Note: This week's post was particularly challenging because of the topic. I am often challenged to write these posts every week because it is difficult to read the book thoroughly enough to feel confident. This week's topic is one that is a hot issue in our society today. I hope and pray I did the book and topic justice.
Throughout my years of working with children, teens,
young adults, and people in various countries, they all want to know the
answers to the following questions: Who am I? Where do I belong? What is my
purpose?[1] The culture, in which we
live today, embraces expressive individualism and sexual identity politics [2] to the extent that I find myself
in a fog knowing how to navigate all the nuances.
Those morals and values connected to sexuality have changed
dramatically from my childhood. Going for a routine doctor visit results in me
being an anomaly of profound proportion, because my virginity is so rare that I
usually have to explain it. Then there is the young person, who has gone
through drug therapy to be male and now is pregnant, only to be angry that he
cannot participate in the male chorus because of complications with the
pregnancy. I am confused. Or my friend who recently closed his church because
his understanding of how to best be Jesus within the LGBTQ+ community is in
conflict with church doctrine. I am sad and confused. In the midst of this fog,
I find myself asking how these examples are different from the individual who
defines themselves by their obesity, overcommitments, profanity, indulgence in pornography
or indiscriminate sex? Is it possible to live a holy life that is gracious,
accepting, without giving a green light to sin? What does that look like?
Carl E. Trueman’s, The Rise and Triumph of the
Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism and the Road to Sexual
Revolution, draws a historical map “to illustrate the contemporary
conception of…self,”[3]the influences of the last
400 years that have systematically shifted the Western culture from a self,
defined by a Creator God[4] to emotivism and
expressive individualism through a sexual lens.[5] Trueman, a professor of biblical and religious
studies at Grove City College, church historian,[6] and qualified lawyer,[7]uses his vast skills to
build a “genealogical sequence to get us to where we are today.”[8]
Part one of this four-part book provides the framework
for understanding the lines of connection to today. Trueman lays this
foundation on the works of “sociologist Philip Rieff,” “philosopher Charles Taylor,”
and “ethicist Alasdair MacIntyre.” [9] He skillfully links the
thoughts of these men to explain humanity’s focus internally to define morality
“by one’s sense of therapeutic fulfillment and authentic self-actualization.” [10]
In parts 2 and 3, Trueman reveals his historical intellect
by using: Rousseau, Nietzsche, Marx, and Darwin to reveal the “lineage of the modern
conception of self.” [11] He further broadens the
readers understanding by including the perspective of the poets: Woodsworth,
Shelley, and Blake. Sigmund Freud, Wilhelm Reich, and Herbert Marcuse are the
theorist who reveal the humanity’s desire “seeking maximal (sexual) expression”
with “freedom from restraint or oppression."[12]
Trueman uses his legal background to demonstrate how the
“triumph of the sexualize self” [13] has impacted the thoughts
and processes of the legal system.
The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
is a book that requires a more time to digest all the connections and
implications. It does bring some clarity to my thoughts and feelings as to the
apparent over-sexualization of society today that seems to be a distraction
from God’s intent for his creation.
[1] Michele Borba Ed.D., Esteem Builders:
A K-8 Self-Esteem Curriculum For Improving Student Achievement, Behavior and
School Climate, Second (Torrence, CA: Jalmar Press, 2003).
[2] Nathan Williams, “A Review of The Rise
and Triumph of the Modern Self,” The Master’s Seminary (blog), March 9,
2021, https://blog.tms.edu/a-review-of-the-rise-and-triumph-of-the-modern-self.
[3] Anthony Selvaggio, “The Rise and Triumph
of the Modern Self: A Review,” February 24, 2021,
https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2021/02/the-rise-and-triumph-of-the-modern-self-a-review/.
[4] Andrew T. Walker, “The Most Important
Cultural Book of the Year (Maybe Even Decade) Review: ‘The Rise and Triumph of
the Modern Self’ by Carl Trueman,” TGC: The Gospel Coalition (blog),
November 18, 2020,
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/rise-triumph-modern-self-carl-trueman/.
[5] Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph
of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to
Sexual Revolution (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2020).
[6] Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph
of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to
Sexual Revolution (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2020).
[7] Selvaggio, “The Rise and Triumph of the
Modern Self: A Review.”
[8] Walker, “The Most Important Cultural Book
of the Year (Maybe Even Decade) Review: ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern
Self’ by Carl Trueman.”
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Selvaggio, “The Rise and Triumph of the
Modern Self: A Review.”
[12] Walker, “The Most Important Cultural Book
of the Year (Maybe Even Decade) Review: ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern
Self’ by Carl Trueman.”
[13] Selvaggio, “The Rise and Triumph of the
Modern Self: A Review.”
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