Mere Anglicanism in an Age of Expressive Individualism

By Jeffrey Walton

Juicy Ecumenism

February 5, 2026

Christians are contesting an alternative gospel in the present age, one that promises fulfillment through the longings of the self, according to speakers at a prominent Anglican conference.

Expressive individualism is an alternative gospel, insisted the Rev. Vaughan Roberts. “It is saying if you fulfill the longings of the self, if you look within, and resist all the pressures of external authorities, then you’ll find the fruitful and fulfillment you long for. That’s a gospel message, but it’s a false gospel, it’s a lie, and increasingly we’re seeing the effects of it: dehumanization, desoulment.”

Roberts, an Anglican clergyman who serves as rector of St. Ebbe’s Church, Oxford, spoke at Mere Anglicanism January 22-24 in Charleston, South Carolina. Themed “Gospel Identity in an Age of Expressive Individualism” the semiannual gathering has a reputation for engaging speakers that “develop disciplined, educated laypeople and clergy who are prepared to play their part in the renewal of Anglicanism.”

One of seven presenters, Roberts contrasted expressive individualism with the view of the Church as “the soul of the world.”

“Because, in Christ, we have been and are being humanized,” Roberts proposed.

Ethics and Ontology

Mere Anglicanism conference director and St. Philip’s Anglican Church Rector the Rev. Jeff Miller framed the conference as convened by Anglicans and centered around Anglican worship services held at the recently restored St. Philip’s Church. But the conference goal was working “in service to the whole Church” inviting both Anglicans and speakers from other Christian traditions with expertise in addressing the year’s convening topic.

The 2026 gathering featured theologians and scholars including Roberts, Anglican priest and apologist The Rev. Dr. John Dickson of Wheaton College, and former Bishop of Rochester Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali. They were joined by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Dr. Al Mohler, Grove City College Professor and Presbyterian Minister The Rev. Dr. Carl Trueman, and Roman Catholic Scholar Mary Eberstadt of the Faith and Reason Institute in Washington D.C.

Mohler, who jokingly identified himself as “Baptist by theology but an Anglican by taste” sought to trace the development and embrace of the tenets of expressive individualism in western culture. The seminary president noted that “The only way you can be wrong now is to say that anyone’s expression of their individual identity is wrong.”

He traced this to the writings of figures including French Enlightenment thinker Immanuel Kant, philosopher and German idealist Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and theologian and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher.

“Where are ethics rooted?” Mohler asked, adding that “it’s not just ethics, it’s ontology; you have a war on being. It is about the denial of even a natural order.”

Despite a difficult cultural environment, Mohler suggested that Christians have a task at hand: lean into ordinary means of grace, have babies, and train boys to be men.

Where this might end, expressive individualism’s “Brave New World” was examined by Carl Trueman, who identified a crumbling of external authority as playing a big role.

Trueman spoke on Teleology and how in modern life “Our end is something we choose for ourselves.”

In such a world, given ends come to be seen as oppressive while authenticity is a hallmark of a culture defined by expressive individualism.

“Modesty and self-restraint look fraudulent,” Trueman noted, and “Not performing life in public is seen as sinister.”

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self author cited U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s recurrent use of profanity on social media as an example, something that would have scandalized political leaders in prior generations.

“It prizes autonomy and personal feelings over external natural limits,” Trueman observed.

A woman’s biology is also considered a threat in expressive individualism, Trueman noted, saying that it is not just interested in autonomy, it is interested in being God.

“Disenchantment doesn’t explain it, desecration does,” Trueman stated.

The Grove City College professor advised recapturing embodiment, friendship, and ritual.

“Where do we do that? Church. It provides rituals that truly make us human,” Trueman added. “The Church is the place where humanity is realized.”

Dying to Live

What might an adequate Christian response to expressive individualism look like? Former Church of England bishop and Roman Catholic monsignor Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali considered Jesus’ ethic for finding fulfillment, insisting in his presentation that “Your bodies are not your own, they belong to the other.”

Selflessness, sacrifice and service, Nazir-Ali listed, are traits cultivated in the historic Church that go beyond crisis and conversion. The gospel’s credibility is seen in Christians’ service to those around us.

Nazir-Ali cited a comment from a Chinese orphanage worker that Christians purposefully adopt “the bad ones” in the sense of children requiring special attention and care, those whom the world may not see as of value.

“People find love in this place” Nazir-Ali recounted of those who come to seek treatment at a Christian hospital in the Middle East.

This, Nazir-Ali identified, is the unique Christian contribution to society. But every generation has to be converted, and “when we do so, we receive what has been squandered.”

An Informed Optimism

Catholic Scholar Mary Eberstadt in her presentation considered non-philosophical roots of the crisis, identifying a “massive disturbance of the human ecosystem.”

Titled “You are Not Your Own: Life, Liberty, and the Human Body,” Eberstadt’s lecture noted that we now live in an era in which there are fewer people whom each of us interact with in every stage of life.

“Shrink the number of relationships and identity decreases alongside,” Eberstadt determined, considering consequences to changes in family formation.

But the Church, Eberstadt noted, has a role in reversing this isolation.

“It is not just that the religious are more likely to form families, there is something about living in families that makes people more religious.”

The Faith and Reason Institute research fellow was both candid about cultural challenges but also made the case for an informed optimism: the rational grounds that Christianity might receive a fair hearing in the years ahead.

Hope can be found in a Christian counterculture growing in intentional religious communities, classical schools, “people who want to live the faith,” Eberstadt proposed. She touted Ivy League Christian groups as well as the Catholic Information Center in downtown Washington, D.C. as among vibrant expressions of such a counterculture.

“Church teachings about who we are and what we are here for is true,” Eberstadt insisted, adding that the truth of Christian teaching is visible in the consequences of living without it.

Eberstadt was joined in her optimism by Presbyterian writer and attorney Justin Whitmel Earley, who spoke on “Friendship in a Fragmented World.”

“You cannot become yourself by yourself,” Earley contended, sharing from his personal experiences and friendships across decades.

The Body Teaches the Soul author listed rituals of sacred significance, embodiment and friendship as important.

“The destination of humans is to be fully loved and fully known,” Earley established, noting that “you can’t be radically vulnerable without rituals of commitment.”

Such rituals include regularly being physically present with others, such as weeknight conversation over drinks with friends on a porch. They can lead to being fully known without secrets.

“Virtual church is not church; you need embodiment of relationships,” Earley declared.

Cultural engagement is also an aspect of being “citizens of Christ’s Kingdom” according to Southern Seminary Associate Professor of Church History Stephen Presley.

Presley, who serves as Director of Education and Engagement at the Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, suggested that the second century world of the early Church is like our world where Christianity is a choice, rather than inherited from the broader culture around us.

Because of this, we can mine early Church responses to paganism for an effective response in our own era. These points include catechesis, citizenship, cultivating leaders, and celebrating hope.

“I’m optimistic about the schools and programs, I see things popping up all the time,” Presley encouraged. “Cultural discernment is at a premium right now.”

The Soul of the World

Behind loud, confident declarations of identity lurks an insecurity, Roberts of St. Ebbe’s Church insisted, surveying the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and asking how the Church can be the soul of the world.

St. Paul, Roberts explained, finds a secure identity and “Christian identity doesn’t depend on what we do.”

“If your identity is built on success, that is full of anxiety,” Roberts shared, noting that identity based on success leads to being terrified of failure.

In contrast, there is “huge security in being a much-loved child of God” and secure identity is what the world longs for.

“Individual fulfillment is an oxymoron; we are not designed to find fulfillment in ourselves,” Roberts declared. Rather, there is a captivating purpose seen in the saints, people who “let the light through” and bring glory to God.

The Church of England clergyman prioritized the proclamation of “a big gospel.”

“Are we focusing on a little gospel for a little me, what I want: health, wealth, therapeutic?” Roberts asked. What people really want, he identified, is a “full-fat” Christianity, not aesthetics or chasing a fad.

Mere Anglicanism’s presentations were each characterized by tough talk about cultural challenges but also a real hope for the future.

“Don’t panic, focus on your small sphere of influence, consecrate,” Grove City College’s Trueman advised of how to operate in the current cultural moment.

“The light never shines so brightly as in the darkness,” St. Philip’s Church Rector Jeff Miller encouraged.