CULTURE / MODERN MOMENT

Expressive Individualism

Today, Western culture is dominated by expressive individualism, the idea that we are defined by our inner feelings, that our relationships with others place no natural or necessary obligations upon us, and that we can pick and choose them as they serve our emotional needs. This idea plays into the general cultural assertion of individual autonomy and rejection of external authority —or at least of traditional external authority -that requires some sacrifice of ourselves for others. Crisis of Confidence Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity by Carl R. Trueman

As I have argued elsewhere, at the heart of the issues we face today is the phenomenon of expressive individualism.This is the modern creed whose mantras and liturgies set the terms for how we think about ourselves and our world today. It is the notion that every person is constituted by a set of inward feelings, desires, and emotions. The real "me" is that person who dwells inside my body, and thus I am most truly myself when am able to act outwardly in accordance with those inner feelings. Crisis of Confidence Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity by Carl R. Trueman

Whether it is the child rebelling against the parent or the individual rebelling against the sex of his or her own body, today autonomy and personal desire are king; and these press against anything from outside that tells us who we are, what we should believe, or how we should live. Crisis of Confidence Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity by Carl R. Trueman

Religion slowly but surely became a matter of personal choice, and as it did so, the authority of personal choice became greater even as that of the church as institution declined. With this development came an increasing emphasis on inner psychology as offering the foundation for personal knowledge. Crisis of Confidence Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity by Carl R. Trueman

Doubt / Deconstruction

Consumerism

The Future Oriented Promise of Science

The Technology That Favors The Young

Technology instills us with a sense of power and makes us feel that the world is not something to which we have to conform ourselves but rather something that we can overcome or bend to our will. Crisis of Confidence Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity by Carl R. Trueman

The modern problem of liquidity –– In the past, the productive capacity of the land was the source and scope of wealth. Now with our technology, all is exchangeable for money. Andy Crouch on Practicing the Way Podcast

The algorithm is watching you. Whatever will distract you and get your attention. It knows you at your most impulsive, with lowest resistance…the moments when you’re most tired –– the moments when your most anxious and open to your initial instinct. It’s inside your own personal reward cycle. Andy Crouch on Practicing the Way Podcast

The Materialistic Paradise Offered By Consumerism

The Dying Confidence in Words

The Distrust of Traditional Structures & Notions of Authority

Fear of Exclusion

Celebrity Worship