Introduction

Rediscovering
Humility for
Our Times

Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he shows favor.

THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED StATES-AND perhaps in other places throughout the world-needs to recover, respect, and reenact biblical humility. We Christians are fractured, but humility will help us to heal. Our world has always been fragmented, and Christians are not immune to the forces that drive wedges between people. But we seem to be at a critical juncture that requires fresh solutions to age-old problems. Churches are increasingly polarized because of politics, and many pastors are at their wits' end trying to discern how to love people well while denouncing misinformation, sexism, racism, and other forms of injustice. The rhetoric from many professing Christians demeans weak, marginalized, humiliated people-the very ones God calls us to honor and serve. Influenced by the surrounding culture, Christians' words and actions are often prouder and more scornful than humble, gentle, and teachable.

The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, continues to draw attention to racial injustice, while some-even Christians-try to discredit or ignore the movement rather than honestly explore the reasons for racial injustice and the need for Black Lives Matter's existence. The MeToo movement put a spotlight on the sexual violence and harassment embedded within societal structures, which threatens the safety and well-being of our mothers, sisters, daughters, colleagues, and friends. Such movements expose how society's institutions and systems have been built on a foundation of racism, classism, sexism, and nationalism. But it has become nearly impossible to have meaningful conversations about these realities.

As a prime example, some leaders and institutions have turned critical race theory into a bogeyman designed to frighten their constituents into banning the academic field of study instead of engaging with it. Through inaccurate descriptions and sensational accusations, critical race theory is presented as a menacing specter hovering over vulnerable children. Actually, truth about the theory is often shrouded in the darkness of ignorance, and many-mostly White-Christians are agitated because anxiety is confusion's companion.

Humility brings truth's light by throwing back the shutters of arrogance and opening the window of curiosity. With these hot-button issues and others, curious people ask questions. And with more answers-or at least investigation-we move toward understanding. The journey toward understanding can reduce fears, fortify faith, and allow love to flourish. Humility makes us curious, guiding us onward to love, and with love we can heal.

The church's growing irrelevance in parts of the United States as well as some other places in the world is not because Christianity has lost its brain but because it seems to have lost its heart. Increasing numbers of PhD graduates in Bible, theology, and related fields testify to Christianity's brainpower, but the inability of many of these graduates to secure employment in their discipline points to a different problem. We have fewer people attending churches, and church people are a major funding source for Christian institutions. Consequently, divinity schools and theological seminaries are struggling-unless they are well-endowed, historic institutions attached to large universities.

Increasing numbers of people reject Christianity despite the energy expended to evangelize, to explain the Bible, and to offer answers to people's pressing questions about life. One piece of evidence of the church's heart loss is the way many Christians make it hard for unbelievers to recognize Jesus. Ironically, arrogance rather than humility often accompanies erudition-the more information we amass, the less we seem to be able to empathize with others. Academics and other church leaders focused for centuries on what we might call theological or doctrinal matters, putting ink to paper or voice to soapbox in attempts to clarify biblical truths for each other. Meanwhile, onlookers scratched their heads, averted their gaze, and bolted in a different direction.

Doctrinal clarity surely has a place, but as the adage says, "People won't care how much you know till they know how much you care." A clear way to show how much we care is to be open, honest, vulnerable, approachable, and generally unafraid of listening rather than talking. Humility allows us to have a posture that invites rather than repels.

HUMILITY IS A CHRISTIAN IDENTITY MARKER

What is humility, and why is it essential for Christians? These are questions we will explore throughout this book. Humility is a way of life rooted in submission to God and is demonstrated in actions that foster mutuality rather than competition. Humility is a biblical virtue, though it has often been misunderstood both inside and outside the church.

Eve-Marie Becker contends that "in early Christianity humility was regarded as a virtue that was unknown in the pagan world" and "thus as a Christian identity marker."1 She references Augustine, who frequently mentions humility, and also a homily of fourth-century Pseudo-Macarius, who takes humility as "a sign of what is Christian."2 In the first few centuries after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his followers could be identified by their humility.

This might prompt us to wonder what identifies Christians in our time. To some onlookers, bigotry, stinginess, racism, patriarchy, homophobia, nationalism, and hypocrisy are among the signifiers of Christians in the United States. But even if we aren't that cynical, we might confess that there is only an ambiguous witness to those observing Christian faith when it comes to humility. As much as we might nod in agreement that humility is important and necessary, we struggle to practice it.

My dearest friend, a fellow pastor, has wondered aloud with me whether the Christian struggle to practice humility is because we generally abhor vulnerability. The church is often the last place where we can confess our sins to one another and pray for each other so that we can all be healed (see Jas 5:16). There are always exceptions to what my friend and I have observed in our combined sixty-five or so years of Christian ministry, but we are not far from the mark. Many of us might struggle to practice humility because we misunderstand it as a sign of weakness, even though we give lip service to the contrary.

Jane Foulcher states, "While humility had a central place in early Christian theology and practice, it has generally been marginalized by the modern Western world and in contemporary Christian life."3 Foulcher is one of several authors who note that Scottish philosopher David Hume dismissed humility as a "monkish virtue," and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche referred to humility as Christian "slave morality" that demonized the pursuit of power and self-fulfillment.4 There is also a stream within Christianity that distorts humility by equating it with humiliation and smallness.

For example, in his book Humility the mystic Andrew Murray consistently presses readers to view themselves as insignificant, going so far as to say, "Accept every humiliation, look upon every fellow-man who tries or vexes you, as a means of grace to humble you."5 In light of Murray's context, however, this advice is problematic. Murray appears to have been instrumental in setting the stage for apartheid in South Africa by introducing a resolution in the Dutch Reformed Church for racially separate congregations.6 Given Murray's perspective on segregation, he seemed to be chiefly concerned about the vexation that White people received. The oppressed Blacks of South Africa surely did not need to be told that what Whites were doing to them was God's way of humbling them. Murray's perspective on humility does not address the power differentials in society-some of which Christians either created or supported. Yet true humility means movement toward justice rather than away from it.

Humility's bad reputation has made many of us wary of becoming doormats. Consequently, most speakers and writers are quick to distinguish humility from self-deprecation.7 Yet this can lead to other kinds of distortion. John Dickson is about as far from Andrew Murray as one can get, selling humility as beneficial for success in our society: "My thesis is simple: The most influential and inspiring people are often marked by humility."8 Dickson goes on to present humility as a quintessential American value, offering exemplars from the worlds of business, sports, and the military-the usual trinity invoked as inspiration for church leaders in our nation.

Perspectives like that of Andrew Murray present humility as self-loathing, while views like that of Dickson present humility as a stepping stone for upward mobility in our competitive society. Since both of those views appear to me as distortions, I find Reinhard Feldmeier's viewpoint helpful: "When we speak of humility, we must always bear in mind these possibilities that the idea of humility may be distorted and abused; these possibilities are probably as old as the concept itself."9 Perhaps our eagerness and care to present humility in a...