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Christians Should Be Successful
The self-abasing person needs a virtue that complements humility and prevents it from devolving into the mediocrity and smallness of soul.
By Justin Hawkins
January 6, 2025
A thought experiment: think of people you would call ambitious. Now think of ambitious people who have died happy. If the first list was easier to populate than the second, perhaps this points to a problem with the concept of ambition. Without a natural object (ambition can aim at wealth, fame, reputation, pleasure, or any other object) and a natural limit (its desire is always for more than it currently possesses), ambition can never have any natural satisfaction.
We might think that most successful people are ambitious people. Ambition is the gnawing hunger that drives the eventual achievement of success. But a person is successful when they realize their goals – when their desire rests in the attainment of its object. Thus we can more easily think of ten successful people who have died happy than we can ten truly ambitious people who have died happy. Success is difficult to reconcile with ambition, which is rarely satisfied. And those who strive for a successful life need moral resources beyond just ambition if they are going to achieve the excellence of success.
Christians sometimes get queasy when talking about ambition. It can sound too much like the pride and presumption of the Greco-Roman world that Christianity sought to displace and transform. The Romans yearned for honor, grandeur, and glory, but Christ taught us to be humble. Christians strive to be faithful, not to be successful – so the argument goes. But there are good reasons for a Christian to keep the concept of success, provided it is rightly understood. In its most virtuous form, striving for success is the refusal to squander gifts, opportunities, and resources one has received and instead to build upon those endowments toward the attainment of some noble good. This form of nobility and human grandeur fits squarely within the Christian moral life, though Christians have often had to argue for this point against their detractors.
Giorgione, Three Philosophers, oil on canvas, ca. 1505.
When he was not busy inventing chemistry, Robert Boyle worried that a misconceived version of Christianity would rob humans of their grandeur. So when his personal papers were posthumously published in 1691, included among them was “The first chapters of a discourse, entitled, Greatness of Mind promoted by Christianity.” The phrase “greatness of mind” is one English translation of the ancient virtue of magnanimity. In antiquity, magnanimity gathered and perfected the concepts of grandeur, nobility, and virtuous striving. Boyle’s aim in this discourse was to show that “on account of future Rewards, the Christian has much greater Motives to heroic virtue, than the heathen moralist, or philosopher.” By arguing that Christianity promotes human greatness rather than suppresses it, Boyle was anticipating and refuting Nietzsche’s argument to the contrary by about two centuries.
The critique that Christianity robs humanity of its splendor, grandeur, and ambition is often tied to Christianity’s advocacy of humility. Humility is the virtuous refusal to think more highly of oneself than one ought. While it is sometimes thought to be a distinctively Hebraic moral concept, its Greek counterpart is the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and plummeted to his death. Icarus lacked the humility that would have saved his life by reminding him of his limits. But humility can go wrong by excess as well as by deficiency, as when the unduly humble person revels in self-loathing or luxuriates in the contemplation of his or her failures and finitude.
It is not too difficult to find various forms of Christian spirituality – from the Desert Fathers to The Valley of Vision – that present this temptation and perhaps even fall into it. This vice of wrongfully lowly self-regard has a name: pusillanimity; it’s a smallness of soul, a fearful devotion of the soul to that which is below its dignity. Christianity commends no vices, therefore pusillanimity ought to be avoided as much as pride. The theological remedy to this kind of self-abasement is to recognize oneself as the recipient of God’s gifts and graces that are renovating and reconstructing all the features of our humanity. Human beings have grandeur and glory resulting from God’s work toward them. If God is the giver of good gifts and his grace is still operative in the human being even after the fall, then the temptation to abase oneself and curate one’s lowliness becomes not a virtue, but a denigration of the graces of God that still mark the human creature.
This self-abasement is not only objectionable for theological reasons. It is a particular danger for social and political reasons as well. While Augustine’s insistence upon human depravity and finitude was most fitting in cultural moments of wild and unbridled optimism, utopianism, and progressivism, such are no longer the times in which we live. Our times are despondent ones, in which innumerable opportunities are offered to us to flee from the task of being human, as if the demands of humanity – childbearing, decay, death – are all just too much for humans to bear. This flight from our humanity appears equally in the fantasy of transhumanism and the nightmare of physician-assisted suicide.
When humanity is in such a state, the self-abasing person needs a virtue that complements humility and prevents it from devolving into the mediocrity and smallness of soul that Robert Boyle worried about. Boyle’s answer was the virtue of magnanimity.
It is likely that a success-driven young person today, bent upon a life of grandeur and nobility, puts more effort into cultivating the skills for a prestigious career than the skills to be an excellent parent.
He argued that for its adherents, the Christian faith held out the same kinds of goods that the ancient Romans and Greeks had desired: immortality, glory, and “a Good Name, Honour, and Dignity.” After all, there are no true human excellences which are not elevated and perfected in the system of the Christian virtues. Paul tells his readers that God “will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (Rom. 2:6–7).
So then, striving for glory and honor is not only permitted to Christians, but even encouraged by Paul himself. Yet this does not tell us precisely what form of life is the best to attain glory and honor. The Greeks struggled with this uncertainty as well. When Aristotle discusses the forms of life that are honorable, he mentions not only civic leaders and statesmen, but also those who teach us philosophy, who “can get no honor which will balance their services, but still it is perhaps enough, as it is with the gods and with one’s parents, to give them what one can.” Aristotle believed that relationships with one’s parents are always asymmetrical in that one can never fully pay the honor due them for bringing us into this world and giving us the life that is the precondition for all our other gifts. The benefaction of the father “exceeds the [benefaction of kings toward their subjects] in the greatness of the benefits conferred,” which is part of “why parents are honored.” But if the statesman is one candidate for magnanimity, and parents perform even greater benefaction for their children than do kings for their subjects, it seems plausible that virtuous parenting might be a candidate for, or at least expression of, the virtue of magnanimity.
It is likely that a success-driven young person today, bent upon a life of grandeur and nobility, puts more effort into cultivating the skills for a prestigious career than the skills to be an excellent parent, despite Aristotle’s argument that parenting is more honorable than most careers. Parenting, like all forms of care work, is frequently overlooked in the economy of honors. Therefore, one searching for honors and renown might shirk the work of parenting for the work of banking or warfare or other grand endeavors more likely to catch the eye of historians and other luminaries in the economy of honor. But one possible way to relate rightly to an unjust distribution of honors in a society is to opt out of that system and instead to entrust oneself to the honor economy that God confers. This is what the martyrs do, which is why they are exemplars of magnanimity. It is likewise what parents and other caregivers do when they retire from the public eye to perform the honorable (though commonly not honored) work of caring for their loved ones in obscurity. Since it is true that the good of the world “is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs,” as George Eliot writes, it cannot be that our world properly and justly apportions honors in accordance with their due. Sometimes nobility consists in disregarding those honors and continuing with our hidden lives.
When the ancients considered what form of life was the noblest, they would sometimes pit the active life of the statesman or general against the contemplative life of the philosopher or mystic. At the heart of that disagreement is the problem of incommensurability. There are simply too many good things in the world for one life to contain them all. Philosophical inquiry is worthwhile, but so is statesmanship. The writing of sound laws is admirable, but so is leisure. When Christianity came along, it did not solve this problem but radicalized it. The world is so overwhelmingly good, the Christians claimed, that innumerable forms of life could be admirable and praiseworthy. No one life can contain every good – not even the life of Jesus, who never participated in the goods of marriage or parenting or statesmanship or intercontinental exploration or natural science. It is impossible to be both a professional ballet dancer and an NFL linebacker, which does not cast doubt upon the excellence of either vocation. Instead, the wild proliferation of goods in the world points us to the fact that we need a community of people, all pursuing varied forms of honorable success and excellence, to sufficiently enjoy all of God’s goodness. Countless forms of life are open to followers of Jesus – especially modern followers whose lives are a product of choice and curation to a greater extent than most people in history could have imagined.
On first glance, this is a paralyzing thought. The Christian gospel does not deliver precise, action-guiding instruction into which endeavors are worthwhile and which ones are not. Sin is to be avoided, and some fields are inherently sinful, like pimping and lending money at interest. But one looks in vain (though many have) in the pages of scripture for a script of life that details where one ought to live, what career to pursue, what subjects to study. These are questions of prudence, not of direct revelation. What the Christian virtue of magnanimity adds to this is the knowledge that triviality is a threat to the flourishing life. Today’s temptations toward triviality include consumerism, conformism, and the rejection of interiority by subjecting oneself to the economy of reputation management on Instagram. Christian magnanimity is the virtue that refuses each of these temptations by refusing to devote the soul to that which is below its dignity. And Christian magnanimity knows what Aristotelian magnanimity could only dimly suspect: human grandeur, like Christ himself, plays in ten thousand places, all and any of which can be the setting of a noble, grand, and successful human life.
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Andy Calitz
Thank you for a thought-provoking contribution on ambition; it certainly is a matter for persons of all world views, including Christianity. In my book "Life beyond the gods" I describe the need for our society to celebrate those who, in the past, contributed to the advancement of society in the areas of understanding and thinking, inspiration, invention, and practices of society. This is needed for us to advance the development of society. Such a list of contributors appears below. My thesis is that each of these individuals had ambition, a strong desire and will to achieve something requiring determination and hard work. It is also my view that each of them had complex motivations of serving self, deity (if), and society in achieving the outcome. Hammurabi (18th century BCE), the Babylonian king for codifying one of the earliest written legal systems, the Code of Hammurabi, shaping the foundations of ancient Mesopotamian law. Homer (8th century BCE), ancient Greek poet, for his epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, which laid the groundwork for Western literature and storytelling. Confucius (5th century BCE), Chinese philosopher for emphasising ethics, social harmony, and proper governance, influencing East Asian thought. Aristocles Plato (4th century BCE), Greek philosopher, influential in Western philosophy, for his thinking on ethics and politics, shaping foundational principles. Euclid (4th century BCE), Greek mathematician and "Father of Geometry” for his work "Elements" that laid the foundation for geometry and mathematical reasoning. Aristotle (3rd century BCE), Greek philosopher for developing the philosophy of virtue ethics and extensively exploring metaphysics, ethics, politics, and natural sciences. Laozi (6th century BCE), founder of Taoism, for "Tao Te Ching" emphasising harmony and simplicity, profoundly influencing Taoist philosophy with its focus on aligning with the natural order. 39 authors of the books of the Old Testament Bible (15th century BCE to 2nd century CE), for describing the history and mythology of the people of Israel. Pythagoras (6th century BCE), Greek mathematician, for the Pythagorean theorem, a foundational concept in geometry that established the relationship between the sides of a right-angled triangle. Siddhartha Gautama (6th century BCE), the Buddha who renounced princely life for formulating and teaching the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, founded Buddhism. Vyasa, Yajnavalkya, Aruni, Vyasa, Valmiki Manu, Chanakya (15th century BCE to 3rd century CE) for writing the Hindu scripts including the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Manusmriti and Arthashastra. Ashoka the Great (3rd century BCE) for establishing the Mauryan Empire in ancient India to cover almost the entire Indian subcontinent, and later renouncing violence and embracing Buddhism. Qin Shi Huang (3rd century BCE), founder of the Qin Dynasty in Ancient China for unifying several warring states to become the first emperor of a unified China and constructing the Great Walls. Socrates (4th century BCE), ancient Greek philosopher for laying the foundation of Western philosophy, focused on ethics and dialectical reasoning. Alexander the Great (4th century BCE) for extending the Greek empire from Greece to Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India, creating one of the largest empires in ancient history. Hippocrates (1st century BCE), the Greek for systematically studying and describing the workings of the human body, laying the foundation for our understanding of human anatomy and physiology. Jesus Christ (1st century CE), Jewish, for his central role in the reform of Judaism, in pacifism, and the establishment of the Catholic Church, with more impact on human lives than any other person. Simon Peter (1st century CE) for the foundation of the Catholic Church as the first Bishop of Rome, laying the foundation for Christianity across Europe on the back of the Roman Empire under Constantine. Authors of the 27 books of the New Testament (1st century CE) for the recording of the life of Jesus and his apostles and the reform of old Judaism into a new Christianity. Paul of Tarsus (1st century CE), early Christian missionary, for his letters significantly contributing to the New Testament, spreading Christian teachings and shaping early Christian theology. Augustus (1st century CE), for founding the Roman Empire that transformed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, consolidating power and bringing about an era known as the Pax Romana. Hypatia (4th century CE), prominent Greek mathematician and philosopher in ancient Alexandria for contributing to the fields of astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. Augustine of Hippo (4th–5th century CE), Christian theologian for "Confessions" and "City of God," with lasting impact on Western Christian thought, exploring sin, grace, and God's nature. The ‘prophet’ Mohammed (7th century CE) for his efforts at creating an alternative version of history and religion for the excluded Arab People and triggering the Arab conquests west and east Omar Khayyam (12th century CE) the Persian polymath for making breakthrough contributions to timekeeping, the Persian calendar, mathematics, astronomy, and literature. Francis of Assisi (12th–13th century CE), Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscan Order, for emphasising poverty, compassion, and a deep connection with nature, with his humble approach. Genghis Khan (13th century CE) for forming the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history, by uniting the Mongol tribes and conquering a vast territory from China to Eastern Europe. Durante Dante (13th–14th century CE), Italian poet for Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" which is a masterpiece of Italian literature, exploring the realms of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Geoffry Chaucer (14th century CE), English poet for his "Canterbury Tales", significantly impacting mediaeval literature and for a snapshot of mediaeval English society. Leonardo da Vinci (15th century CE), Italian polymath of the Renaissance for the "Mona Lisa," and other contributions to science, anatomy, engineering, and invention. Nicolas Copernicus (15th century CE) for revolutionising astronomy by proposing a heliocentric model, placing the sun at the centre of the solar system in "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium." Johannes Gutenberg (15th century CE), German inventor, for developing the movable-type printing press, democratising knowledge dissemination and cultural exchange worldwide. Christopher Columbus (15th century CE), Italian explorer for sailing under the Spanish flag, and with his first voyage to the Americas began European exploration and colonisation of the Americas. Elizabeth I (16th century CE), the most influential British monarch for establishing the British Empire, triggering a period of significant cultural, economic, and political expansion. Michelangelo Buonarroti (16th century), the Italian Renaissance artist who excelled in painting, sculpture, and architecture for his inspiration for Western artists. Martin Luther (15th–16th century CE): Leader of the Protestant Reformation for challenging Catholic doctrines, translating the Bible into German, and significantly influencing Christianity. Raphael (15th–16th century CE), Italian artist, for contributing to the Renaissance art movement, showcasing harmonious compositions and timeless beauty in works like "The School of Athens." William Shakespeare (16th century CE), English playwright for his plays, sonnets, and poems that profoundly enriched English literature, portraying timeless characters and universal themes. Johannes Kepler (16th–17th century CE), German astronomer, for his laws of planetary motion that advanced astronomy, providing key insights into the orbits and movements of celestial bodies. Rembrandt van Rijn (17th century CE), Dutch Baroque artist, for his paintings revolutionising visual arts, capturing depth, emotion, and human character in works like "The Night Watch." Galileo Galilei (17th century CE) for his role in the Scientific Revolution and significant advancements in astronomy, including the heliocentric model of the solar system. Baruch Spinoza (17th century), the Dutch philosopher for advocating pantheism, asserting that God and the universe are one, and humans achieving ethical fulfilment through understanding and nature. Immanuel Kant (18th century CE). German philosopher for his central role in the Enlightenment in developing categorical imperative, pivotal in modern ethics. Carl Linnaeus (18th century CE) Swedish botanist and physician for developing the binomial nomenclature system for classifying and naming organisms, thus establishing modern taxonomy. Thomas Newcomen (18th century CE), English inventor, for pioneering the steam engine, driving the Industrial Revolution, laying the groundwork for modern industry. Isaac Newton (18th century CE), mathematician and physicist, for formulating the laws of motion and universal gravitation, significantly contributing to our understanding of the physical world. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (18th century CE), French philosopher, for influencing political philosophy, emphasising social contract theory and direct democracy. Leonhard Euler (18th century CE), Swiss mathematician, for his contributions to mathematics including Euler's formula and advances in graph theory. Adam Smith (18th century CE), Scottish economist, for "The Wealth of Nations", laying the groundwork for modern economics, advocating for free-market principles. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (18th century CE), Austrian composer of the Classical era, for crafting timeless symphonies, operas, and chamber music. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (18th–19th century CE), German writer for "Faust", a seminal work in German literature, exploring the human desire for knowledge and experience. Ludwig van Beethoven (18th-19th century CE), German composer of the Romantic era for his symphonies, concertos, and sonatas, and his emotional depth, innovation, and mastery of form. Mary Wollstonecraft (18th century CE), English writer, for "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", laying foundational ideas for feminism, advocating for women's rights and equality. Thomas Jefferson (18th century CE), president of the United States, for authoring the Declaration of Independence and championing individual rights and freedoms, democracy and religious freedom. Michael Faraday (18th–19th century CE), English physicist, for his foundational work in electromagnetism, laying the groundwork for modern electrical technology. Carl Gauss (18th–19th century CE), German mathematician, for his groundbreaking work in number theory, geometry, and statistics that laid the foundations for modern mathematics. Leo Tolstoy (19th century CE), Russian writer, philosopher, and social reformer for epic novels, including "War and Peace," exploring morality, existentialism, and societal critique. Charles Darwin (19th century CE), for the evolution by natural selection. His "On the Origin of Species," revolutionised the understanding of the diversity of life and its common ancestry. James Maxwell (19th century CE), Scottish physicist, for his equations revolutionising electromagnetism, unifying electric and magnetic fields. Karl Marx (19th century CE) the German philosopher and co-founder of Marxism for influencing sociology and economics, critiquing capitalism and advocating for communism. Friedrich Nietzsche (19th century CE) the German philosopher for challenging traditional morality, and introducing concepts of "will to power" and "ubermensch." Dmitri Mendeleev (19th century CE), Russian chemist for formulating the periodic table organising elements by atomic mass, and predicting undiscovered elements and their properties. Ada Lovelace (19th century CE), English mathematician and writer, for writing the world's first computer program, recognising the potential for computers beyond mere calculations. Alfred Nobel (19th century CE), Swedish inventor of dynamite for establishing the Nobel Prizes, inspiring progress and achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. Ignaz Semmelweis (19th century CE), Hungarian physician, for championing the practice of hand hygiene in obstetrics, reducing childbirth infections and saving mothers' and infants' lives. Erwin Shrödinger (19th–20th Century CE), Austrian physicist, for his contributions to quantum mechanics, including the Shrödinger equation, helping understanding subatomic particles. Louis Pasteur (19th century CE), French chemist and microbiologist, for revolutionising medicine with his germ theory and developing vaccines for rabies and anthrax, saving countless lives. John Keynes (19th–20th century CE), British economist, for revolutionising macroeconomics with Keynesianism, advocating for government intervention to manage economic cycles. Albert Einstein (20th century CE), for developing the theory of relativity, which transformed our understanding of space, time, and gravity. William Douglas (19th–20th century CE), American jurist, for his influential opinions as a Supreme Court Justice significantly shaping American constitutional law during the mid-20th century. Emmy Noether (19th–20th century CE), German mathematician, for revolutionising algebraic geometry and theoretical physics, linking symmetries and conservation laws. Nils Bohr (19th–20th century CE), Danish physicist, for his model of the atom, with its quantum energy levels, significantly contributing to the understanding of atomic structure. Thomas Edison (19th-20th century CE), American businessman, for pioneering the phonograph and electric light bulb, laying the foundation for modern technology, profoundly shaping society. Lu Xun (20th century CE), Chinese writer, essayist, and literary critic for his satirical works in which he critiqued traditionalism, advocating for social change, shaping modern Chinese literature. Marie Curie (20th century CE), only person to have received Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields (Physics and Chemistry) for her groundbreaking research on radioactivity. Rabindranath Tagore (20th century CE), Indian poet, philosopher, and polymath for his literary masterpieces, like "Gitanjali," and for his campaign in education and social reform. Mahatma Gandhi (20th century CE), leader of the Indian independence movement and a pioneer of nonviolent civil disobedience for his philosophy of nonviolence. Kwame Nkrumah (20th century CE), the key figure in Africa's struggle for independence for advocating Pan-Africanism and unity, influencing the broader decolonisation movement. Winston Churchill (20th century CE), prime minister of the United Kingdom during World War II, for leading with resolve against Nazi Germany, inspiring the Allied forces to victory. Yuri Gagarin (20th century CE), Soviet cosmonaut, for making the first human journey into outer space in 1961, inspiring generations and advancing the boundaries of human achievement. Neil Armstrong (20th century CE), American astronaut and first person to walk on the moon, for uttering "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind" inspiring generations. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (20th century CE), Nobel Peace Prize laureate, for serving as the first female president of Liberia and advocating for peace, women's rights, and economic development. Pablo Picasso (19th–20th century CE), Spanish Cubist artist, for reshaping modern art with his innovative and diverse styles, challenging traditional artistic norms and pushing creativity. Milton Friedman (20th century CE), American economist, for advocating monetarism and free-market principles, challenging Keynesian ideas and influencing economic policy. Wangari Maathai (21st century CE), Kenyan environmentalist and political activist, known for her efforts in environmental conservation and women's rights, notably founding the Green Belt Movement. Alexander Fleming (20th century CE), Scottish scientist, who discovered penicillin, for his work in antibiotics laying the foundation for modern healthcare, saving countless lives worldwide. Aung San Suu Kyi (20th century), Burmese politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, for her nonviolent resistance to military dictatorship in Myanmar and her dedication to democracy and human rights. Martin Luther King Jr. (20th century CE), American civil rights leader, for his pivotal role in the civil rights movement, advocating nonviolent resistance and racial equality. Indira Gandhi (20th century CE), first and only female Prime Minister of India, for her leadership during a turbulent period in Indian history, her advocacy for social justice, and her shaping India's modernisation. Frank Drake (20th century CE), conceived the “The Drake Equation” for estimating the number of technologically advanced civilisations in the Milky Way galaxy capable of communication. Nelson Mandela (20th century CE), South African revolutionary and statesman for leading the transition to democracy, advocating reconciliation and human rights, and dismantling institutional racism. Peter Singer (20th century CE), Australian philosopher for his work on animal rights documented in “Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals”. Benazir Bhutto (21st century CE), Pakistani politician and the first woman to lead a Muslim-majority country as Prime Minister, for advocating for democracy, women's rights, and education. Johan Rockström (21st century CE), Swedish scientist for creating the framework for boundaries of human impact on the sustainability of the Earth’s systems. Steven Hawking (21st century CE), British physicist and cosmologist, for his contribution to human understanding of the universe, space and time as explained in “A Brief History of Time”. Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, and Tim Berners-Lee (21st century CE), American and British scientists, for the communication protocols and the World Wide Web, revolutionising information availability. Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennet (21st century CE) for their courage to speak out against religion as the Four Horsemen of Atheism. Nawal El Saadawi (21st century CE), Egyptian feminist writer, activist, and physician, known for her outspoken advocacy for women's rights, challenging societal norms through her writing and activism. Yuval Harari (21st century CE) for human anthropology in “Sapiens” and explaining how rulemaking for humans transitioned from ‘gods in heavens’ to ‘humans on Earth’ in “Homo Deus”. Robert Sapolski (21st century CE), American neuroscientist for investigating the interplay of free will and determinism, capturing the nuanced relationship between autonomy and deterministic factors. Malala Yousafzai (21st century CE), an advocate for girls' education, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt for championing education for all, especially girls, globally.