancy Pearcey has written almost the perfect resource for Christians seeking to think Christianly about our culture

'Saving Leonardo' was published in 2010, and I bought my copy immediately.  As at the time of writing this review, mine is still the only review on Amazon (UK) - and given the significance of the book, that is something I find more than faintly alarming.

Most Christian parents that I know exhibit some unease about what happens to their children when they head off into the State education system.  Most of them then spend the next 13-16 years doing their best to fight a rearguard action against what is now a systematic 'forcing' of the secular mindset (think of rhubarb, kept in the dark), and discovering that, in many cases, it is an impossible task.  This book, on its own, is not The Answer - but it will provide you with invaluable insights, and a sufficient grasp of culture and history to be able to provide a robust, counter-narrative, as an antidote to the poison of creeping secularism, which is damaging our children.

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Book of the Month

Special Offer

Saving Leonardo - Special OfferThis book will be available on the bookstall from 18th May at £8 each. The normal full cost is shown in the book review itself (£16.12), so this is less than half price! With ONLY twenty copies (limited stock) - once they're gone, they're gone!! 

Bookstall

The bookstall is located in the entrance foyer at Highfields Church Cathays