Pieces of the Puzzle

Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor

 “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

I am just finishing a book by Carl R. Trueman called, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. It is an insightful book helping me understand how we have come to the place where the therapeutic has triumphed as the foundational understand of who a person is. In our age, the internal subjective perspective of an individual is his or her personal “truth.” Preeminence is placed on affirming that subjective understanding of identity. Trueman asks how a statement like, “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body,” could become coherent and meaningful in today’s society. If this statement had been said thirty years ago it would have been met with confusion or a belief that the person had lost touch with reality. Now, without a philosophical or metaphysical argument people intuitively understand and sympathize with the individual. In addition to the philosophical and historical, Trueman gives us a three other consideration in his book.

The first influential movement he considers is the Romantic period in literature. Rousseau, for instance, argued that it is society that corrupts a man, and that the most pure and undefiled man is the “noble savage.” Culture was seen as a corrupting influence upon man and that the true self was inward and innate. Man, according to Rousseau, was created in an uncorrupted state and it is the external influences that taint and pollute the true self. It is sinful society that inevitably corrupts a man and makes him inauthentic. The depraved culture causes the individual to lose touch with his innocent primitive state. To Rousseau society is not a positive good in an individual’s life but rather the external rules and expectations force the individual to become corrupt. As we interact with the external world, we become changed and shaped by that world and lose touch with our true humanity. He believed a person was intrinsically good until corrupted by outside influences.

The second influential individual he considers is Karl Marx. Marx takes the philosophy if G. F. W. Hagel’s and turns it on its head. Hagel believed that in there was a conflict between thesis and antithesis in the spiritual/intellectual realm which resulted in a higher order synthesis. Marx agreed with the basic idea, but said it was not spiritual but a physical economic conflict between the ruling class and the working class. Marx believed there was in inequity that would eventually result in a revolution which would ultimately lead to a classless society. Until this time there would be a conflict between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have nots. This idea of conflict between the privileged and oppressed has carried today.

The final influence he considers is Sigmund Freud. Although many of Freud’s ideas have been discarded, the sentiment that he expressed has been greatly influential in modern thinking. Most people prior to Freud believed that people were not sexual beings until they reached the age of puberty and began have internal drives towards the opposite sex. Freud believed that people were sexual beings from the time of birth and that it was central to who an individual is. He believed that people had insatiable drives, but they are tempered by society and social norms as a trade-off for success.

Modern society has merged these three movements to understand that humanity is based on their subjective understanding of themselves. Coupled with that is the idea that people are foundationally and fundamentally sexual beings and that is the deepest core of who an individual is and his highest goal. Finally, society sees uninhibited sexual expression as being the most authentic individual and there is a conflict between those who want to repress sexual expression and those who want to promote it. There are other expressions of “privilege and oppressed” and modern man must be on the side of the oppressed and promote expression.

This post is a vast oversimplification of the arguments that Trueman makes in his book. But his tome sheds light on how our culture had embraced the subjective and views those who believe in objective reality, particularly Christians, as ones who should be confronted and silenced. I encourage you to take a deep dive and read his arguments for yourself.