the-freedom-of-self

Keller’s first chapter presents his view of the human ego, building his analysis around the apostle Paul’s unusual word choice in 1 Corinthians. Keller begins by noting that when Paul urges the Corinthians not to take pride in one person over another, he does not use the ordinary Greek word for pride (hubris) but rather an uncommon term, physioō. This linguistic observation provides the foundation for the chapter’s central metaphor: Physioō means to be overinflated, swollen, or distended beyond proper size, suggesting an organ pumped full of air until it becomes painful and ready to burst.

Keller proposes that this metaphor reveals four important truths: “I think the image suggests four things about the natural condition of the human ego: that it is empty, painful, busy and fragile” (14). First, the ego is empty. Drawing on Søren Kierkegaard’s Sickness Unto Death, Keller argues that the human heart naturally attempts to build its identity around something besides God, seeking worth and purpose from finite goods. Since nothing created can adequately fill the place designed for God, the ego remains hollow at its center despite being inflated with air.