The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness [Paperback]

The chaps at 10 of Those have taken the initiative to produce a number of shorter and cheaper, but decent quality, booklets, and the first of these are now out. There's a brief introduction to the doctrine of The Cross by Andrew Sach and Steve Jeffery (well-qualified to write on this having worked on the mammoth but important Pierced for our transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution). The other is this wonderful new outing from Tim Keller. Largely based on a sermon Keller preached at Redeemer in New York 10 years ago, it is only £2.99 including postage and a quick read at less than 50 pages. [Seeing as you have to pay to download that particular talk anyway, you might as well choose to pay for whichever medium suits you best!]

But I'm very pleased this is out in print now, simply because it gets to the heart of such a crucial contemporary issue: the power of the Ego. Not that the Ego is a brand new problem, of course - it's just that, as so often, we've derided and therefore rejected the ways of the ancients in dealing with it. This booklet contains all the hallmarks of a Keller treatment: close attention to the details of the text (in this case, a handling of 1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7), explicit debts to the thought of C S Lewis, an appreciation of how contemporary thinking is developing and shifting, as well as a vital understanding of real people's pastoral needs.

I was particularly struck by Keller's analysis of the apostle's image of the heart being `puffed up', a metaphor related to a bellows. From this, he draws four characteristics of the ego's desperation to assert itself: it becomes empty, painful, busy and fragile. (pp14ff) The more one considers each of these features, the more we're forced to confront the reality. How do we fill up the empty and heal the pain? The western world is desperate for answers. But it has been completely barking up the wrong tree. But at least some have begun to realise this - and Keller introduces the hope for a path through on the back of a very interesting psychological survey:
"A few years ago, there was an article in the New York Times magazine (Feb 3, 2002) by psychologist Lauren Slater called `The trouble with Self-esteem.' It wasn't a ground-breaking article or a bolt out of the blue. She was simply beginning to report what experts have known for years. The significant thing she says is that there is no evidence that low self-esteem is a big problem in society. She quotes three current studies into the subject of self-esteem, all of which reach this conclusion and she states that `people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem and feeling bad about yourself is not the source of our country's biggest, most expensive social problems.'"(p10)

At last! Some sense. But according to this exposition of the apostle Paul, freedom from either high or low self-esteem will never be found within our around us. True freedom to be, to love, to give (without manipulation, competition, or one-upmanship), just as Martin Luther discovered nearly 500 years ago, can only be found in the gospel, and in particular, the gospel of justification. For as Keller so frequently teaches
"Do you realize that it is only in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you get the verdict before the performance?" (p39)

And what joy such knowledge can bring. And forgetfulness.
"This is gospel-humility, blessed self-forgetfulness. Not thinking more of myself as in modern cultures, or less of myself as in traditional cultures. Simply think of myself less." (p36)

When we meet people like this, people whose hearts and minds are truly filled with Christ and not themselves, we can't help but be drawn to them - for they never make us feel insecure, ignored or unloved. Just like people felt when they met Christ, as it happens. This is true attractiveness. But it is also what we long for ourselves. Here's hoping that this great little book will have precisely this effect. Get it. Read it. Live it.

In former days, comments Tim Keller, it was generally assumed that the root of evil was pride: having too important a view of oneself.
By contrast, nowadays it is often reckoned that the root of evil is having too low a view of oneself; and therefore much time and money is spent building up the self-esteem of people who, for whatever reason, count themselves worthless.

But in this short book (46 pages; really just an expanded sermon, and drawing considerable wisdom from CS Lewis) Keller says that neither of these approaches ultimately gives a solution. Taking verses from 1 Corinthians, he shows that high self-esteem and low self-esteem are both, in different ways, a form of pride. The thing that brings freedom is what he calls 'gospel humility'.

The 'gospel-humble' person is neither a self-hating person, not a self-loving person, but a self-forgetful person who peacefully entrusts himself to God as his judge, depending on the redeeming power of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Because of its short length the book is not regaled with real-life stories of people with self-esteem issues. That has the virtue of keeping it succinct; however for some it may make it seem less accessible.

Nevertheless I can imagine this book being helpful for those who feel trapped in the 'depths', particularly if it were read with a gentle, loving Christian friend who can help apply the principles. But, as always with this kind of thing, the best time to read it or give it to others would be as 'preventative medicine', letting God's word shape our world-view, change our hearts, and bring peace to us and to others.

A short, concise, but powerful book that puts the whole self image issue in perspective. A book to read and then spend some time digesting. Potentially life changing.