The politics of humility: Humility in historical Christian thought and its educational implications

Abstract

In recent times, schools have begun to focus on issues of wellbeing, engaging with ideas from various fields such as positive psychology. It is in this context that there is a growing interest in humility, rather than this interest having emerged from debates in moral philosophy and moral education. However, to the extent that education for wellbeing initiatives might promote humility as a virtue, it is important to address the extent to which it can be considered as good. This paper critically explores the shift of humility from vice to virtue in the west with the advent of Christianity. Drawing on historical, religious, and philosophical sources, the status of humility as a moral good is brought into question. It is argued that humility can only be understood, like other virtues, within historical, political, and social context. Thus, it is in how humility is operationalised in contexts of social relations that we can evaluate its moral worth. As such, we suggest that educators and schools should take account of the contingent nature of humility, its paradoxes and politics, rather than promoting it as an unquestionable good.

Keywords:

• Christianity
• politics of humility
• virtues in education
• moral education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Orthodoxy in trinitarian theology would have it that God exists as one unity in the three persons of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

2 Philippians 2:6-8 (NIV) says of Jesus that, though ‘being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!’

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen Chatelier

Stephen Chatelier is Assistant Professor in the Department of International Education at the Education University of Hong Kong where he teaches in the area of international schools and global studies in education. His research is concerned with political and ethical aspects of education. Previous publications have drawn on postcolonial theories and focused on aspects of education ranging from humanism, posthumanism, leadership and globalization.

Liz Jackson

Liz Jackson is Professor of International Education at the Education University of Hong Kong. She is the immediate past president of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia and the former director of the Comparative Education Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong. She is Deputy Editor for Educational Philosophy and Theory. Her recent authored books include Contesting Education and Identity in Hong Kong (Routledge, 2021), Beyond Virtue: The Politics of Educating Emotions (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and Questioning Allegiance: Resituating Civic Education (Routledge, 2019). Her current research is focused on comparative views of emotions and virtues in philosophy and education.