The term individualism has in many ways become an obscurity; a description of the postmodern claim to focus on me first – then the collective. Without further introduction I would like to suggest that it’s possible to understand individualism based on a legitimate (theological) need to reunite with and understand Imago Dei in a person’s life. To do so we must be able to distinguish between individualism such as egoism and individualism as realism.
Realism, in this context, pertains to revelation, or discovery, of redeemed human nature; the new person. Realism then becomes an acknowledgment that I (that is, every single human being) is created in God’s image; unique, different from everyone else, with its own characteristics, personality traits and character.
Egoism, on the other hand, becomes the individualistic need for self in the center, without God, which is an expression of the old, unredeemed nature, where the individual desires to free him/herself from the significance of the collective – and also from the nature of God. Realism, to the contrary, does not elaborate liberation from context (humanity, community), rather it endorses an establishing of the individual’s true self.
When self finds its place in the presence of God, mirroring his face, then individualism does not become a threat to the values and purposes of the community. The security and trust that follow will rather provide strength and diversity to the community – and God‘s greatness becomes more visible to the society.