Happy Lies: How a Movement You (Probably) Never Heard Of Shaped Our Self-Obsessed World

Melissa Dougherty

Jan 2025 · Zondervan · Narrated by Melissa Dougherty

About this audiobook

Read by the author.

In this groundbreaking book, popular apologist Melissa Dougherty helps us understand how our society got to be so toxically subjective, why endless positivity is inherently destructive, and how we can live with faithful truth and genuine love in these self-obsessed times.

Melissa Dougherty skillfully diagnoses the issue and provides the cure: the authentic and life-giving truth of the Christian worldview. - Wesley Huff

Have you ever wondered how we ended up in a world where personal feelings could become the authority for reality? Or why so many of us are on a relentless pursuit for happiness yet somehow feel more exhausted and sadder than ever? You're not alone.

Melissa deftly traces the roots of today's social chaos back to a little-known (but very influential) 1800s philosophy known as New Thought. A former follower of its teachings, Melissa provides clarity and compassion mixed with a dash of loving snark as she exposes New Thought's deceptions and its many concerning tendrils within the church and our "self-help" culture.

You'll be shocked, grieved, and encouraged as you learn:

• How you can experience true freedom, hope, and peace instead of the world's counterfeits
• How an anti-God ideology so easily hijacked Christian-sounding ideas
• Why thinking positively is entirely different from the unbiblical and burdensome "positive thought" movement
• Why fake "authenticity" short-circuits real redemption
• How understanding the New Thought mindset can help us share our faith more effectively

Uncover a dangerous ideology that nearly everyone has met, yet few of us can name, in order to better understand our culture and joyfully live faithful to the gospel that is so much better than our world's Happy Lies.

A diagram can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

Ratings and reviews

This is an eye opening book, for all the right reasons. Melissa Dougherty, with love and humor, goes deep into New Thought, its history, its big players, its beliefs, and how many Christians can fall for these metaphysical or even occult beliefs without realizing it because it sounds biblical. (Spoiler: it's not all New Age like we thought.) I had never even heard of New Thought before discovering her YT channel, and I'm glad she wrote about this topic. It really sheds light on where a lot of issues in church and society stem from, due to the subtle roots of the New Thought mindset creeping through both. A lot of its teachings will probably sound familiar to you, as it did to me, and once you read/listen to this book, you'll have a name for it and know what to look for. She holds up New Thought and Biblical Christianity side by side, and the differences are mind blowing. More people need to know about this. I highly recommend this book, and will be sharing it with others.

great

About the author

Melissa Dougherty is a Christian apologist best known for her YouTube channel with over 261,000 subscribers and counting. Her videos, which primarily cover New Age and New Thought, have been viewed over 18 million times. Melissa is highly regarded and connected in the apologetics community. She has had numerous influential guests on her YouTube channel and is a frequent guest on the YouTube videos and podcasts of popular thinkers as well. Melissa has a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Southern Evangelical Seminary, where she’s also pursuing her master’s degree in religious studies. Melissa is married with two daughters and lives in New Mexico.