IP#499 Gil Bailie - The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self on Inside the Pages with Kris McGregor

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Gil Bailie on “The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self: Recovering the Christian Mystery of Personhood”

Gil Baillie, founder of the Cornerstone Forum, joins Kris McGregor on Inside the Pages to discuss his book The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self: Recovering the Christian Mystery of Personhood. Baillie examines the contemporary crisis of individualism, which distorts true personhood by prioritizing self-will over divine calling. Drawing from thinkers like René Girard and Romano Guardini, he argues that modern culture has lost sight of the relational nature of human identity. The book’s first half explores this crisis through figures like Nietzsche, Descartes, and Flannery O’Connor, while the second half presents the Christian alternative—a rediscovery of personhood rooted in the Trinitarian relationship and the call to self-giving love.

They take a look at how mimetic desire shapes human behavior, leading to societal fragmentation and the modern obsession with self-definition. True identity, as Baillie sees it, comes through Christ, echoing St. Paul’s words: “I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me.” He sees hope in a return to Christian anthropology, where personhood is understood through vocation and relational existence rather than autonomous self-determination.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

The Crisis of Individualism: How does modern culture’s focus on self-will and autonomy conflict with the Christian understanding of personhood as relational and God-centered?
Mimetic Desire and Identity: In what ways do we imitate others in shaping our identity, and how can this imitation either lead us closer to or further from Christ?
The Role of Suffering and Sacrifice: How does true personhood involve embracing sacrifice and suffering in the pattern of Christ, rather than seeking self-fulfillment through worldly means?
Literature as a Lens for Truth: How do stories like Flannery O’Connor’s Parker’s Back reveal spiritual truths about the search for meaning and the dangers of self-definition?
The Influence of Christian Anthropology: Why is the Christian understanding of personhood, as rooted in the Trinity, essential for resisting the cultural collapse of identity and meaning?
The Call to Evangelical Witness: In what ways can we live out a compelling Christian witness that draws others to Christ in a world increasingly shaped by relativism and self-invention?
True Freedom in Christ: How does surrendering to God’s call and living in relationship with Him lead to true freedom, rather than the false freedom promised by self-sovereignty?
The Yes or No to Christ: Considering Von Balthasar’s insight on history as the intensification of the “yes” or “no” to Christ, how does this apply to the moral and cultural choices we face today?
The Temptation of Victimhood: How has the modern world distorted the concept of victimhood, and how does Christ’s example on the cross reveal the proper response to suffering?
Hope in a Darkening World: What practical steps can we take to remain faithful and hopeful in a time of cultural confusion, ensuring that we live as authentic disciples of Christ?

You can find the book here.

From the book description:

“The Apocalypse of the Sovereign Self is a collection of stories, fictional and factual, highlighting two themes: the autonomous self, now in a profound crisis; and the person, whose Christian sources and contours have too long been overlooked. The ongoing cultural and confessional evisceration of Christianity all too graphically proves the validity of Christ’s warning: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). For these words were addressed to the first Christians, and they now apply not only to Christians but also to those whose exposure to Christ has been merely cultural, those who mistakenly think that the spiritual resources that fostered and sustained the dignity of the human person will survive the renunciation of the faith that gave that dignity its salience.”

About the Author: Gil Bailie is the founder of The Cornerstone Forum, a founding member of The Colloquium on Violence and Religion, a member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, and Fellow of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology.