the-freedom-of-self

“What are the marks of a heart that has been radically changed by the grace of God? If we trust in Christ, what should our hearts be like?”

These opening questions establish the book’s fundamental concern with experiential transformation rather than mere theological correctness. The emphasis on “radically changed” signals Keller’s conviction that the gospel produces not incremental moral improvement but fundamental reorientation of identity, introducing the theme of Identity Grounded in Divine Grace Rather Than Achievement.

“Up until the twentieth century, traditional cultures (and this is still true of most cultures in the world) always believed that too high a view of yourself was the root cause of all the evil in the world.”

This historical observation provides the cultural-historical framework essential to Keller’s argument, positioning his exposition of Paul as offering a third way beyond both traditional and modern approaches to self-regard. The parenthetical acknowledgment that “most” cultures still hold this view prevents Keller from appearing to critique merely a straw man, as he suggests that the traditional perspective remains globally dominant even as Western culture has embraced its opposite. However, Keller is still working with sweeping generalizations either way—a rhetorical technique that allows him to set up a clear-cut dichotomy that he can then subvert with his idea of “self-forgetfulness.”

“Our belief today—and it is deeply rooted in everything—is that people misbehave for lack of self-esteem and because they have too low a view of themselves.”

Keller’s characterization of this modern consensus as “deeply rooted in everything” creates another rhetorical generalization about what he regards as the pervasiveness of therapeutic assumptions in contemporary education, counseling, and public policy. This sets up the book’s countercultural