Strange New World
Author: Carl R. Trueman
Written: 2022
“In short, the modern self is one where authenticity is achieved by acting outwardly in accordance with one’s inward feelings”
Hello Ordinary Readers,
Carl R. Trueman’s Strange New World is a shorter more concise version of his bigger work The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. I have not read the larger version. Trueman is clear to int he beginning though that it is not an exact shorter version, “but covers the same ground in a briefer and (hopefully) more accessible format.” I think the quote above does get to the heart of his assessment of the modern self. What Trueman does really well is looks at the different periods in history to see how we got to where our individual feelings are the end all. This book is great for Christians and non-Christians alike, but he does end with what it is like for believers to be living in this “Strange New World”!
I think this is a great read if you are interested in how we got to where we are. It gives a deeper historical understanding of our World today. We can too often ignore history rather than study it. This version is also great if you are not a high academic reader, but there is still a level where it can be a challenging read for those who struggle with a more academic pursuit. I don’t think this read is for everyone but if the topic strikes your fancy I wouldn’t hesitate to read this.
Happy reading!
Qutotes
“The culture of authenticity is one where each one of us has his/her own way of realizing our humanity, and that it is important to find and live out one’s own, as against surrendering to conformity with a model imposed on us from outside, by society, or the previous generation, or religious or political authority.”
“In short, the modern self is one where authenticity is achieved by acting outwardly in accordance with one’s inward feelings”
“If the individual’s inner identity is defined by sexual desire, then he or she must be allowed to act out on that desire in order to be an authentic person.”
“...it is my conviction that the dramatic changes and flux we witness and experience in society today are related to the rise to cultural normativity of the expressive individual self, particularly as expressed through the idioms of the sexual revolution. ”
“Today, the doctor is more likely to respond that the problem is such that the patient’s body needs to be brought into alignment with those inner feelings.”
“Augustine moves inward so that he can then move outward to God and to the reality that is prior to and greater than his own feelings and in light of which those feelings are to be understood.”
“As we shall see, later thinkers, most notably Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud, will offer very different, and much darker accounts of the inner voice of nature in which Rousseau places so much confidence.”
“The inner voice was just that—the inner voice of human nature, a human nature with a moral structure that was shared by all.”
“Well, at the heart of Nietzsche’s approach is sel—creation: if there is no God, then we are our own masters.”
“...sexual desire has emerged in the last one hundred years as a primary category for understanding our identity.”
“Here he (Freud) builds on a longstanding Enlightenment tradition of seeing pleasure and pain as central to thinking about good and evil, happiness and the lack thereof:...
...So, seeking pleasure and avoiding pain are key to the definition of happiness.”
“It is not the act but the desire, or the orientation of that desire, that defines the person.”
“Do we think the way we do because of the social conditions in which we live, or does the way we think shape those conditions?”
“...where once the world ws fixed and therefore I needed to find my place within it (a place that was itself rather fixed), now its lack of fixity inclines me to think that the world can actually be shaped to my will.”
“Nature’s authority has not been eliminated, but it has been significantly mitigated.”
“Yet this choice of clothing (blue jeans in the 1950s), while intended as a display of individuality and independence, often leads teenagers to adopt a remarkable conformist appearance. In short, teenagers frequently all look, dress, and talk like each other.”
“We can focus on those narratives that make us feel good and that confirm our chosen view of the world and ignore those that present challenges to this.”
“What nature has declared impossible—that two men or two women might conceive a child together—technology has made possible; and what technology has made a possibility, the sexual revolution has made an imperative.”
“For example, when the Christian objects to homosexuality, he may well think he is objecting to a set of sexual desires or sexual practices. But the gay man sees those desires as part of who he is in his very essence. ”
“The problem, of course, is that the purpose of these canon wars is not to expand the canon but to replace it, or, perhaps more accurately, shatter the very concept of canon as being inherently exclusionary and oppressive.”
“And so we have an ironic situation at present: radical individual freedom ahs led to rather authoritarian forms of social control...”
“The era when Christians could disagree with the broader convictions of the secular world and yet still find themselves respected as decent members of society at large is coming to an end, if indeed it has not ended already.”
“I am suggesting rather that engaging in cultural warfare using the world’s tools, rhetoric, and weapons is not the way for God’s people.”
“We need to prepare ourselves, be informed, know what we believe and why we believe it, worship God in a manner that forms us as true disciples and pilgrims, intellectually and intuitively, and keep before our eyes the unbreakable promises that the Lord has made and confirmed in Jesus Christ. ”