Radical Un-Selfing: Kent Dunnington on Christian Humility and Dependence on God

In this conversation, philosopher Kent Dunnington discusses humility—in its ancient, scriptural, monastic, and Medieval Christian contexts; some damning criticisms of Christian virtue; Jesus' radical vision of flourishing and eternal life, which includes self sacrifice; the temptation toward ego building and self improvement; and Dunnington's own view of humility as “radical un-selfing.”

“Humility is ultimately the gift that frees us from that selving project, as I call it. Roman Williams talks about the history of radical Christianity, focusing particularly on the desert monks as they're engaged in the crazy project of un-selfing, of trying to leave behind the ego-bound self. Trusting that reliance on God and one another is enough.”

Kent Dunnington is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Biola University. He's editor of The Uncertain Center: Essays of Arthur McGill, and the author of Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice*. His 2019 book just came out: Humility, Pride, and Christian Virtue Theory. In it, he presents his own account of humility and it's a radical one. So in this conversation we discuss humility—in its ancient, scriptural, monastic, and Medieval Christian contexts; some damning criticisms of Christian virtue; Jesus' radical vision of flourishing and eternal life, which includes self-sacrifice; the temptation toward ego building and self-improvement; and Dunnington's own view of humility as “radical un-selfing.”

Show Notes

6:37—On how he got into the study of humility and why it’s important, the lack of humility in contemporary American culture and politics, the influence of Christianity on humility, and Immanuel Kant
11:00—On the Nietzschean critique of humility and Christianity, conceptions of the good/eternal life, the language of wholeness, and self-sacrifice and resurrection
14:51—“I argue that it's important that, for Jesus, the life of glorification, to use the language in Philippians, is not separable from the life of humiliation.”
16:08—“The good news of the gospel, I take it, is that we really can give of ourselves without any limitation, in the hopes of discovering resurrected life, which is the discovery that endless self-sacrifice is actually eternal life.”
17:31—On a feminist and womanist critique of humility and self-sacrifice: do they perpetuate systems of oppression?, Christian and Pagan “wholeness,” the abuse of humility (and all of the virtues), humility as voluntary, and the monastic tradition and humility
20:50—“The project of embarking on the quest for humility is one that has to be undertaken voluntarily. It has to be an invitation that one receives from God. We are never in a position to recommend it or enforce it on others.”
22:28— On the “developmental trajectory” of humility, the penultimate and the ultimate, Bonhoeffer, Simone Weil, and pride
25:25—On imitation, dependence, development of the self, Augustine, and “radical un-selfing”
27:34—On his autobiography, the humility of his family, and the obsession with subjectivity
30:01—“You don't become humble by becoming interested in humility. You become humble by becoming interested in other people, and most especially, in God.”
32:17—On the attractiveness of humility, a positive account of humility, Simone Weil on affliction and love of others, and loving in the absence of pride
35:39—“If humility is a genuine virtue, where we know how to go on, even though we don't know who we are, it means that we can continue to love, even when everything we thought we needed to be an impressive self is under challenge or is gone.”
37:35—On “mundane humility,” dependence, Immanuel Kant on humility and beggars, and St. Francis of Assisi

Credits

Hosted and produced by Evan Rosa
Resource of the Biola University Center for Christian Thought, which is sponsored by generous grants from the John Templeton Foundation, Templeton Religion Trust, and The Blankemeyer Foundation
Theme music by The Brilliance
Production and Engineering by the Narrativo Group. More info at Narrativogroup.com
Edited and mixed by TJ Hester
Production Assistance by Kaleb Cohen
Follow: @EvanSubRosa / @BiolaCCT / cct.biola.edu