False humility

Milbank charges that modern theology is characterized by false humility. Barth agreed with respect to Christology. In the name of a humble refusal to penetrate the veil of mystery around the incarnation, modern theologians have often renounced “beforehand all serious and responsible inquiry for the truth and every attempt to respond obediently to it. For such humility there is rather an incalculable wealth of possibilities, all equally good and acceptable in themselves and in their respective places, but not such as to give rise to serious debate.”

Admirable as this reserve might be in some respects, “we must roundly content that it is not Christian humility, i.e., not the humility that is faced with the mystery of God’s revelation.” Instead, “it rests upon a fundamental circumvention and conjuring away of this mystery, and upon a consciousness of human control over God, which necessarily has to be described as pride rather than humility.”