A Pauline Response to the Myth of the Autonomous, Normative Self

Abstract

This essay presents a candid, objective distillation, synthesis, and meta-analysis of Trueman’s two recent works. In these treatises, he explains how the myth of the autonomous, normative self arose and became the catalyst for the sexual revolution. The essay first considers the dramatic transformation of the West’s understanding of the self. Second, the discourse explores the sexual revolution’s domination of the present-day cultural imagination. Third, the essay traces the historical trajectory of how the myth of the autonomous, normative self evolved. Fourth, the discourse details the consequences of the autonomous, normative self’s hegemony in the West. Fifth, and finally, the essay sets forth Paul’s indictment in Romans 1:18–32 of those who reject God, including its applicability to the myth of the autonomous, normative self. Despite often being idealized in the global North, it is a form of idolatry that the apostle condemns.