Word and World Podcast

A discussion of chapter 5: "The Emergence of Plastic People." Like plastic, people are moldable and can make themselves into whatever they want.

One of my favorite chapters in Trueman’s book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,” is titled: Unacknowledged Legislators: Wordsworth, Shelley, and Blake. An excellent mystery to solve, in my thinking, is how the ideas of the thought leaders in a culture become the ideas of the population at large. This would make a great “tool of cultural analysis.” At least in US culture many of the ideas that gain currency are promulgated through television, Hollywood, mainstream news sources, and education.

Chapter 3 of Trueman’s, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, discusses Rousseau. Trueman makes the point that great thinkers have what might be called a thought “genealogy.” For Rousseau the individual was relatively pure and it was society that forced the individual into sinful acts. This is because it is society that creates the rules by which a person must fit in. Societies rules are contrary to a relatively pure human nature.

A discussion of Chapter 2. One helpful diagnostic tool in order to identify our culture’s pathology is the recognition of the modern west as a third-world culture.  This is not an economic or development statement.  Rather it is a sociological description of our current state.  First-world cultures are essentially pagan, rooting their morals on dictates from mythological gods.  Second-world cultures are characterized by faith.  Christianity has deeply shaped the culture of the west.  Third-world cultures are those that do not root their morals or social orders on any external authority.  Instead, they base their morals and social orders on themselves, on how they feel, on their preferences.  They are the absolute, enforcing their fragile feelings on the external world. Keep in mind, first-world, second-world, and third-world cultures can exist simultaneously. This tends to stifle meaningful conversation, it is chaotic, because there is no longer commonly acknowledged external authority or understanding of the fitting end of human existence. There is no shared eschatological goal.

In chapter one we learn about the “social imaginary.” We learn about mimesis and poiesis and how these effect one’s worldview. We learn about the role of psychology in underpinning the patterns and pathologies of cultural change and how the thoughts of Sigmund Freud informed and empowered cultural sexual revolution. We learn how the authority of our institutions is being undermined. We learn about psychological man and expressive individualism. How is it that our college students are now looking for “safe places” while not referring to physical safety? Why is it important that identity is publicly acknowledged? And why is it that the public acknowledgment of some identities is compulsory and of others is forbidden? Why has our society shifted from being based on a notion of honor to one based on a notion of dignity?

If any of those statements or questions puzzled you, tune in to the upcoming Word and World podcast and listen to biblical, theological conversation explaining these issues such that listeners come away with the insight required of the image of God and those who understand the times.

“I am a woman trapped inside a man’s body.” How on earth could this be a serious statement expecting serious consideration? What has happened to American culture? Carl Trueman, professor at Grove City College provides us with, “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,” a feast of cultural analysis by which the believing community in America can ascertain why sexuality, or better, its perversion, is at the heart of America’s cultural confusion and the basis upon which revolution is fomenting. Hampton Keathley and Bob Branden discuss one of this past year's most popular Christian books.