Grove City professor Carl Trueman discusses modern shift toward individualism at Hillsdale College Drummond lecture. Courtesy | Ligonier

Modern culture defines itself by opposing whatever the established norm may be, what Carl Trueman called transgression in a Drummond Lecture titled, “Blessed Are the Transgressors,” Sept. 26 in Christ Chapel. 

“Transgression can never be satisfied,” Trueman said. “Transgression needs always to break whatever rules are in place. Transgression is an aesthetic that pits itself against anything sacred or stable.” 

Hillsdale College invited Trueman, Grove City College professor of biblical and religious studies to speak as a part of the Drummond Lecture series, which addresses matters of faith and learning to engage cultural issues, according to College Chaplain Rev. Adam Rick, who introduced Trueman.

Trueman is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, where he received his master’s in classics, and the University of Aberdeen, where he received his Ph.D. in church history. He is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a regular contributor of First Things magazine, and the author of several books, including bestseller “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.” 

In his lecture, Trueman analyzed the swift change of culture and the consequential result: modern expressive individualism. 

Trueman demonstrated this cultural phenomena by contrasting today’s college graduation ceremonies to his own. Perfect uniformity was essential upon graduation at Cambridge, Trueman said, adding that he had to lift up his pants to demonstrate matching socks — not between his two feet, but with his graduating peers. 

“Had I worn green socks that day,” Trueman said, “I wouldn’t have graduated.” 

Graduation today, however, features individual expression from various pins, cap decorations, and clothing, according to Trueman. This comparison, within one lifetime, Trueman said, demonstrates the radical and constant change in culture. 

“A single lifespan covers social transformations that would have been inconceivable to pre-modern, even early modern people,” Trueman said.

Trueman contrasted the swift change of modern culture with the constant stability of the peasant farmer in the 12th century. He explained the rarity and near impossibility of social mobility and geographic movement of that time, which grounded humanity in a deep stability, a rhythm of life, and an order of nature. Trueman said with the rise of technology, from the printing press to today’s iPhone, the speed of change, social mobility, and geographic movement has greatly altered this stability and order. 

“Things are happening within our culture, and happening at frantic speeds,” Trueman said. “But this is not simply leading to modifications of previous opinions and previous orthodoxies and previous thinking — not simply moderate change of direction — but complete 180-degree turns.” 

Trueman said modern culture creates a world in which man is constantly trying to catch up. 

“You will find the world running away from you,” Trueman said. “And that means the answer to the question, ‘Who am I?’ becomes a chaotic problem.” 

To demonstrate the dramatic shift toward modern individualism, Trueman surveyed historical changes in religion, literature, and philosophy. 

He explained that the religious shift of the Protestant Reformation, which he emphasized as good and necessary, placed the responsibility of salvation upon the individual rather than the church. He quoted Michel de Montaigne and his use of the first person singular pronoun in much of his writing. Trueman compared Rene Descartes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and their philosophies of human nature. Finally, he discussed both Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx and their atheistic influence on modern day. Nietzche’s death of God, Trueman said, presented man with two options: to die miserable or to rise to the challenge of the “Overman,” who breaks with the status quo — Christian morality. This man becomes the transgressor, in Trueman’s words, who presents himself as the authentic individual. 

“To be truly free is to break with the herd and desecrate that which was once considered sacred,” Trueman said, in explanation of Nietzsche. 

In discussion of Marx, Trueman analyzed his common claim: “Religion is the opium of the people.” Trueman said Marx’s claim that religion is “the sigh of the oppressed creature” reveals man’s real pain. 

“The very existence of religion indicates that all is not well with the world,” Trueman said.

Marx opposed religion to set the individual free, which is the common feature of culture today, Trueman said.

“What does it mean to be human today? I think Marx and Nietzsche would agree,” Trueman said. “It means to desecrate and transgress that which others consider to be sacred. Blessed are the transgressors, for today, they shall inherit the world.” 

Rick said he appreciated Trueman as a clear, learned, and gifted speaker. 

“His analysis of how we got here was quite fascinating, and his exegesis of Nietzsche and Marx was impactful — I didn’t know that Marx got his information about the state of English workers from the reports of parish clergy,” Rick said. “I thought he ended on a bit of a downer note, where we are without any kind of solution.”

Rick said Trueman offered a solution for our modern age in answer to a question following the lecture. Trueman called the church to responsibility, highlighting the necessity of the gospel, liturgy, and hospitality. 

Sophomore Angelina Gardner said when she saw Trueman was coming to campus, she told everyone she knew. 

“I had no idea that he was held at gunpoint or experienced the same level of protests as other political activists or speakers,” Gardner said in reference to personal stories Trueman shared. “When listening to him speak, he only showed the light of Christ and his pure joy for his vocation. I couldn’t believe he had such negative experiences, and talked about them with a smile on his face and was back on another college campus.”

Gardner agreed with Rick that Trueman’s insights in the Q&A portion were especially impactful. 

“I loved how he spoke about the Christian character,” Gardner said. “The desire to be right can consume us, blinding us of our true biblical calling to ‘love thy neighbor.’ It was a great reminder that proving the truth should never compromise our ability to see the humanity in another person.”