On Intellectual Humility
The Masculine Appeal
Augustine finished his City of God in 426 as the great Roman Empire was in disarray, experiencing decay and depravity leading to its eventual destruction. Many lament that the Western world is experiencing a similar decline. We now live in “the negative world.”¹ I needn’t list the litany of moral atrocities that are now commonplace, and even cherished, to prove the point.
In troubled times like our own, when we remember the glory and nostalgia of years past, it can become tempting to think that recapturing greatness lies in a hyper-masculinized Christianity.
We think we need Christianity with a masculine feel. We think we need the stoic self-reliant strong man proclaimed by those like Jordan Peterson, Jocko Willink, and Joe Rogan. We think we need to abandon the emasculated ethos of our forefathers that lead us to this sad state and reclaim the rugged strength of our imagined heroes; that we must be resolute to forsake sugar coating, softness, and any hint of “third-wayism.” Instead—we are often tempted to think—we need strength, courage, and conviction; that now is not the time for niceties or nuance; that we cannot merely avoid the fray and turn our noses at those fighting for the faith. After all, the virtues of the Christian faith are shot through with a masculine feel; Meekness is not weakness—or so we are tempted to think.
Such an overly masculinized approach is not limited merely to the media and politicized sectors of Christianity. It infects even our own Reformed communities.
But while such sentiments may appear noble and courageous—and are true in many respects (we need strength, courage, and conviction)—they lack true power and greatness. They lack humility.
Augustine’s answer to his declining culture wasn’t mere courage. It wasn’t pure strength. It wasn’t unadulterated conviction. Instead, he begins by telling us the whole purpose of his magnum opus is to convince “the proud of the power and excellence of humility.”²
It is this power and excellence I seek to commend here—especially to those that teach.
The Power and Excellence of Humility
For those relentless for retrieval, they will search in vain for humility in the works of Aristotle. Humility is for the weak minded. That’s why humility is chiefly a theological virtue. It is the great sage, Jesus Christ himself, who radically subverts the classical virtue tradition.³
Therefore, it is the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake that inherit the kingdom of heaven.
And it is Jesus who is the paragon of virtue, and he is gentle and lowly in heart. It is his life and teaching that exemplify the life of excellence and power. But it is folly to the world to think that such a posture is where true greatness is found.
And yet this is humility.
But humility is not mere self-abasement. While such an understanding is not uncommon—even among Christian thinkers—it is deficient. Rather, humility is the use of one’s strength for the sake of others.⁴ It is not the embrace of what is lower but of what is higher—God and his purposes.⁵ It is a proper self-knowledge and an inherent goodness and overflowing love for others.
As a true theological virtue, it weaves together faith, hope, and love. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Following Wilhelmus à Brakel, this means that humility is the fountain of all virtues. It adorns them.⁶ Therefore, humility can never be found alone. It is the glue that holds the other virtues together. In this way, it is a sanctified version of Aristotelian magnanimity which likewise adorned the virtues and made them greater by its presence.⁷
Instead of courage, conviction, and strength we find a kind conviction, a gentle courage, a meek strength. Humility fundamentally reshapes our vision of the virtuous life. It breathes life into the pagan virtues.
Such an understanding situates humility as the mean between an utter despondency and vain pride.
Therefore, humility does not entail cowardly accommodation nor the lust for domination. It is not a call to limp wristed hopelessness or to blood thirsty valor. Rather, it is armed with courage and spiritual valor for the good of others.⁸
The Intellectual Shape of Humility
Humility is especially difficult to maintain for those of high academic acumen. First Corinthians 8:1 is certainly written to someone. Even as knowledge is worth more than silver and gold, it still puffs up. Pastors with formal education and professors with CV’s longer than a CVS receipt all have more reason than most to believe their own press. There is a tendency, when we are lost in the world of great ideas and have many that revere us and our intellectual power, to lose track of a proper self-estimation and begin to seek the domination of others.
While domination may sound extreme it is precisely the pull of our idol making heart to lord our knowledge over those in our care. Too often we can sanitize our efforts—consciously or not—to display our knowledge.
Certainly, there is also much to be said for those teachers without formal education that are similarly tempted to lord their knowledge over others—more so in some cases to compensate for their perceived lack.
Saint James speaks directly to such teachers—whether true intellectuals or faux. “Not many of you should be teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1). He goes on to share two competing visions of the intellectual life, with teachers still in mind:
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3:13-16)
Teachers ought to pray and seek the Lord daily for this meekness of wisdom. They ought to desire the virtuous disposition of humility that is open to reason, gentle, and peaceable. It looks to make friends before enemies. It seeks common ground rather than disagreements. It is about making peace with those that are different. It is willing to admit its limits, ignorance, and change its mind in glad thankfulness.
In today’s supercharged climate, it is difficult to find someone who models the wisdom of meekness and is gentle, open to reason, and peaceable.
But they are a cool drink of water to the weary and heavy laden.
May the Lord grant us such humble hearts and lives.
Jordan L. Steffaniak (ThM, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is married with three children. He is President of The London Lyceum, Research Fellow for the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture, and teaches at various institutions. He has published in numerous academic journals and is working on two monographs, one related to the classical doctrine of God. He also works full-time in the finance industry.
Notes:
Aaron M. Renn, “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism,” First Things, February 1, 2022, https://www.firstthings.com/article/2022/02/the-three-worlds-of-evangelicalism.
Augustine, Concerning the City of God against the Pagans, trans. Henry Bettenson (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 5.
Kent Dunnington, Humility, Pride, and Christian Virtue Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 4.
Matthew A. Wilcoxen, Divine Humility: God’s Morally Perfect Being (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2019), 4.
Wilcoxen, Divine Humility, 66.
Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, ed. Joel R. Beeke, trans. Bartel Elshout (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 1992), 4:67.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Terence Irwin, 2nd ed (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1999), 1124a; Wilcoxen, Divine Humility, 181–82.
Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 4:69.