Professor Carl Trueman | Hedonism and the Modern Psychological Self

[Valin]

July 23 2021

In this Direct interview, John is joined by Professor Carl Trueman, author of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. They discuss the modern self in an age of culture wars, including the societal shift of the perception of happiness and gratification, the technological revolution, and the sexual revolution and its ties to authoritarianism.

Carl Trueman is a professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. He has written more than a dozen books, including Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History, Luther on the Christian Life, The Creedal Imperative, and The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution.

00:00 Intro

00:16 Introducing Professor Carl Trueman

1:00 How does history give us a unique understanding of where we currently are as a society?

3:41 How do today's trends have similarities to the Reformation?

6:42 Abolition of the private sphere in the technological revolution

8:38 What is the modern self?

11:08 The morality of capitalism and the right to be happy

12:43 The old and new atheism

14:36 The danger of great ideas and fascism

16:35 What is anticulture?

25:00 Social Darwinism

26:18 Cultural Marxism and the sexual revolution

30:42 How is modern society Freudian?

33:29 Gratification and discipline in the modern age

35:42 Victimhood and the modern dissatisfaction phenomenon

37:16 The transgenderism movement and authoritarianism

41:21 The ideological affirmation model

47:00 Freedom of speech is under attack

52:50 Cancel culture led by the elites

54:20 What can we do as individuals amid a divided society?

58:50 How can Christianity shed light on our culture for a return to decent humanity?

1:03:30 Are things going well for progressives?