History and Culture
What Orthodoxy Teaches America About Individualism
American independence prizes self-reliance, but Orthodox Christianity offers a different vision of freedom, identity, and belonging through communion with God and others.
There is something profoundly American about the ability to stand on your own two feet. We champion the person who makes his own way, thinks for himself, works hard, and refuses to rely on anyone else. From our first breath, many of us are taught to believe that we are our own person, responsible for making our own choices and building our own lives. Independence is not only treated as a virtue, but as the ideal.
There is something within this worth preserving. Orthodoxy does not call us to be mindless or passive people. We are still called to work hard, to take responsibility for our lives, and to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). There is dignity in personal responsibility, and there is virtue in learning to stand on our own two feet.
