Thinking Christianly

Thinking Christianly


#11: Is New Always Better? The Temptation to be a Chronological Snob

February 15, 2022

C.S. Lewis defined chronological snobbery as “…the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited.” In this podcast, Stan and JP talk about this idea as a danger to Christians seeking to become mature in their faith, practical tips to wisely discern the value of old ideas, and how to rethink some of our modern assumptions.


In this podcast we discuss:


  • The idea of “chronological snobbery”
  • The necessity of reading beyond our own time and place
  • How our cultural chronological snobbery thwarts our search for happiness in the modern era
  • What it means to be a “dinosaur” and why we, like C.S. Lewis, should be one!
  • A word about forgotten, pre-Enlightenment ideas
  • How to avoid the fallacies of appeal to novelty or tradition
  • The “clean sea breeze of the centuries,” and the benefit of historical understanding
  • How reading old books can help us become mature Christians

Resources mentioned during our conversation: