Overview
This study examines how the New Testament scriptures might form and foster intellectual humility within Christian communities. It is informed by recent interdisciplinary interest in intellectual humility, and concerned to appreciate the distinctive representations of the virtue offered by the New Testament writers on their own terms. It argues that the intellectual virtue is cast as a particular expression of the broader Christian virtue of humility, something which itself proceeds from the believer's union with Christ, through which personal identity is reconstituted by the operation of the Holy Spirit. This demands that we speak of 'virtue' in ways determined by the acting presence of Jesus Christ that overcomes sin and evil in human lives and in the world. The Christian account of the intellectual virtue of humility is framed by this conflict, as the minds of believers who live together within the Christian community struggle with natural arrogance and selfishness, and come to share in the mind of Christ. The new identity that emerges creates a fresh openness to truth, as the capacity of the sinful mind to distort truth is exposed and challenged. This affects not just knowledge and perception, but also volition: for these ancient writers, a humble mind makes good decisions that reflect judgements decisively shaped by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. By presenting 'humility of mind' as a characteristic of the One who is worshipped--Jesus Christ--the New Testament writers insist that we acknowledge the virtue not just as an admission of human deficiency or limitation, but as a positive affirmation of our rightful place within the divine economy.
Full Product Details
Author: Grant Macaskill (University of Aberdeen)
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Imprint: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780191865039
ISBN 10: 0191865036
Publication Date: 18 November 2018
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Format: Undefined
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
"""This is a well written volume. It makes both an academic contribution to debates around intellectual humility and offers a solid basis for practitioners to consider the role and formation of intellectual humility within their own communities."" -- Bethan Willis, Oxford Character Project, Anvil"
This is a well written volume. It makes both an academic contribution to debates around intellectual humility and offers a solid basis for practitioners to consider the role and formation of intellectual humility within their own communities. -- Bethan Willis, Oxford Character Project, Anvil
Author Information
Grant Macaskill is the Kirby Laing Chair of New Testament Exegesis at the University of Aberdeen. He was previously Senior Lecturer in New Testament at the University of St Andrews, where he had completed both his doctoral and postdoctoral projects. His research engages with the New Testament as a coherent body of theological literature emerging from the diverse contexts of late Second Temple Judaism.
