Covenant and Hope by Jenson Robert W.;Korn Eugene;

Author:Jenson, Robert W.;Korn, Eugene;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

The Antinomian Threat to Human Flourishing

R. R. Reno

The Empire of Desire

It’s easy to feel disoriented in the contemporary West. Tomorrow, a man can wake up and say, “Enough! I’m tired of fighting against my innermost feelings. I’ve always felt myself to be a woman, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let myself go on like this.” Medical professionals stand ready at hand; psychologists are prepared to help. If he has generous and expansive insurance coverage, then the way is clear. Hormones are administered, surgeries performed, wardrobes changed, and eventually co-workers are informed that Charlie is now Charlene.

The sex change itself does not upset me. Who can be surprised that people will turn to the promise of modern technology for solutions to the afflictions of inner unhappiness? And who among us with a scintilla of life experience can be shocked that people harbor all sorts of strange, urgent desires? The Golden Ass, written by Apuleius in the second century, tells a ribald tale of human depravity and excess, showing us that Michael Jackson was hardly a uniquely modern phenomenon. The human psyche is extraordinarily unstable and diverse, and, like water finding its way downhill, our intense wants and urgent desires seek paths toward satisfaction.

What does shock me, however, is our present cultural sensibility, a pervasive mentality of therapeutic affirmation that most of us participate in, however half-heartedly. It is a plain fact that Charlie can not only become Charlene, but he can also feel entirely justified in demanding that everyone around him accept his decision and accommodate the fulfillment of his desires. And his demanding voice finds sympathetic ears. We may snicker inwardly, and roll our eyes in unguarded moments. But for the most part we fall in line and do our best to make Charlie’s transformation seem like any other personal decision — a lifestyle choice, as we often say.

Richard Weaver once wrote: “Every man participating in a culture has three levels of conscious reflection: his specific ideas about things, his general beliefs or convictions, and his metaphysical dream of the world.”1 At the level of specific ideas and general convictions, our age has settled into a pragmatic affirmation of any number of social constraints. Most recognize the ongoing need for economic discipline to promote productive behavior, as well as social norms to censure and control disruptive, violent tendencies. So, we accept policing, the punishment of criminals, and bureaucratic regulation, as well as a vastly expanded array of social norms designed to improve health and facilitate social cooperation. No-smoking signs, calorie-counting and resumé-building high achievers, exhortations to save for retirement and use condoms, anxious efforts to reduce environmental impact, sharp rebukes for off-color remarks, to say nothing of the tremendous social pressure to be tolerant and nonjudgmental: all this and more testifies to the ongoing and powerful role of behavior-shaping norms.

Yet, at a deeper level, the postmodern West cultivates an antinomian sensibility. Our age judges the laws of behavior to be fundamentally extrinsic to human flourishing, and we tacitly believe that humanity more fully realizes itself as the need for norms is minimized.

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