Why are things changing so fast in the West today? Why is there such a huge shift in how people view identity and personhood? How did we get to the point of gender becoming completely arbitrary if you wanted it to be so? In my 22 years of living on planet Earth, I have watched things change insanely fast. It's hard to believe that there once was a time when gay marriage was still illegal, and now there are serious consequences for refusing to address someone by their preferred gender identity. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is the PERFECT book for you if you are as dumbfounded as I am and are looking for some insightful answers. Please note that for the popular level reader, Trueman has another book titled Strange New World that is far shorter in length and is meant as a sort of boiled-down version of the book in question for this blog.
Overview
I feel quite intimidated to give an overview of this long and comprehensive text, so I will just give my short version. The book essentially aims to trace the development of the Western idea of the "self", which, in other words, can be described as identity or personhood. The book wants to make progress toward understanding how our Western culture reached a point of the sexual revolution and "expressive individualism", which, by my crude definition, is the idea that personal identity comes from within the person rather than outside forces (hence the idea where one's own feelings can dictate biological facts). Trueman goes through many key moments and figures of history that had a profound impact on how individuals viewed themselves. While going through these key elements of history, Trueman offers commentary and sometimes critique, giving the reader some guidance and insight into how they affected the way most Westerners see the world today. Trueman also sometimes offers a Christian POV on things.
Trueman draws heavily on the writings of Charles Taylor, Phillip Rieff, and Alasdair MacIntyre for this volume. The curious reader would do well to investigate those 3 authors for more perspective.
My Thoughts
I found this book to be very rewarding to read. Before I make further comments though, I must admit that I do not have the historical insight necessary to appraise this book properly. So, as with all historical books I review on this page, please know that these things are oftentimes very much only interpretations. With that said, I found this book to be extremely enlightening. All of a sudden, everything made sense. Ideas don't develop in a vacuum, and Trueman shows us that our Western world is no different. Every chapter one piece of the puzzle is revealed, and every thinker that is discussed further explains why things are the way they are today.
The book is already valuable enough for knowledge, but it offers much more. For Christians, having an understanding of why things turned out the way they did will help us engage the world with better clarity and charity. Chances are, the way we Christians think is also heavily influenced by, well, the course of history. Reading this book made these ideologies less intimidating. Once you learn the ins and outs of something, the unknown is banished and it becomes less of a threat in your mind. If we are trying to reach a lost world, it's best if we don't see it as a threat so much. Although there are ideologies we must combat, the people are not for fighting, but for loving and reaching.
With that said it can be very tempting to start putting people in molds after reading this book. We must treat each individual human being with charity and kindness. Just because we understand how one person's ideology is actually a mistaken product of hundreds of years of ungodly philosophy doesn't mean we pretend to know everything about that person. Love the person, combat the ideology, and if combatting the ideology will make the person feel threatened, please be careful with your next steps.
Comments