The Lord’s Prayer: Antidote to Expressive Individualism
by Brian Rosner, TGC:
Expressive individualism, the view that who you are is who you feel yourself to be on the inside, is the dominant approach to identity formation in our day. As David Brooks writes, “When you are figuring out how to lead your life, [people today believe that] the most important answers are found deep inside yourself.”
Charles Taylor contends that “modern freedom and autonomy centres us on ourselves, and the ideal of authenticity requires that we discover and articulate our own identity.” This approach to self-understanding is a challenge to a Christian view of the self at every level.
The outcomes of expressive individualism (seen in societal trends such as rises in cases of anxiety and depression, an increase in narcissism, our culture’s reflexive outrage, and our decline in happiness) have been devastating. How can we help Christians see the dangers of this philosophy? Where do we look for an antidote?
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