Worldview Wednesday: The Triumph of the Modern Self

Who are we? That’s the question that compels us to brand ourselves with particular styles or create interesting bios on social media. In his recent book, The Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman tells the story of how the modern self came into being. The modern self isn’t defined by reality, but by its own personal choices. Making choices and creating one’s own self is the goal and obsession of modern man.

Christians need to understand the history of this mindset if they hope to pass on a Biblical ethic to their children. We can’t assume that children will pick up what we believe at church; they really must be taught to think clearly and Biblically. As a church, we have the obligation, not just to have right feelings about God, but to do the hard work of thinking and teaching.

Another major point in this discussion is the idea that Christianity has to be either true or false. It can’t be “our preference” or a “choice we made” or “something we believe with all our hearts.” If we accept our faith on those terms, we are doing the exact same thing as the world, basing our beliefs ultimately with ourselves and our choices. Al Mohler says, “I think that's a candor that I want to underline in the larger society. Like I mean, eventually you got to recognize Christianity is either true or it's damnably false, and horrifyingly injurious to humanity. There's no middle ground.”

These discussions, which are necessary, are not meant to be discouraging. Through them we get a better picture of the wholeness and true-ness of our own faith. The Christian faith of Jesus Christ truly is the only answer for the world.

Listen to this talk and get a copy of The Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl Trueman.