Perspectieven op individualiteit bij christelijke studenten in het seculiere tijdperk.

Abstract

The understanding of human individuality has experienced great shifts in the past few centuries. With the term ‘subjective turn’, Charles Taylor articulates the change from a life based on external factors, where the inner self of the individual is subject to these factors, to a subjective life in which the authenticity of the inner self has authority over the external factors. In the history of Protestantism, specifically in the context of Methodism in North America and England, we see a development of the way man understands himself in relationship to God. This development gives way to the rise of a certain tension between conformity to God’s law and moral standards on the one hand, and the belief that God acknowledges and even favors the expression of authenticity of the human individuality on the other hand. This tension is made visible in the context of Christian students that are affiliated to the Navigators student associatons in the Netherlands. An ethic of self-realization is visible here, and exists in tension with submission to God. Daan Beekers argues that in reality there is a convergence between the two. My analysis of a core-document of the Navigators student association in Utrecht will show that the tension in this context is less communicated than it may be experienced. The document shows the importance of construing a Christ-like character, while God is portrayed as a more external factor to whom a personal submission is needed.