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Divine Humility: God's Morally Perfect Being
God is all-powerful. God is all-knowing. God is ever-present. But is God humble? Though the answer may seem obvious, humility is rarely identified as one of God’s attributes. Christianity has traditionally emphasized an array of divine attributes centering around omnipotence. In Divine Humility , Matthew Wilcoxen attempts to supplement traditional study of the godhead by focusing on God’s humility.
Wilcoxen first examines how to refer properly to God’s being. Contending with those who say that human concepts cannot communicate God’s being at all, Wilcoxen articulates an account of theological concepts that holds together simultaneously both God’s objectivity―that he is "for us"―and God’s subjectivity―that he remains yet totally free. Wilcoxen argues that the concept best positioned to achieve this objective is humility, which, in the Christian tradition, has been considered the paragon of virtues and should thus fittingly be attributed to God’s character. Wilcoxen next explores divine humility through the work of three different theologians―Augustine, Karl Barth, and Katherine Sonderegger. Augustine, Wilcoxen argues, ascribes humility to God in a tantalizing way, but fails to explain further its doctrinal implications. Karl Barth articulates a more developed doctrine of divine humility by linking God’s divine being to his redemptive work. But Barth’s account ultimately suffers because it flatly equates humility with obedience and divides the divine will into the separate entities of the Father and the Son. It is the recent work of Katherine Sonderegger that best articulates an account of divine humility that carries forward Augustine’s mantle and overcomes the problems in Barth’s account. By connecting God’s humility to divine energy, Sonderegger shows how God can be near to creation without overwhelming it. Ultimately, Wilcoxen contends that humility’s importance as a divine attribute indicates that it should be fully considered in any Christian doctrine of God. Divine Humility serves as an important reminder to Christians that God, as powerful as He is, is also a God of great magnanimity and love.
Wilcoxen first examines how to refer properly to God’s being. Contending with those who say that human concepts cannot communicate God’s being at all, Wilcoxen articulates an account of theological concepts that holds together simultaneously both God’s objectivity―that he is "for us"―and God’s subjectivity―that he remains yet totally free. Wilcoxen argues that the concept best positioned to achieve this objective is humility, which, in the Christian tradition, has been considered the paragon of virtues and should thus fittingly be attributed to God’s character. Wilcoxen next explores divine humility through the work of three different theologians―Augustine, Karl Barth, and Katherine Sonderegger. Augustine, Wilcoxen argues, ascribes humility to God in a tantalizing way, but fails to explain further its doctrinal implications. Karl Barth articulates a more developed doctrine of divine humility by linking God’s divine being to his redemptive work. But Barth’s account ultimately suffers because it flatly equates humility with obedience and divides the divine will into the separate entities of the Father and the Son. It is the recent work of Katherine Sonderegger that best articulates an account of divine humility that carries forward Augustine’s mantle and overcomes the problems in Barth’s account. By connecting God’s humility to divine energy, Sonderegger shows how God can be near to creation without overwhelming it. Ultimately, Wilcoxen contends that humility’s importance as a divine attribute indicates that it should be fully considered in any Christian doctrine of God. Divine Humility serves as an important reminder to Christians that God, as powerful as He is, is also a God of great magnanimity and love.
- GenresTheology
237 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 2, 2023
Augustine, Barth, their lose strings when it comes to God’s humility, and how Sonderegger ties them all together. God is humble. Just exceptional!
October 28, 2019
I learned a bunch of new words and gained an appreciation for the importance of theological metaphysics (esp. some missteps in Barth!). There's also some helpful clarification about what we should mean when we commend "humility" as a virtue.
June 17, 2019
I like it!
September 19, 2023
I consider myself a fan of scholarly, metaphysical things and generally able to enter into those sorts of discussions, but OOF this work was hard to read! It unfolds like a dense PhD thesis.
The basic premise is to critique Augustine’s and Barth’s approaches to God’s humility by using instead a third option of Sonderegger’s concept of divine energy. I’m still not exactly sure what that energy entails. Wilcoxen is dealing with deep concepts here; I get that. But he often uses five-syllable words when one would do, and the result is unfortunately a lot of bloat to sift through. Wilcoxen might’ve benefitted from a good editor to push him to use normal language (when technical language isn’t necessary) and to make his points clearer.
This book argues that the Triune God is indeed in some sense humble. But what, in the end, is Divine Humility, according to Wilcoxen? I’m still unsure. And that’s a problem.
This is definitely not a layman’s work. I wonder if it would even be a fit for many scholars either. I’d love to hear Wilcoxen speak in person more on this topic. Perhaps then we could cut around the wordiness and get to the heart. It’s a fascinating topic but sadly too inaccessible here for me to recommend this book.
The basic premise is to critique Augustine’s and Barth’s approaches to God’s humility by using instead a third option of Sonderegger’s concept of divine energy. I’m still not exactly sure what that energy entails. Wilcoxen is dealing with deep concepts here; I get that. But he often uses five-syllable words when one would do, and the result is unfortunately a lot of bloat to sift through. Wilcoxen might’ve benefitted from a good editor to push him to use normal language (when technical language isn’t necessary) and to make his points clearer.
This book argues that the Triune God is indeed in some sense humble. But what, in the end, is Divine Humility, according to Wilcoxen? I’m still unsure. And that’s a problem.
This is definitely not a layman’s work. I wonder if it would even be a fit for many scholars either. I’d love to hear Wilcoxen speak in person more on this topic. Perhaps then we could cut around the wordiness and get to the heart. It’s a fascinating topic but sadly too inaccessible here for me to recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews