Authored by Rob Grunden
Tinker, Melvin. That Hideous Strength: How the West Was Lost. Darlington, United Kingdom: Evangelical Press, 2018. 130 pp. $12.00.
Introduction
Few issues have caused the level of division in our culture to the degree of those topics found in this book. The matters discussed in Tinker’s little book are explosive. They have caused political, pop-cultural, ecclesiastical, and even familial upheaval, especially within the past few years as scales are beginning to fall from eyes, so to speak. The book deals with issues related to or produced by Critical Theory and Marxism. Issues such as these, being the geographical ground upon which the war for the hearts and minds of the majority are fought, not only deserve a detailed treatment, but require one.
In That Hideous Strength: How the West Was Lost, Melvin Tinker (1955-2021) packs an enormous amount of information into a digestible package. Tinker was respected by his peers and was a trusted pastor, scholar, writer, and theologian. He produced 19 books and contributed several articles to various evangelical outlets. Much of his experience, studies, and writing aids to his expertise in the subject matter of this particular written work.
Summary
There are certainly more detailed books on the market with similar messaging, however, Tinker’s use of this work of C. S. Lewis and the amount of information despite the brevity of his book set him apart in the field. Tinker frames his book by utilizing the work of renowned author and thinker, C. S. Lewis. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength is an insightful work of science fiction, published in 1945 that bears a striking resemblance to our recent and current reality. Tinker uses the main plot, characters, and organizations from Lewis’ book to create vivid illustrations and insights into our contemporary cultural moment. He attempts to unveil the playbook developed by groups such as the Frankfurt School of the 1930’s and to convince the reader that this playbook is still very much in use today. Within the forward of the book, Daniel Strange correctly points out the importance for such a book in this cultural moment as we “are engaged in a religious war, a war of competing worldviews…we don’t see the worldviews because we see with them” (14). Tinker’s work in this book attempts to remove the eyeglasses from our faces to expose the phrase written on the cover, the cancer of cultural Marxism in the church, the world and the gospel of change.
Critical Evaluation
Tinker gives his thesis in the introduction of the book, which essentially states that he seeks to prove the importance and weightiness of story in crafting what humans believe is true and to shine a light on cultural Marxism as the “main ideology at work in the West” (19). He does this successfully. As mentioned before, and from what is obvious in the title of the book, he mainly compares the cultural happenings in the West, namely the downfall of morality and the introduction of cultural insanity, with the fictional story written by C. S. Lewis entitled, That Hideous Strength.
Of the characters that Tinker utilizes from That Hideous Strength; one of the major connections to the contemporary cultural landscape is the villain in Lewis’ book, which is not an individual, but an organization known as the National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.). The connection becomes obvious as Tinker states that the group does not believe in the supernatural while, in reality is controlled by the very supernatural world in which they do not believe (25). He points out that the Scriptures clearly teach that there is an unseen yet ongoing war happening everywhere all at once. Tinker aptly makes the comparison using Paul’s letter to the Ephesian saints, in which Paul reminds them that their “struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). The comparison Tinker makes between N.I.C.E. and the various leaders and influencers in the West hits home with this point. It truly is a similar situation in this respect. Not only have both bought into the fictional idea that there is no supernatural, but both are consumed with being anti-supernatural. While both, in reality, are being consumed by that great lion prowling around “seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). They are spiritual pawns that do not believe in the spiritual.
A book like Tinker’s has not done its job if there is no call to action. He does this successfully throughout his book and begins on the point of the reality of the supernatural. He presses and challenges the reader when he states, “If it is the case that we are involved in a spiritual battle, as the Bible makes clear, Christians can’t yield the field to the secularists, in fact they have all the more vigorously to assert the supernatural” (27). This is quite a statement, one worthy of memorization and quotation. But why? What is his reasoning for such a challenge. He continues, “for, as we shall see in due course, whatever the particular ideologies the church has to contend with, they are manifestations of forces which mere human means are unable to overcome” (27). Tinker understands that if indeed this is a war that is spiritual in nature, then Christians must not rely on themselves, nor chiefly the plans or power of man to engage in each battle. The spiritual nature of the war means there is an absolute necessity for the church to fight with spiritual power and weaponry. For, “greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world” (1 Jn. 4:4).
After his initial jumping off point with the thoughtful comparison of current social elites with N.I.C.E., Tinker demonstrates his case masterfully with many quotes and references from the very mouths of those elites. There are several points of evidence presented from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. This is very helpful in the current era because the world of information, whether printed or electronic, written, audio, or video, is filled with unsubstantiated opinion, which isn’t helpful overall. This isn’t a danger with Tinker’s work. He plainly displays that these aren’t opinions about the beginnings of Critical Theory. These aren’t baseless claims about Cultural Marxism. These are given foundation, not by Tinker’s own interpretation of early works from the Frankfurt School, but by direct quotation from founders of that school, as well as many who have come afterward. In other words, in order to make a point about cultural Marxism, Tinker quotes the cultural Marxist.
A wonderful example of this is his breakdown of the documented plan to normalize homosexuality within the American culture found in the book After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s. Tinker spends time telling the reader a little about the authors of that work, Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, and then proceeds to break down the overall plan found within its pages to thwart the truth of God regarding the created order, marriage, family, and other similar things. Their plan is to essentially propagandize the culture via “emotional manipulation – through desensitization, jamming and conversion” (65). He, then gets to the practical methods behind how they intended to do, and indeed have done, this. He gives advertising as the first and then states, “In addition to advertising, two other main vehicles of persuasion have been harnessed – the media and education” (67). Tinker doesn’t stop there. He goes on to give a further breakdown into how they advertise, what it looks like practically for the media to be a weapon in the war, and gives quotes, statistics, and examples of this being done in the education system in the West.
Tinker concludes with a chapter entitled “Bringing Down Babel” (89) which is his suggestion to bring down the N.I.C.E. of our day. Tinker, in an earlier chapter, discusses the similarities of our present day with a story that, unlike That Hideous Strength is non-fiction. He utilizes the narrative of the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11). Having made insightful parallels between our current cultural moment and the story of Babel, he ends with a simple plan to take down today’s Babel. The plan requires each individual Christian, as well as the collective church, really to engage in three things, “commending God’s Truth, cultural engagement and courageous refusal and refutation” (93).
Conclusion
From the beginning to the end of Tinker’s That Hideous Strength: How the West Was Lost there is continuity, insightful comparison, unquestionably damning quotation from the cultural Marxists themselves, and the truth of the Scriptures proficiently weaved throughout. His work has proven valuable in my own understanding of these things and my local ministry will be enhanced because of it. Denominations and church partnerships of all shapes and sizes are being influenced by the N.I.C.E. of today, not excluding the conference of churches to which I belong, and it behooves the serious Christian to know the isles of Hell’s mall from which these things came.
Tinker’s work is an excellent little primer for any and all who would like an easily read, brief introduction to this subject matter. I have already recommended it to fellow pastors in my community, to elders and church members in my local church, and will continue to do so.
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