{"id":37452,"date":"2024-04-12T13:03:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T20:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37452"},"modified":"2024-04-12T13:03:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T20:03:06","slug":"its-me-hi-im-the-problem-its-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/its-me-hi-im-the-problem-its-me\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Me, Hi, I’m the Problem it’s Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the heart of his book, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution<\/em>, Carl Trueman explores the effect expressive individualism has on modern society, especially in regards to the sexual revolution, and seeks to trace how its influence became ubiquitous.[1]<\/a> His hope seems noble. He doesn\u2019t seek to give answers to what he believes is an incredibly complex, just to illuminate the context from which he thinks our current culture arose and to be more informed as a result.<\/p>\n

While Trueman seems to embellish a bit to make his points about a decline in morality (i.e. saying that Nixon was done in by his use of a swear-word)[2]<\/a>, his underlying premise that the philosophers, social movements, and technological advancements through history that gave rise to expressive individualism should be named is helpful. I appreciated that he recognizes how individuals may be effected by culture, which he shows in the reflection questions he chooses to ask the reader to consider at the end of each chapter. I felt Trueman was most compelling when he addressed the ways in which the church or he himself has been influenced by similar forces or by the modern culture he analyzes.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

And the church has been influenced. We\u2019ve seen as much through the works of David Bebbington, Max Weber, and Jason Clark. Not only has the church been influenced, but there seems to be a symbiotic relationship of sorts between Western Christianity and culture. Neither seems untouched by the other and it feels as if you can\u2019t really get a grasp of where one ends and the other begins.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

To that end, I wonder if it would also have been helpful for Trueman, and perhaps for Christians who are especially curious and\/or concerned about the rise of sexuality as identity to consider what part we might have played. Could it be possible that at least some of the need to shape identity around sexuality comes from reactions in Christian spaces to non-orthodox expressions of sexuality? I think about how quickly ministry leaders are removed from their positions or how hastily members are chastised if people find out they are gay, and contrast that with how slowly and quietly ministry leaders are removed from their positions if they\u2019re found to be abusing their power, caught in an affair, or various other indiscretions. Have we not implicitly signaled that sexuality trumps other character and identity traits that those individuals have displayed? If we\u2019re concerned with people positively putting their identity in sexuality, shouldn\u2019t we also stop negatively putting their identity in sexuality?<\/p>\n

I want to emphasize the importance of Trueman\u2019s call to humility. Even further so, a call for Christians to raise and align with humble leaders. Trueman marks Trump\u2019s presidency as a turning point for when it \u201cbecame routine to hear religious conservatives in general, and evangelical Christians in particular, decried as representing a threat to civil society.\u201d[5]<\/a> I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a coincidence that Trump uses extreme \u201call or nothing\u201d rhetoric and has further normalized not taking fault or responsibility for one\u2019s actions. I firmly believe we are only as effective as we are honest. And we can only be honest if we are humble enough to examine ourselves. To fully allow myself to be influenced by one of modern culture\u2019s biggest icon\u2019s, I\u2019ll try to glean some(probably out of context) wisdom from Taylor Swift. As we seek to address the complex and convoluted \u201cwicked problems\u201d[6]<\/a> of our time, take a moment and also acknowledge that at least partly, \u201cit\u2019s me, hi, I\u2019m the problem, it\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Carl Trueman, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution<\/em> (Crossway, 2022), 24.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, 29.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, 128.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World<\/em>, (New York: Basic Books, 2019), 15.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Trueman, Strange New World<\/em>, 130.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Taylor Swift, \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d, released October 2022, on Midnights<\/em>, Electric Lady, Rough Customer, Sound House, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=b1kbLwvqugk&ab_channel=TaylorSwiftVEV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the heart of his book, Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution, Carl Trueman explores the effect expressive individualism has on modern society, especially in regards to the sexual revolution, and seeks to trace how its influence became ubiquitous.[1] His hope seems noble. He doesn\u2019t seek to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"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":[3187],"class_list":["post-37452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-trueman-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37452","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\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37453,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37452\/revisions\/37453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}