Christianity & Existentialism
Authenticity and the True Self
Existentialism prizes authenticity: living as your own free self, owning your choices, and refusing what Sartre called 'bad faith,' the self-deception of hiding behind roles and excuses. This is a bracing and honest ideal. Christianity shares the refusal of a fake, performed life, but locates the true self differently: not in a self we author alone, but in a self that is fully known and lovingly remade by God. Here is the contrast, fairly.
What existentialism holds
For the existentialists, the great danger is inauthenticity: drifting through life as 'what one does,' playing a part handed to you by society while pretending you had no choice. Sartre called this self-evasion 'bad faith,' the waiter who over-plays being a waiter, the person who treats their own freedom as though it were fixed fate. To be authentic is to face your freedom honestly and choose as yourself, without hiding behind the crowd. This is a powerful and morally serious call, and much in it is simply true.
What Christians believe
Christianity agrees that a performed, borrowed life is a kind of death, and that many people never become who they are. But it questions the idea that the true self is something we invent from nothing. It says the deepest truth about you is that you are already fully known, before you construct anything, and that becoming your true self is less self-creation than being found and remade.
Where we agree
Existentialism is right to despise a fake, second-hand existence and right that facing our freedom honestly is part of becoming real. Jesus himself reserved his sharpest words for religious performance and hypocrisy. The call out of 'bad faith' is one Christianity can gladly echo.
Where we differ
Existentialism says the self is authored by its own free choices, with no given nature underneath. Christianity says the self is first received, known by God before we know ourselves, and that we do not so much invent our true self as discover and receive it in being loved and remade. Which account fits the human heart better is worth testing.
Existentialist sources are quoted and attributed in the text: Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism is a Humanism, 1946), Albert Camus (The Myth of Sisyphus, 1942), and Soren Kierkegaard (The Concept of Anxiety; Concluding Unscientific Postscript). We aim to represent each thinker accurately and in their own terms. Bible: King James Version.
Frequently asked questions
- What is 'bad faith' in existentialism?
- Sartre's term for self-deception: pretending you are not free, hiding behind social roles, excuses, or 'the way things are' to avoid owning your choices. Authenticity is the opposite, facing your freedom honestly and choosing as yourself.
- Does Christianity value authenticity?
- Yes. It rejects a fake, performed, second-hand faith, and Jesus reserved his harshest words for religious hypocrisy. Christianity affirms the existentialist refusal of a borrowed, self-evading life.
- How do the two views of the 'true self' differ?
- Existentialism says the self is authored by our own free choices, with no given nature beneath. Christianity says the self is first received and known by God (Psalm 139:1), and that we discover and are remade into our true self by being loved, rather than inventing it alone (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Come and see, and choose freely
Existentialism prizes an honest, first-hand encounter over inherited answers. In that spirit, the most honest way to weigh Christianity is to read Jesus for yourself and see whether his account of freedom and meaning rings true. No belief is required to read it.
Read the Gospel of JohnKierkegaard: the Christian existentialistWhy Jesus?