Friday, July 22, 2016

Definitions: Pride and Humility



What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church say about pride and humility?

PRIDE: One of the seven capital sins. Pride is undue self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God (1866)

HUMILITY: The virtue by which a Christian acknowledges God is the author of all good. Humility avoids inordinate ambition or pride and provides a foundation for turning to God in prayer (2559).

http://ccc.usccb.org/flipbooks/catechism/index.html#1/z

Merriam Webster defines PRIDE as an inordinate self-esteem and also a feeling that you are more important or better than other people. M-W defines HUMBLE as not proud or haughty and showing that you do not think of yourself as better than other people. (there are other definitions but these are the ones relevant to this study) http://www.merriam-webster.com/

When we discuss pride in our modern culture as a virtue, I think we are most commonly talking about  correctly ordered pride. For example: I'm proud of a job well-done. I'm proud of my child's achievement. I'm proud of my parent's perseverance through illness. Pride doesn't sound like a deadly sin in these contexts - it seems correct and natural.

So when do we cross the line from correctly placed to disordered pride? That's what this study is about - exploring those lines more carefully.

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