The Mountain and the River: Genesis, Postmodernism, and the Machine by Albert Norton

New English Review Press is pleased to announce the publication of our forty-ninth title: The Mountain and the River: Genesis, Postmodernism, and the Machine by Albert Norton.

Western civilization is at a precarious crossroad. It relies on objectivity of truth and of right and wrong, a first principle until about the turn of the twentieth century. But in more recent years postmodern ideas of truth-formation began to gain traction, and Christianity lost its grip on Western cultures in favor of secular ideologies. The result has been the bloodiest century in human history, and the accelerated proliferation of oppressive ideologies. Postmodern critiques during this time have become general in the culture, like a virus escaped from the lab.

We live this life in the body conscious of a vaguely felt lack of completeness. We may describe it as “alienation,” leaving open-ended what about us is being alienated from what. The Genesis worldview tells us the alienation is a natural condition of our existence, unfortunately. It is the result of our moral agency and our two-nature, spiritual and material essence: we are dust-formed but also God-breathed. If we reject the Genesis worldview, the sense of alienation does not go away, and so we grope around trying to explain it. Hence postmodern theory.

This book is about the chasm between the Genesis worldview, and that of postmodernism. The differences are not merely competing truth claims, but competing claims about how truth is formed in the first place. And not only truth, but right and wrong, and even beauty. Where do these ideals originate, and why do we struggle so much now in our pursuit of them? There is an answer, and we can find our way to it by rejecting disastrous flirtations with postmodernist critique and negation, to recover individual human dignity, and freedom, and even a renewed sense of brotherhood by appeal to universal values even in our differences.

Advance Praise for The Mountain and the River:

 Erudite, eloquent, challenging, illuminating, insightful, thoughtful and thought-provoking.
— Micah Andrew, Midwest Book Review.

Whatever your philosophical or religious standpoint, Mr. Norton is sure to challenge it in a constructive and thought-provoking way. His dissection of our current philosophical impasse and its consequences is forthright and illuminating.
—Theodore Dalrymple, author of Farewell Fear and Grief and Other Stories.

     In The Mountain and the River, author Albert Norton states that “We all feel the need for a sense of purpose and meaning in our lives…. Inside each of us is a burbling conviction of our own significance in a larger drama that yet remains invisible to us.” In the tradition of C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer and other astute cultural critics, he notes: “This book is about the chasm between two worldviews: that of Genesis and that of postmodernism.” Currently, “Western civilization is at a precarious crossroad”… as postmodern thinking has become pervasive in our culture “like a virus escaped from the lab.”
Throughout the book the author systematically and meticulously applies the principles of a comprehensive Christian worldview to a broad range of contemporary issues – everything from contrasting philosophies regarding biblical revelation and interpretation to current controversies over morality and ethics, sex and gender, modern psychology, contemporary political ideologies, “woke” capitalism, and the impending collapse of traditional Western civilization. The result is a veritable intellectual feast and essential reading for those who seek to understand the turbulent times in which we live. Highly recommended!
—Jefrey D. Breshears, former history professor, founder of The Areopagus, and author of American Crisis: Cultural Marxism and the Culture War; C. S. Lewis on Politics, Government, and the Good Society; and Francis Schaeffer: A Retrospective on His Life & Legacy.