Reclaiming Humility: Four Studies in the Monastic Tradition Volume 255

by Jane Foulcher

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879072551
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	03/31/2015
Series:	Cistercian Studies , #255
Pages:	354
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jane Foulcher is an Anglican priest on the theology faculty of Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

List of Abbreviations xvii

Introduction: Why Humility? xix

Chapter 1 Virtue or Vice? Humility among the Virtues 1

1.1 The Lost Virtue? Humility in the Modern World 2

1.2 Humility and Virtue in the Greco-Roman World 6

1.2.1 Aristotle, Eudaimonia, and Megalopsychos 8

1.2.2 Humility as a Condition of the Socially inferior 15

1.3 Humility in the Judeo-Christian World 17

1.4 Humility among the Virtues 24

1.5 The Return of the Virtues 30

1.6 A New Monastic Turn? 32

1.7 Conclusion 33

Chapter 2 Humility and the Self: Desert Monasticism 37

2.1 The Literature of Early Desert Monasticism 41

2.2 From the City to the Desert: Locating the Self in the World 46

2.2.1 The Desert: A Place of Humility 46

2.2.2 Abba Arsenius: The Downward Journey of the Desert 51

2.3 Between Heaven and Earth: Locating the Self in Eternity 59

2.3.1 Anthony and the Open Heavens 59

2.3.2 Judgment and Humility 64

2.4 Habits of the Desert: The Practice of Humility 67

2.5 Turning the Other Cheek: The Humiliated Self 75

2.6 Conclusion 84

Interlude: From the Desert to the Cloister 87

Chapter 3 Humility and Community: The Rule of Saint Benedict 95

3.1 The Rule of Saint Benedict in Context 97

3.2 Communal Eschatology: "All Together to Everlasting Life" (RB 72.12) 105

3.2.1 From a School of Suffering to a School of Love: Prologue 45-50 107

3-2.2 Together, with Ardent Love: RB 72 111

3.3 The Ladder of Humility 115

3.3.1 RB 7 and Its Pedigree: Cassian, the Master, and Benedict 116

3.3.2 The Ladder of Humility: Metaphor and Theology 122

3.3.3 The Ladder of Humility in Community 131

3.4 Practicing Humility in the Monastic Workshop 134

3.5 The Monastic Polis: A Place of Humility 136

3.6 The Yoke of Service: Humble Love and the Monastery Kitchen 144

3.7 The Bread of Obedience: The Difficult Heart of Humility 152

3.8 The Raven at the Table: Benedict Practices Humility 159

3.9 Conclusion 162

Chapter 4 Humility and Public Life: Bernard of Clairvaux 165

4.1 The Problem with Bernard 170

4.1.1 Life and Work 170

4.1.2 Character and Cult 173

4.1.3 Writing and Rhetoric 176

4.2 Bernard and Humility: On the Steps of Humility and Pride 182

4.2.1 The Fall from Humility: A Phenomenology of Pride 184

4.2.2 Humility and Truth 187

4.2.3 The Birth of Compassion: Humility and Love 195

4.2.4 Two Types of Humility: Cold and Warm 196

4.2.5 The Humility of God 198

4.2.6 Assenting to Grace: The Practice of Obedience and the Conversion of the Will 201

4.3 Bernard and the World 204

4.3.1 The Virtuous Christian Community 205

4.3.2 Contemplation and Action 211

4.4 Humility and Public Life: On the Conduct and Office of Bishop? 214

4.4.1 Monastic Virtues for Public Life: Chastity, Charity Humility 219

4.4.2 Pride: An Interior View 222

4.4.3 Pride: An Exterior View 224

4.4.4 Obedience and Public Life 226

4.5 Practicing Humility in Public Life: The Life of Saint Malachy 229

4.6 Bernard the Juggler: Humility and Failure 231

4.7 Bernard and the Florentine Republic 235

4.8 Conclusion 239

Chapter 5 Humility and the Other: Christian de Chergé and the Monks of Tibhirine 243

5.1 Christian de Chergé: A Vocation to Algeria 247

5.1.1 Childhood and Education 247

5.1.2 Algeria: Formative Encounters 248

5.1.3 Ordination and Monastic Vocation 250

5.2 The Cistercians in Algeria 251

5.3 Tibhirine: An Emerging Vocation 253

5.4 Bribes d'humilité: "Scraps of Humility" 255

5.4.1 Humility: A Divine Climax 257

5.4.2 Humility and Obedience 259

5.5 The Eschatological Horizon: Hope and Humility 261

5.5.1 "I Place Death before My Eyes" 262

5.5.2 Pilgrims of the Horizon 264

5.5.3 Reimagining Benedict's Ladder: The Chapter Talks 268

5.5.4 The Mystical Ladder of Dialogue: The Journées Romaines Lecture 272

5.6 L'AUTRE que nous attentions: "The OTHER for Whom We Wait" 274

5.6.1 Space for "the Other" 277

5.7 Practicing Humility in "the School of the Other" 280

5.7.1 Hospitality and the Monastery Wall 280

5.7.2 Monasticism and Islam 284

5.7.3 La "grisaille" du quotidian: Ordinary Time 286

5.7.4 Ora et Labora 288

5.7.5 Work: The Monastery Garden 289

5.7.6 Prayer: The Daily Office 291

5.7.7 Priants parmi d'autre priarits 294

5.8 Martyrdom: The End of Humility? 298

5.8.1 Loving to the End 298

5.8.2 Humility and the Hostile Other 303

5.9 Conclusion 305

Conclusion: Reclaiming Humility for the Twenty-First Century 307

Reclaiming the Way of Humility 308

Reclaiming an Eschatological Orientation 310

Reclaiming the Material Face of Humility 311

Reintegrating Humility and Humiliation 313

References 317

Editorial Reviews

"This book seriously explores the marginalization of humility in the modern world and in contemporary Christian life by tracing the history of humility from the Greco-Roman philosophical traditions and Judeo-Christian origins to major monastic sources of teaching on humility from the desert monks, the Rule of Benedict, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Christian de Chergé and the monks of Tibhirine. The breadth and depth of each chapter guides the reader to the significance and reevaluation that humility offers for Christian living, whether one is a monk or married person, by the transforming grace of Christ's own kenosis. I hope that every monastic house and theological library offers this fine study of humility, in its many facets, for its readership to read, ponder, and reflect with others."
Mary Forman, OSB, Associate Professor of Monastic Studies, Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary


"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 crucial links that unite Christian humility with human dignity and charity. In a stunning final chapter, Foulcher turns to the practice of humility among the monks of Tibhirine, martyred in Algeria in 1996. Foulcher concludes that a reclaimed humility is vital to the Christian way in the twenty-first century. Highly recommended."
Ann Astell, Professor of Theology, The University of Notre Dame


"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 misused, life-generating virtue."
Mark A. McIntosh, Professor of Christian Spirituality, Loyola University, Author of Divine Teaching: An Introduction to Christian Theology



"Reclaiming Humility represents a gentle but decisive rejoinder to a characteristically modern dismissal of the ‘monkish virtues' as worthless. Jane Foulcher shows that David Hume did know what he was talking about."
Scott Cowdell, St. Mark's Review

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