Think you’ve ever deceived yourself? Then this book is for you.

Think you’ve never deceived yourself? Then this book is really for you.

James K. A. Smith
 — Calvin College
​“Socrates famously asserted that the unexamined life is not worth living. But Gregg Ten Elshof shows us that we make all sorts of little deals with ourselves every day in order to stave off examination and remain happily self-deceived. Most provocatively, he suggests this is not all bad! While naming its temptations, Ten Elshof also offers a ​‘strange celebration’ of self-deception as a gracious gift. In the tradition of Dallas Willard, I Told Me So is a wonderful example of philosophy serving spiritual discipline. A marvelous, accessible and, above all, wise book.” /

David Naugle 
— Dallas Baptist University
​“In this wise, well-crafted work Ten Elshof helps us to identify, evaluate, and respond to our own self-deceptive strategies, as he probes — with occasional self-deprecation and unavoidable humor — the bottomless mysteries of the human heart. His reflections on interpersonal self-deception and ​‘groupthink’ are especially helpful. To tell me the truth, I’m glad I read this book. You will be too — I promise.”

Dallas Willard (from the foreword)
​“Ten Elshof’s discussions are erudite, biblical, searching, and laced with soul-restoring wisdom. All of this together means that this book is solidly pastoral. What it brings to us is appropriate to individuals, but it especially belongs in the context of small groups and local congregations.”

About the Author

Gregg A. Ten Elshof is professor of philosophy at Biola University, La Mirada, California. His book I Told Me So: Self-Deception and the Christian Life won the Christianity Today 2009 Book Award in the Christian Living category.

2009