What is Christian hubris? It is lifting our God to the level of an exclusive (The) God at the expense of other world religions who believe their God is The God . It is presuming to know the truth about God through doctrines, dogma, theologies, hermeneutics, etc. To presume is to assume an other's presuppositions about God are not divinely right. It is "Christian egotism" to say that our God is the God.
Christian hubris is sometimes subtle and sometimes blatant. It is sometimes harmless and other times dangerous. It goes beyond "our" beliefs about God and believes "this" is the way God is to be to the exclusion of other faiths. Hubris is acting as if our ground were the only holy ground on the playing field of divinity. Religious hubris in general leads to intolerance, close mindedness, crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, genocide, holocausts, etc. In its more benign form it assumes a "live and let live" attitude while secretly knowing we have the truth and they don't. Christian humility identifies who and whose we are. It thereby does not exclude other religion's sense of "we".
We draw walls around our religious communities and create an us versus them mentality.
The righteous settlers banded in a circle against the attacking "savages" is a metaphor for more than The Manifest Destiny Doctrine. Christian hubris claims as much territory of truth as it can occupy. We have the truth and nothing but the truth. "I am the way, the truth, and the life" said the second century Christians about Christ. Name calling and prejudicial assumptions are made in the name of Christian hubris. Instead of the emphasis being upon "we" are the people of God, "The" takes stage center and leads to its own self righteousness. We are in and you are out. There is plenty in the Holy Books of three of the major religions that make claims about what I call religious hubris. There is plenty of hubris in religion to go around.
Religious humilityalso exists within the Holy Books and faith stances of three of the world's major religions. Christian humility looks at the elephant story as a faith story about our limits in knowing God. Each blind person thinks the part they touch is the elephant . Chrisian humility accepts that there is more to an elephant than each part.
Do people of other faiths go to heaven? If not do they go to hell? If they go to heaven then what difference does it make to be a Christian? That is hubris. An answer that works is "God only knows". Christian humility says "I don't know the answer and if that is even the right question I'm going to leave it up to God as to how God answers". That is humility of faith.
Christian humility stresses and is very comfortable affirming its own faith without worrying about making claims on God about God being inclusive or exclusive. It identifies who and whose we are. Christian humility is comfortable risking a leap of faith that says this is my God and our God. It does not exclude an other religion's sense of "we". This is how we live with our God and one an other's God: We join with y(our) faith in matters of service to humanity and in respectful conversations. We refuse to be drawn into arguments about religious rightness.
Christianity does not apologize for our beliefs about God when we live Christian humility. It is an unpretentious faith that isn't even aware of its own unpretentiousness. Our God means there is a certain amount of uncertainty built into Christian humility. We assume this stance: "Lord, I (we) believe. Help thou my (our) unbelief." We are open to more from God and do not pretend or make the effort to speak for God. Christian humility says we can speak about our God but only God can speak for God. There is even a sense in Christian humility in which we will use "the" truth and "the" God in our language knowing full well these are faith statements not know-it-all absolutes. God the Father (to us) becomes a divine descriptor not a prescription. Christianity humility calls for faith and uncertainty, knowing and not knowing; not either "my way or the highway".
I blanch at any wording, document, book title, article, that purports to know "the true" way to do or believe a thing. This is also how I feel about words like "the real", "the authentic, "the right way " and a whole host of other hubristic statements. Christan humility is careful about stating more than it can claim. For who "really" knows what the real, the absolute, the truth, etc. is? I can tell you my (our) way about the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And that is how Christian humility"languages" itself. And just to be clear: These are my definitions and descriptors of Christian humility and Christian hubris. Want to converse about yours?
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