Religious institutions, family, and nation have even in the recent past been three fundamental external anchors for identity. They provided much of the fixity, and thus stability and authority, of the early modern world. In answer to the question, “Who am I?” each could give an answer: You are Carl Trueman, a Christian who is the son of John and English by birth. Once those three lose their authority or become problematic or even sources of shame, the question of my identity needs to find other anchors. And the question is: Where can I do so? Shorn of such external markers, the turn inward
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