When It's Worse Than You Think
January 16, 2025 | Jim Angehr
The twentieth century was getting Frenchy with it as multiple authors identified the modern malaise that we often feel as anomie. It’s that hard-to-put-your-finger-on-it, low level buzzing, dull ache of dissatisfaction and ache that we can often tune out as background noise but bubbles back up to the surface at the worst times.
When our anomie hits the fan, we might try and hand wave it away and tell ourselves, “Life really isn’t that bad.”
On the other hand, maybe we should listen harder to our anomie, since maybe it’s on to something. Here’s Christopher Watkin in his Biblical Critical Theory, talking about how the Bible describes our total state of alienation outside of Jesus: “God is alienated from us, and he is angry with us (Gen 3:11). We are alienated from God, and we flee from him (Gen 3:10). We are alienated from ourselves, and we experience shame (Gen 3:7). We are alienated from our bodies (Gen 3:16). 5. We are alienated from each other (Gen 3:12–13). We are alienated from the rest of creation (Gen 3:17). Creation is alienated from itself (Gen 3:18).”
Sometimes it really is that bad! And this is why we need Jesus.