How to Find Yourself
How to Find Yourself
A Christian Answer to the Identity Angst of Our Culture
In the 21st-century West, identity is everything. Never has it been more important, culturally speaking, to know who you are and remain true to yourself. Expressive individualism--the belief that looking inward is the way to find yourself--has become the primary approach to identity formation, and questioning anyone's "self-made self" is often considered a threat or attack.
Prompted by his own past crisis of identity, Brian Rosner challenges the status quo by arguing that, while knowing yourself is of some value, it cannot be the sole basis for one's identity. He provides an approach to identity formation that leads to a more stable and satisfying sense of self. This approach looks outward to others--acknowledging that we are social beings--and looks upward to God to find a self who is intimately known and loved by him. How to Find Yourself equips readers from a variety of backgrounds to engage sympathetically with some of the most pressing questions of our day.
- Challenges the Status Quo: Examines and critiques expressive individualism--the leading strategy for identity formation
- Gospel-Centered: Identifies an approach to identity formation in Jesus's life story and God's personal knowledge of his children
- Accessible: Helpful for a wide audience of laypeople, students, and church leaders
- Foreword by Carl R. Trueman: Opens with a message from the author of The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
Rosner takes us on a journey to discover how we deceive ourselves due to our own self-centredness, and wish to establish ourselves in our self delusional identity. He points out how self-defeating this is to ourselves, and how destructive it is to those around us. Establishing our self by our own means leads to hopelessness.
It is only when we look up to Jesus that we find we have been established by the creator of the universe; and made secure in that identity because it is outside of ourselves's and given through our gracious God.
The book is insightful to our failures and helps us to develop an awareness to take hold the grace that is given to us through Jesus. It is written with honesty and humility and helps us confirm who we are in Christ