Did Christians invent humility?

[Lyric]

I was reading this article on recovering from alcoholism without believing in God, and the comments below were interesting.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/28/my-take-an-atheist-at-aa/?hpt=hp_abar

There are several Christian posters there who take issue with the fact that the article's author advocates "humility" without giving Christianity proper credit. To quote:

giesse: However, I have to make a point on the conclusion of your article where you praise the humilty of AA.
The valorization of humility to the rank of virtue is typically Christian. Ancient Greeks and Romans were merely associating it with defeat and debasement.

It took a God, who humbled Himseld dying on a Cross for all our flaws, to introduce all the humanity to the healing power of humilty. And this is true also for many other good things, like the concern for the poor, the weak, the disadvantaged, the sick, and so on. All categories that in the classical world were quite endangered.

Sometimes, non believers should appreciate more that they are building on Christan foundations. Although I agree that too often Christians, including, me, are not very up to the task of witnessing the Christian heritage power of restoring lives, I don't think is totally fair to say that your recovery doesn't have anything to do with religion.

This sentiment is repeated on the atheist side as well:

Margaret: I agree, however, that the concept of "humility" fundamentally stems from AA's Christian routes and is not helpful to many people, particularly the many who come into the program feeling terrible about themselves.

I'm having trouble believing that Christianity "invented" the idea of humility as a virtue. What do you think? Is this an idea borrowed from an earlier religion and/or culture, like much else of Christianity's religious philosophy? Or were Christians truly the FIRST organized group to practice humility as a virtue? And even if this is true, do you think that it is STILL a modern Christian value, or just another virtue that Christians often claim but rarely embody?

[darkstar3]

1. Humility as a virtue appeared in cultures worldwide going as far back

(and probably farther but I haven't read it) as 6,000 B.C.E. Four thousand pre-Christian years of humility as a virtue in China, Japan, the Middle East, and even the commenter's dismissed Greece, pretty much put the lie to this idea.

Also, if they invented it, they ought to be better at its practice.

[ixion]

2. An ironic question

Because it's not very humble. :evilgrin:

And xians, while they may have been at some point, are not really known for their humility.

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Fundamentalist are bad examples of Christian Humility.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. John Milton, gave some damn good Ideas for it. Jesus was not a Christian

but he was Humble ,Whilst knowing he was God.

[The Wielding Truth]

4. It is not accurate or humble to say that humility as a virtue was invented

by Christianity and it's simple to prove.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humility

[orpupilofnature57]

7. Human Verse Heroic.

[RC]

6. The family dog can act humble.

Just one more thing the Christians stole, the 'acting' humble part.

[provis99]

8. shouting at others about how humble they are?

Irony, thy name is Christian.

[snagglepuss]

9. I am currently reading Margret Visser's Beyond Fate which discusses this

very topic. Christianity is based on guilt and forgiveness as opposed to shame and vengeance. Christianity she says is extremely individualistic. Christians are exhorted to acknowledge their sinfulness, that is acknowledge their guilt to God and repent,whereas other religions are more communal, people can be polluted by simply being near supposed evil doers and evil doers must be expunged from families and communities lest the family's honor is besmirched. Guilt is something individuals feel, shame is something that is imposed by society.

The book is based on lectures she gave. I highly recommend it.

[nosmokes]

10. There is nothing original about Christianity.

Normally I shy away from this forum but your OP is so outrageous it compelled me to respond. To attempt to credit any religion with *inventing* a human attribute is so far beyond the pale the mind boggles.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. Plenty of Old Testament (pre-Christian) examples.

1. Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Forbidden Tree, saw they were naked, and hid from God.

2. Abel made a sacrifice of his herd to show his humility.

3. Jacob was ready to sacrifice his only son to God to show his humility.

4. Samson didn't cut his hair or shave to show his humility.

5. Moses trembled in fear of the Burning Bush.


If you want non-theistic, pre-Christian ideals of humility, read Socrates and Aristotle.

[haele]

12. No, I think humility was a virtue to certain Hindu sects -

And of course, the Buddhists - and Buddhism began sometime between the 6th and 4th century BCE - well before "Christ". But, of course, Buddhists and Hindus are Pagans, and they don't count.

I've heard this argument before, and it's pretty much a deliberate confusing and down-playing of the influence of the Classic cultures in the early Xtian Church. The Greeks themselves had several different traditions and cultural attitudes (some were war-like, some autocratic, some egalitarian, some merciful in law, some hard nosed)amongst themselves, and of course the Romans were different from the Greeks.
This is playing semantics - the Greek word for humility as the early Xtians would have understand it in a "Christ" sense is tapeniophrosune - either taking a simple, no-drama attitude, actively taking lesser position, or backing off a point of contention and was a relatively neutral term that was often used in diplomacy when one was negotiating a settlement or considering mercy.
The Romans, a latinate language linked "humility" to "humilitas" (or "low to the ground"), which was also the root for both humble and humiliation, in which a person is coming from a lower social position or has their position "lowered" through incorrect action.

The early Xtians probably took the Latin terms "humility" or "humble" rather than the Greek terms that were closer to the spirit of their religion in their writings and lectures as a form of semantic play - mocking the Romans in that their "low to the ground" Christ overcame the mighty Romans with his supposedly debased sacrifice.
Though in some of the early writings, the different greek and latin terms are used interchangeably to describe Christ and his activities.

Haele

[Igel]

13. Poorly formed question.

It's the old "How could Columbus discover America? Didn't the people living here know it was here?" It forgets that knowledge and discoveries can happen many times and that a "discovery" has to be from a point of view. If I reveal something I know, it's hardly a revelation to me; that doesn't mean it's not new to others.

Xianity largely invented humility in the West. In the East? Most Western culture isn't based on classical Chinese or Hindu culture, so in a very real sense it doesn't matter. Still, some want to be "global" and try to claim the first recorded instance gets priority. Eh. We don't know if there was a culture 25k BCE that had humility as a big deal, so all that does is play the same game: Did Xianity invent humility? It doesn't matter if it did in the West and that was the limits of knowledge because now we know more and it's *our* limited perspective, not *their* limited perspective, that counts.

Personally, I think that displays a certain lack of humility. :-)

Even then, humility was a work in progress for a long time.

The claim that a lot of Xianity was borrowed holds water; the claim that it therefore borrowed also humility doesn't automatically follow. Look at society in 200 or 500 AD. Humility was an ascetic virtue, not a widespread one; it was uttered in the pulpit in a largely pagan society and hadn't taken root. If humility was truly borrowed from the dominant, widespread folk religions of the day, we'd see a lot more evidence for it. We don't. Instead first we see it before high rulers--hardly a novel idea, arrogance before kings tends to lead to death or exile; kings were to be humble before their superior, not their minions. It's slowly worked its way down the food chain and become reciprocal, so that leaders are to be humble before their minions and vice-versa.

It's still not a widespread virtue.