Cowboys, Detectives, and Loner Christians

In Habits of the Heart (2008 ed.) the authors brilliantly illustrate American individualism by examining American stories – specifically stories of the cowboy and the detective.  Even more interesting is what John Locke has to do with cowboys and detectives. “Individualism lies at the very core of American culture. …John Locke is the key figure …

It’s All About Me (Because I’m Special!)

This is a good book that describes the selfishness, vanity, pride, arrogance, depression, cynicism, apathy, and attitude of many young Americans today: Generation Me by Jean Twenge.  The subtitle of the book explains it a bit more: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled - and More Miserable Than Ever Before.  If this topic …

The Hypocrite’s Motivation

  "Self is the only oil that makes the chariot-wheels of the hypocrite move in all religious concerns." Thomas Brooks, The Secret Key to Heaven, p. 19. shane lems

The Juvenalization of Western Culture (the Cult of Youth)

  In their excellent book The Narcissism Epidemic, Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell (among many other things) discuss the symptoms of narcissism in America today.  One of them is vanity, which they discuss in chapter 9.  As one of part of this chapter suggests, "in pursuit of hotness" many people today do many things that were unheard of …

Little Princess (Or: Budding Narcissist)

 I am just about finished with this great book: The Narcissism Epidemic by Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell.  I already knew that we Americans are quite narcissistic, but I wanted to see documentation from some experts in the field.  The authors argue that narcissism in our society rests on a four-legged stool: 1) Developmental (parenting/schooling), …