Be Yourself, Not Quite: The Galli Report

Relevant Existentialism | Politics and the Gospel | Gray Matter: The Galli Report | [View online]( [Give Now]( Advertisement [The Galli Report]( [Home]( [Podcast]( [Subscribe]( Friday, September 7, 2018 Be Yourself—Not Quite I’ve been vaguely uncomfortable with the theme of many songs, usually from movies, that encourage listeners to “be yourself” or to “be true to yourself.” They are often set in a context in which one character, who is unique or unusual in some way, is shunned or even harassed by other characters—and one can hardly quarrel with that message in that context. Unfortunately, this message wants to break the boundaries of that context and pervade all of life. That is a serious problem for the Christian, who believes the self that is ours needs not affirmation but saving. Matt Schneider at Mockingbird [highlights the issue]( with reference to many recent films, like The Greatest Showman, Frozen, Prince of Egypt, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Color Purple. I like the way Matt appreciates the positive messages of such movies (i.e., prejudice should be shunned) while recognizing this truth: I’m convinced this theme of being true to ourselves is not just misleading but crushing because we’re actually broken and in need of restoration. Sorry, but I’m not who I’m meant to be. In the face of the God of glory, I do make apologies. And you better believe I apologize for who I am to my wife and kids every single day. Yeah, I’m here, but I’m a mess. I’m certainly bruised, but I’m not brave. When I tap into the right frequency, the universe tells me not to have faith in myself because I’m weak and afraid. I really wish I were more like who I was meant to be, but I’m not. At least, not yet. The Christian message sits in opposition to these themes on two fronts. First, we are not basically good people but sinners. Certainly, we’re made in the image of God, but we’re unfortunately still sinners. Second, we find freedom and healing not by looking inside of ourselves, but by looking outside of ourselves at someone else, namely Jesus Christ. The most truthful message then is: Be the self you were redeemed to be—and keep repenting when you are not. Relevant Existentialism I’ve long had a soft spot for existentialism, ideas first expounded in the late 19th and early 20th century by those who thought philosophy should begin with the thinking, feeling, acting human being. Naturally, I’ve been more drawn to the Christian variety as represented by Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky. This philosophy was the rage in the 1950s but has since been eclipsed. Gordon Marino, professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College, is hoping to remind us in his[The Existentialist’s Survival Guide: How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age](dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) of its enduring value. As the [Los Angeles Review of Books puts it,]() … he gives existentialism a 21st-century presence more gripping, nuanced, and convincing than in its initial American portrayal 60 years ago. The personal may be the political, as activists claim, but it is also the richly existential, and it is fundamental in its own terms. It is hardly navel-gazing or a preoccupation of the clinically depressed. Marino honors its deeply personal appeals, and he is adept at giving witness to fragments from his own rich personal history. Despite existentialism’s decades in the shadows, no one cracking this book can think it is passé. Politics and the Gospel Michael Horton, one of my favorite theologians, has hit the proverbial nail on the head in “[What Are Evangelicals Afraid of Losing?]( He riffs off a silly comment by President Trump (evangelicals are “one election away from losing everything”), but that’s not really the issue, because politicians regularly say silly things about religion. What concerns Horton is that many Christians seem to take the silly with utmost seriousness. Let’s face it. Liberal and conservative, Catholic and Protestant, have courted political power and happily allowed themselves to be used by it. This always happens when the church confuses the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of this present age. Jesus came not to jump-start the theocracy in Israel, much less to be the founding father of any other nation. … He is not a mascot for a voting bloc but the savior of the world. He came to forgive sins and bring everlasting life, to die and rise again so that through faith in him we too can share in his new creation. Gray Matter This week’s long read—“[Nuance: A Love Story](”—is about two love stories intertwined, one with a spouse and one with ideas. This is the story of the past three years of my life. It’s romance in a way, but it’s also a breakup story. It begins sometime in 2015, a year during which my life was coming apart in various ways. In addition to the unraveling of my marriage, I began to sense some fraying around the edges of my social circles. Both online and in real life, people who’d once shared a common set of assumptions about the realities of the world and the nature of human behavior now seemed oddly divided. Questions that had once been treated as complicated inquiries requiring scrutiny and nuance were increasingly being reduced to moral absolutes, especially as far as liberal types were concerned. … If you called for nuance, you were part of the problem. She writes—movingly in my view—from the perspective of the dominant political ideas of our times, but I dare say that many conservatives might be better served by falling in love with nuance as well. Grace and peace, [Mark Galli] [Mark Galli] [Mark Galli](mailto:GalliReport@christianitytoday.com) Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today Advertisement More from Christianity Today [Your Digital Life, Hidden with Christ]( Digital Life [Your Digital Life, Hidden with Christ]( Serving the God ‘who sees in secret’ in a world where there's pressure to post everything. John Lee [Read More]( [The Philadelphia Eagles Get the ‘God Squad’ Treatment]( [Book Review]( [The Philadelphia Eagles Get the ‘God Squad’ Treatment]( A reporter’s inside look at the team’s Christian culture repeats some characteristic flaws of evangelical writing on sports. Paul Putz [Read More]( [A Bill Banning Reparative Therapy Spurred an Unlikely Relationship]( [Quick to Listen]( [A Bill Banning Reparative Therapy Spurred an Unlikely Relationship]( How a gay lawmaker and the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals found common ground on a controversial piece of legislation. 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