Since 2015 and the Obergefell ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States that gay marriage was protected by the Constitution, the sexual revolution has accelerated within our society. Not only has marriage been redefined, but even what it means to be male or female. With these rapid changes throughout the fabric of our society, Christians are struggling—not only with how to make sense of it all, but also with how to live faithfully within a society which they see as increasingly in opposition to them.
Carl Trueman, professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College, has sought to help the church to both understand how our society has changed and how Christians should respond moving forward. The premise of his book, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, centers around how a statement such as “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body” has taken on meaningful significance in our present day, when just thirty years ago such an utterance would have been viewed as irrational. Trueman suggests that this “sexual revolution is simply one manifestation of the larger revolution of the self that has taken place in the West” over the past three hundred years (p. 20). For Trueman, the word “self” speaks of how people understand their purpose in life and view themselves in relation to others and the world around them (p. 22).
Trueman then takes readers on a historical journey tracing the major philosophical ideas that have shaped the modern notion of the “self.” This modern self is a “psychological man”—that is, one who is on an inward quest for personal psychological happiness (p. 45). The modern person no longer views the world as having a given order and meaning; rather, it is a place where people create their own meaning and purpose with inward happiness as the goal.
The Revolution of Personal Identity
Trueman begins this historical sketch with the French Revolutionary Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Rousseau blamed society for the sins of the individual (p. 111), seeing society’s institutions as those which “breed corruption and wickedness” (p. 113). According to Rousseau, humanity is basically good, but it has been perverted by society at large. In fact, it is society’s order and structure which force individuals to act contrary to their innate desires in order to conform and be accepted. Consequently, for individuals to be their true selves and satisfy their inner desires, the structures of society must be torn down. Trueman shows how Rousseau’s ideas were foundational for what became known as “Romantic expressivism… that each 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” (p. 46).
This idea of individual expressivism led to further discussions concerning sex, freedom, religion, and even what it means to be human. Following Rousseau, others also saw “feeling and instinct as lying at the heart of authentic moral action and what it means to be truly free and truly human” (p. 157). This basic idea gained more momentum through the likes of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Karl Marx (1818-1883), and Charles Darwin (1809-1882). Now even human nature itself is no longer permitted to have authority over individuals (p. 164), because, as Nietzsche asserts, “God is dead.” Essentially, these three men promoted naturalistic explanations of the world, denying any coherent design and order. And without any design or order, man is left to define life for himself or herself.
The Revolution of Society and Religion
Marx, however, had a particular influence upon the modern world. He believed that the economic conditions of society shape the ideas of people and create class struggle. In this way, those who own most of society’s wealth and means of production seek to establish and maintain the status quo to retain these benefits for themselves. Those who wish to enjoy the fruit of their labor must conform to ideological ideals of the larger middle-class society. For Marx, religion is one of the means of keeping the masses in check—indeed, he calls religion the “opium of the people” (p. 180). Moreover, religion is manmade, hinders people from being fully human, and creates material inequalities among humans. For Marx, religion offers a false happiness and must be torn down to offer “true happiness through the establishment of an economic system that does not alienate” (p. 182). In other words, it is Marx who feeds the idea of a utopian society with no inequalities through the tearing down of order within society. Yet, as Trueman notes, wherever Marx’s ideas have been attempted, the very opposite has occurred.
The Revolution of Sexuality
It is with another key figure, Sigmund Freud, that inward happiness is explicitly tied to sexual pleasure. Freud asserted that sex “is the real key to human existence, to what it means to be human” (p. 204). Nevertheless, Freud recognized that sexual norms were still necessary, for without them society could not remain intact. However, this also meant that society would never find true happiness (p. 219). It was this dilemma that Freud’s followers sought to remedy. Two individuals in particular rose to the occasion: Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957) and Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979). These two men argued that sex must become a political issue, stating, “To transform society politically… one must transform society sexually and psychologically, a point that places psychological categories at the heart of revolutionary political discourse” (p. 250). Consequently, sexuality and sexual codes became a political matter. Viewed as impositions by the existing ruling class, they had to be overthrown to eliminate oppression.
Trueman continues to show how these revolutionary ideas, from Rousseau to Marcuse, intersect with the rise of the feminist movement, the normalization of pornography, and the LGBTQ+ community. He helps the reader see that while each of these movements have unique concerns, they are united around the redefinition of the “self.” Trueman helpfully summarizes: “To follow Rousseau is to make identity psychological. To follow Freud is to make psychology, and thus identity, sexual. To mesh this combination with Marx is to make identity–and therefore sex–political” (p. 250).
The Christian Response
Trueman closes the book with a brief challenge to the church and how Christians must respond: “It will not be a sufficient or effective response to the challenges of the day simply to pass resolutions or adopt statements on isolated symptoms. The church has to address the matters that the sexual revolution and expressive individualism raise in a far more thoroughgoing fashion” (p. 393). Christians cannot simply bemoan the changes in our society; rather, we must understand their appeal to the modern notion of the “self.” Christians must demonstrate both logically and aesthetically why our understanding of humanity’s worth and purpose in the world is the only way to true and lasting happiness. This will require not only a reclaiming of a Christian sexual ethic and anthropology, but also the joyful living out of God’s design within the covenant community of the church.
Chase Sears (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as the Lead Pastor of Oak Park Baptist Church. He lives in Charlestown with his wife, Sarah, and their five children.