How to Find Yourself: Why Looking Inward Is Not the Answer

by Brian S. Rosner

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2022

Overview

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.

Key Features

• Equips readers from a variety of backgrounds to engage sympathetically with some of the most pressing questions of our day
• Looks upward to God to find a self who is intimately known and loved by him
• Provides an approach to identity formation that leads to a more stable and satisfying sense of self

Contents

• Introduction: Stranger in the Mirror

Part 1: Looking for Yourself

• Looking Inward
• A Collective Identity Crisis
• Five Tests of the Good Life
• Ancient Texts and Modern Preoccupations
• Looking Elsewhere

Part 2: You Are a Social Being

• Social Identity
• Known by God

Part 3: You Are Your Story

• Narrative Identity
• The Story of Secular Materialism
• The Story of Social Justice
• The Life Story of Jesus Christ

Part 4: The New You

• Losing Yourself
• Finding Yourself

Product Details

• Title: How to Find Yourself: Why Looking Inward Is Not the Answer
• Author: Brian S. Rosner
• Publisher: Crossway
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Pages: 224
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Identity (Psychology) › Religious aspects--Christianity; Self › Religious aspects--Christianity; Individualism › Religious aspects--Christianity
• ISBNs: 9781433578151, 9781433578182, 9781433578168, 9781433578175, 1433578158, 1433578182, 1433578166, 1433578174
• Resource ID: LLS:HOWTOFINDYOURSELF
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:35:33Z

About Brian S. Rosner

Brian S. Rosner is Principal of Ridley Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia. He formerly taught at Moore Theological College, Macquarie University and the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of several books, including Paul, Scripture and Ethics: A Study of 1 Corinthians 5-7 and Greed as Idolatry: The Origin and Meaning of a Pauline Metaphor. He is also co-editor of the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology and co-author of a volume on 1 Corinthians in the Pillar New Testament Commentary series.