{"id":29331,"date":"2022-11-01T15:39:06","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T22:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29331"},"modified":"2022-11-01T15:39:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T22:39:06","slug":"the-trueman-show-a-fairytale-of-human-ontology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-trueman-show-a-fairytale-of-human-ontology\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trueman Show: A Fairytale of Human Ontology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIndeed, if we strive to be too good we only engender the opposite reaction in the unconscious. If we try to live too much in the light, a corresponding amount of darkness accumulates within.\u201d<\/em>[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

– John A. Sanford<\/p>\n

Shadow work is the process of integrating the individual or collective parts that have been largely hidden, repressed, and denied. However, to know how one\u2019s shadow is formed to begin with, look no further than Carl Trueman\u2018s book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Trueman speaks of human and cultural evolution as being something objective, rooted in history, and only recently challenged by the gnats of progressivism, the \u201cNew Left\u201d and modern psychology. However, Trueman lacks a historical critical perspective that would serve to shed a less myopic perspective.<\/p>\n

Trueman says in one podcast interview, as well in his book, \u201cThe cultural shift around gay marriage is because of media, particularly shows such as Will and Grace<\/em>.\u201d[2]<\/a> This answer shows a detached rationalism that devalues cultural evolution and human experience. Stating that Will and Grace<\/em> is responsible for the boom of the sex identity movement is like saying the tail is wagging the dog, the universe revolves around the earth, or \u2018I think therefore I am.\u201d Ironically, Trueman seems to be projecting his Western philosophical perspective onto the \u201cmodern self\u201d and then judging it for being merely a product of the Enlightenment.<\/p>\n

Trueman shows himself to be well read philosophically, but narrowly educated in the world of depth psychology, though that does not stop him from making bold claims about psychology. He repeatedly takes large swings at modern psychology, with the dull hatchet of reductive Freudian psychology. Yes, Freud was quite reductive, but Trueman somehow compresses Freud to nearly a two dimensional caricature, which he then crucifies to legitimate his xenophobic conclusions. Using Freud to critique modern psychology is like using the Wright brothers to prove humans should not fly.<\/p>\n

Trueman credits Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, as responsible for the modern assumption of \u201csex as identity\u201d. He is critical of the public space sexual identity has taken up in the modern world. He writes, \u201cFrom art to politics, sex is omnipresent [\u2026] We are categorized as straight, gay, bi, queer, and so on; and sexual preferences, once considered private and personal, are now matters of public interest.\u201d[3]<\/a> He goes on to critique the oversized modern emphasis on sexual identity as an oddity in relation to human history by playing on tropes that substantiated homophobia and transphobia.<\/p>\n

Freud, like Jung, lived in a time of great sexual repression. Jung in particular dealt with patients who displayed deeply imbedded neurosis rooted in hyper-disintegration of their sexuality. Perhaps had Trueman investigated a little further, he would have discovered that Freud merely started a conversation, which Jung further developed. Jung did not believe all unconscious contents were rooted in sexual repression, but saw sexuality as a part or complex in the vast human psych\/soul. He believed the purpose of the human experience was individuation; that is the integration of the self into consciousness (For Christians, individuation is a word that essentially sums up the process salvation and sanctification (or self-differentiation for Friedmanians)).<\/p>\n

Further, Trueman repeatedly critiques hyper individualism but fails to see the plank in his own eye. The whole book is a criticism of the human experience based on his personal vantage point. At one point in the podcast mentioned earlier, he states something to the effect of transgenderism is the furthest extreme of the sexual identity revolution.[4]<\/a> Furthest from what? Furthest from your identity? Whatever objective reality exists for Carl Trueman, it seems to critique only those outside his fairytale of human ontology.<\/p>\n

As leaders we must be incredible suspicious of these seemingly innovative and transcendent perspectives that belittle current issues and prescribe solutions to the complexity of the human experience. At best they prop up the egoic assumptions of the unconscious and patriarchally-oriented masses, and at worst they are an accusing and gaslighting voice of oppression against marginalized people. Trueman wants Western society to pour new wine into old wineskins, but such containers have proved to be unsuitable for human life.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> John A. Sanford, Evil: The Shadow Side of Reality<\/em> (Crossroad, 1981). 23.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Everything Just Changed, \u201cEverything Just Changed – Carl Trueman on The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,\u201d Google Podcasts, accessed November 1, 2022, https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xOGUyZjllYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw\/episode\/ZGM5ZDMwMTItN2NmYS00NDNmLTljM2YtMzY5N2IyMjA4YmI3.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Carl R. Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution<\/em> (Crossway, 2020). 178<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u201cEverything Just Changed – Carl Trueman on The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIndeed, if we strive to be too good we only engender the opposite reaction in the unconscious. If we try to live too much in the light, a corresponding amount of darkness accumulates within.\u201d[1] – John A. Sanford Shadow work is the process of integrating the individual or collective parts that have been largely hidden, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2427],"class_list":["post-29331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-trueman","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29332,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29331\/revisions\/29332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}