Overview
Humility, Pride, and Christian Virtue Theory proposes an account of humility that relies on the most radical Christian sayings about humility, especially those found in Augustine and the early monastic tradition. It argues that this was the view of humility that put Christian moral thought into decisive conflict with the best Greco-Roman moral thought. This radical Christian account of humility has been forgotten amidst contemporary efforts to clarify and retrieve the virtue of humility for secular life. Kent Dunnington shows how humility was repurposed during the early-modern era-particularly in the thought of Hobbes, Hume, and Kant-to better serve the economic and social needs of the emerging modern state. This repurposed humility insisted on a role for proper pride alongside humility, as a necessary constituent of self-esteem and a necessary motive of consistent moral action over time. Contemporary philosophical accounts of humility continue this emphasis on proper pride as a counterbalance to humility. By contrast, radical Christian humility proscribes pride altogether. Dunnington demonstrates how such a radical view need not give rise to vices of humility such as servility and pusillanimity, nor need such a view fall prey to feminist critiques of humility. But the view of humility set forth makes little sense abstracted from a specific set of doctrinal commitments peculiar to Christianity. This study argues that this is a strength rather than a weakness of the account since it displays how Christianity matters for the shape of the moral life.
Full Product Details
Author: Kent Dunnington (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Biola University)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 14.80cm
, Height: 1.60cm
, Length: 21.80cm
Weight: 0.344kg
ISBN: 9780198818397
ISBN 10: 0198818394
Pages: 188
Publication Date: 26 December 2018
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
One of the most intriguing aspect of this profoundly interesting and helpful book is how Dunnington seeks to speak into contemporary issues utilizing resources one is not used to seeing in most discussions of analytic theology... This book is highly recommended. * Kyle Strobel, Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care *
Author Information
Kent Dunnington is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Biola University. He is the author of Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice (2011) and the editor of The Uncertain Center: Essays of Arthur C. McGill (2015).
