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Does humility have a place in contemporary life? Were Enlightenment thinkers wrong to reject humility as a "monkish virtue" (Hume) arising from a "slave morality" (Nietzsche)? Australian theologian Jane Foulcher recovers the counter-cultural reading of humility that marked early Christianity and examines its trajectory at key junctures in the development of Western monasticism. Humility emerges not as a moral virtue achieved by human effort but as a way opened by grace-as a divine "climate" (Christian de Chergé) that we are invited to inhabit. From fourth-century Egypt to twentieth-century Algeria, via Saint Benedict and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Dr. Foulcher's compelling analysis of theology and practice challenges the church to reclaim Christian humility as essential to its life and witness today.
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Reviews
"This wonderfully clear and insightful introduction to so central a topic will be of immense help to students and scholars. At a moment when the spiritual formation of Christian theology is emerging once more as central to our understanding of Christianity, Reclaiming Humility provides a deeply thoughtful and well-researched consideration of this difficult, indispensable, sometimes dangerously mis
Mark A. McIntosh, Professor of Christian Spirituality, Loyola University, Author of Divine
"There is an impressive range of field she undertakes to examine: humility in the tradition of the desert monasticism in the fourth and fifth centuries, humility in the Rule of St. Benedict, humility in St. Bernard and Cistercian movement, and humility in the monastic community of Tibhirine in Algeria. These four areas of study are handled with ease in writing style that ultimately delivers a deep
Jeremy Driscoll, OSB, American Benedictine Review
"Jane Foulcher's important book returns our attention to the neglected topic of humility. A long spiritual tradition regards this virtue as fundamental to the imitation of Christ, but moderns often disparage it as detrimental to our sense of human dignity and self-worth. Turning to such sources as the desert fathers, John Cassian, Benedict of Nursia, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Foulcher recovers the
Ann Astell, Professor of Theology, The University of Notre Dame
Extended Details
- SeriesCistercian Studies #255