Publication Date
5-2026
School
College of Arts and Sciences; School of Divinity
Major
Interdisciplinary Studies; Religious Studies
Keywords
Expressive Individualism, Reformed theology, Reformational Philosophy, Augustinian Anthropology, Cultural Engagement
Disciplines
Christianity | Other Philosophy | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion | Social and Cultural Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Kantola, Isaac, "Toward an Anthropology of the Expressive Individual: Reformational Insights into Emotions, the Heart, and Christian Formation" (2026). Senior Honors Theses. 1615.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/1615
Abstract
Contemporary Western culture is increasingly defined by what theologians and sociologists call “expressive individualism,” driven by an “ethic of authenticity” in which one’s emotions and desires are seen as the primary arbiter of identity and meaning. Responding to this cultural movement, the Church has appropriated the language of desire, happiness, and the affective in its preaching, ministry, and apologetic endeavors. Figures such as John Piper, James K.A. Smith, and Timothy Keller have each, in their own way, sought to contextualize the faith so it may be better understood by a culture obsessed with their longings and therapeutic self-concern. While these efforts are commendable in impulse, this thesis argues that they have proceeded without a sufficiently robust Christian anthropology. Specifically, a Christian account of the true nature of the emotions and how such relate to the deeper religious heart of the person is absent from the church’s engagement.
Drawing on the cultural analyses of Phillip Rieff, Charles Taylor, and Carl Trueman, this paper first maps the contours of expressive individualism and traces its effects on contemporary Christianity. It then identifies the core anthropological insufficiency driving the Church’s engagement: a failure to distinguish the psychical-emotional aspect of the person from the religious root of heart. Tracing the development of the Augustinian account of the heart by Reformed figures such as Abraham Kuyper and Herman Dooyeweerd, this thesis argues that Dooyeweerd’s modal aspect theory provides the conceptual clarity needed to properly relativize the emotions within the human person. With this framework in place, the Church can be equipped to engage authentically with the longings of expressive individuals, challenge the absolutization of the emotions, and offer a genuinely liberating account of the Christian faith.
Included in
Christianity Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons
