Book Review: The Undercover Revolution (Iain H. Murray)

As we consider the present state of our nation, the question of “how did we get here?” comes to our minds.  How did what was until just a few generations ago the most powerful nation on earth, end up like this?  How did a nation which has surely known more light from the Word of God than any other Gentile nation, end up such a spiritual wasteland?

First and foremost, of course, what we see is the judgment of God.  So much common grace, poured out abundantly for centuries, yet they became prideful and arrogant, and despised God:

“[E]ven though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over…” (Romans 1:21-24).

Men like J. C. Ryle warned them of the consequences of their arrogance, and their atheism, and called them to repent: “[O]f one thing I am very sure – the State that begins by sowing the seed of national neglect of God, will sooner or later reap a harvest of national disaster and national ruin.”¹ But they did not repent. The story of the Victorian age in so many ways echoes the story of Babel: “[T]hey said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth”” (Genesis 11:4).

Meanwhile, false teachers were accommodated, and eventually celebrated at the highest levels – men like Darwin, who set himself to peddle what he himself called “the devil’s gospel.”² The people embraced what their hearts wanted to believe, for they heard teachings which they imagined allowed them to indulge their sins without fear of consequence.

Even worse, the visible church, which should have been a preservative against the national decay, took a leading part in this turning away from God. Darwin was given a lavish funeral at Westminster Abbey, where he was buried with high honour. Liberalism destroyed true religion, and replaced it with self-righteous, humanistic idolatry. The true Gospel was cast away like something profane and worthless.

The Role of Secular Fiction in the Collapse of a Nation

All this is true. But Iain Murray, in this little book, has identified something which has been largely missed: The role of secular fiction in the collapse of the nation. Some may be skeptical. Fiction is just entertainment, isn’t it? Just a bit of relaxation, fun, and harmless escapism? That deception is precisely what Murray seeks to expose. There is nothing neutral in this world, and the devil has exploited our blindness in this area to devastating effect. Murray writes:

“A most potent attack on Christianity in modern times has been little recognized. Most of the writers to whom I will refer used fiction to present something they believed to be better than the Christian life. Their presentations were to become the accepted wisdom of succeeding generations and they have powerfully affected society down to the present day. Yet it can be shown that their motivation did not spring from the finding of something better; it came rather from a dislike of the evangelical truth which most of them knew in their childhood. I shall argue that their claim to have arrived at a better knowledge, when tested by the evidence of their lives (now fully documented by many biographers), will be found to be fraudulent. The truth is that it is unbelief rather than Christianity that depends upon the irrational for its survival.”³

Murray exposes the Anti-christian motivation of these writers, who’s specific intention was to kick against the Christianity they had been raised in as children. Their desire was to attack and undermine the truth, as they went their own way in sin and rebellion. Murray writes, for example: “[Thomas] Hardy instead of being ‘a harmless agnostic’ was clearly hostile to the Christian revelation of God. This comes out plainly in the poetry which he published in the second half of his career, when tired of being ‘shot at’ for his novels.”⁴ What is more:

“[I]t was Christ himself to whom such men as [George Bernard] Shaw and [Bertrand] Russell chiefly objected. But the advocates of unbelief rarely made that acknowledgment. They chose rather to present themselves as standing for ‘knowledge’ versus ignorance – the ‘enlightened new’ against the outworn old. The truth was rather that their moral state controlled their thinking… ‘All that men need is knowledge’, was the claim, the assumption being that human nature will respond to truth. An advocate of that opinion once said that if only God were to reveal himself, all men would worship. That God had done this, and men crucified the Lord of glory, was not to be believed.”⁵

The Need for the Men of Issachar

This book reminds me in some ways of Paul Johnson’s Intellectuals.⁶ Johnson similarly exposes many of the self-proclaimed gurus of the new morality: Men like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Henrik Ibsen, Leo Tolstoy, and Bertrand Russell. These writers, poets, and philosophers claimed to offer a secular, humanistic utopia to mankind. If only we would all cast away the Bible, and follow their teachings instead, the world would enter a new golden age of love and justice and progress.

Well, “the tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). These men spoke in lofty terms about the good of humanity in general. But as Johnson shows, in their dealings with actual human individuals in their own lives – friends, family, close associates – they were cruel, self-serving, and heartless. After examining briefly the wretched, miserable, and tragic lives of a number of writers – such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy, Bertrand Russell, and H. G. Wells – Murray likewise concludes:

“The claim that the progressives were admirers of a better morality was one of the great falsehoods of history. Love for all the world was a maxim they taught as the way to world peace. But love for individuals, and peace in their lives, were conspicuously absent. The moral code to be found in ‘self-realization’ was, in reality, no more than the love of self: the ‘good’ was whatever the heart desired.”⁷

Is it not just the same with so-called “liberals” and “progressives” today?

I’m happy to finally see someone coming at this subject from a Biblical, Christian perspective. For far too long Christians have walked in ignorance of this particular variety of false teacher, who by stealthy means – works of fiction – subtly yet powerfully shape our minds.

We desperately need men of Issachar in the church today: “[M]en who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). We must stand upon Scripture alone, and be willing to test and examine everything – all our presuppositions, all our received “wisdom”, all that we take for granted without a thought – to see whether it is in accordance with the truth.

Upholding the Truth in a World of Lies

The Apostle Paul writes, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). Having done this, Murray then proceeds to the second part of the book, which asks and answers this question: “Is Christianity Fiction?”

Murray presents a defense of the Christian faith as rooted and grounded in history, in contrast to the lies and myths of the pagan writers of secular novels. He writes:

“The only credible explanation of the perfect match between the Messiah of the Old Testament and Jesus Christ is the one given in Scripture. God planned a way of salvation; he announced it beforehand, and brought it to pass in a manner that left the disciples themselves amazed… So far is the portrayal of the character and work of Christ above human devising that the very possibility can scarcely be conceived. What we see in Christ transcends humanity.”⁸

Murray sets forth the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as a massage which offers something far greater than all the lying, false utopias invented by the imaginations of carnal men. This message is the truth, and it is wonderful good news indeed! He writes:

“The first disciples did not find Christ; he found them, forgave them, changed them. From the time they met him after his resurrection they believed he was present to give new life wherever his word went. All their assurance was in him. From this came a startling claim in their preaching, and one of vital relevance to us. The New Testament teaches that the Christian faith is verifiable anywhere, and at any time, because Christ lives now to make himself known. He will meet all who, acknowledging their sins, come to him in repentance and faith.”⁹

So, who do you say Jesus is? If you reading this are not a Christian – if you are still following after the lies and delusions of the secular writers – then the call of the Gospel is clearly set before you: Repent of your sin, and turn to Christ in faith, trusting in Him alone for salvation. In Him alone is eternal life, and reconciliation with the God against whom you have sinned and rebelled. This is not fiction: It is reality, and it is history. Christ came into this world, lived, died, rose again, and ascended. He did this on behalf of all – individually, and personally – who will ever repent and believe in Him. Will you repent? Will you believe the truth, and so be saved?

This little book by Iain Murray carries a weight out of proportion to its size. It needs to be read and considered by all Christians, as we strive to cultivate a comprehensive and consistent Biblical worldview, and to examine everything in our lives according to Scripture. We must see things as their really are, and be transformed by the renewal of our mind.

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1 J. C. Ryle, What Good Will It Do? A Question About the Disestablishment of the Church of England, Examined and Answered (London: William Hunt and Company, 1872), p.27.

2 Charles Darwin, “Letter to T. H. Huxley, 8^th August 1860”, The University of Cambridge: Darwin Correspondence Project. Available at: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2893.xml, accessed 27^th March 2026.

3 Iain H. Murray, The Undercover Revolution: How Fiction Changed Britain (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009), pp.6-7.

4 Ibid, p.40.

5 Ibid, pp.62-63.

6 Paul Johnson, Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky (New York: Harper Perennial, 2007).

7 Murray, The Undercover Revolution, p.66.

8 Ibid, pp.90-91.

9 Ibid, pp.93-94.

Image:  Andrew Barden, “Iain H. Murray, The Undercover Revolution” (August 2026).