Foreword by David Wells.
Most of us value humility . . . especially in other people. But Jesus taught that humility is central to the Christian life. Author Christopher Hutchinson invites the church to follow Christ both individually and corporately in this high calling.
A systematic and comprehensive treatment of this core tenant of Christianity, Rediscovering Humility is structured around the three times Jesus addresses the topic in Scripture how it is found, embraced and applied. This insightful resource should be required reading for all seminary students so they can understand the pitfalls of leadership before they begin to pastor. Current pastors and church leaders will find Hutchinson's critiques and suggestions helpful as they seek to create humble and healthy churches. Individuals who have lost an appreciation for humility as a central Christian virtue will be reminded of its value as the best way to grow closer to and more like Jesus.
Humble Christians create healthy churches, but in today's world of celebrity pastors and widening platforms, our churches are more than ever imitating the prideful methodologies of our culture. Through his critiques, Hutchinson also offers suggestions for how Christians can better practice and promote humility in our time.
Offering a fresh and updated application of humility to our day, Hutchinson calls for a return to the path of humility as the one pilgrimage most necessary for Christian faith and life. By showing humility in in all its truth, beauty and goodness, it becomes a value worth seeking if never fully found on this side of heaven.
Author
Christopher Hutchinson is the senior pastor of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg, Virginia, and a graduate of Duke University (AB) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MDiv). Prior to entering the ministry, Chris served in the US Army, including a combat tour during Operation Desert Storm. Chris and his wife, Kirstan, have two grown daughters. He wrote Rediscovering Humility: Why the Way Up Is Down.
"In Rediscovering Humility, Chris Hutchinson serves as a gentle pastor, weaving together biblical truth, personal experience, and insights from poets and philosophers throughout history. This book will bless and challenge your soul. As you read, your love for Christ will grow your love for his sacrifice to atone for your pride and for his enabling power to display true humility."
Stephen T. Estock, Coordinator, PCA Discipleship Ministries
"In this engaging book, pastor Chris Hutchinson invites us to a rediscovery of a revolutionary, uniquely Christian virtue humility. A masterful teacher, Chris shows how humility is at the center of the person and work of Jesus Christ and therefore at the core of the Christian life. Though humility may not come naturally to us (what Christian virtue does?), and though humility may be (in our North American context) radically subversive and countercultural, Chris adeptly shows how humility is evidence of the sanctifying work of Christ in our lives. My humble opinion(!) is that you will be challenged and inspired by Chris Hutchinson's rediscovery of humility."
Will Willimon, Author; United Methodist bishop, retired; Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC
"In stating his case that humility has become a lost virtue in the Christian life, Chris Hutchinson winsomely restores humility to its proper place as the highest of Christian virtues. If you want a book on humility with ten steps to achieve it, skip Rediscovering Humility; however, if you want a book on humility that targets the heart itself, look no further."
J. R. Foster, Southeast Area Coordinator, Reformed University Fellowship
"Rediscovering Humility is a mind-enriching and heart-engaging study of a Christian grace that is as important as it is neglected. Pointing us to some of the Christian church's very best hymnody and devotional writing, Chris Hutchinson reminds us how central humility is to Christian piety. Most importantly, Hutchinson shows us how that piety is rooted in the teaching of Scripture. I warmly recommend this book."
Guy Prentiss Waters, James M. Baird, Jr. Professor of New Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS
"Humility is a crucial and tricky topic about which to write. An author is expected to be an expert in his field, but humility eschews expertise. Only an author who recognizes his deep need for humility is qualified to write on humility. And for that reason I'm grateful for this book by Chris Hutchinson, a desperately needed study written by an eminently humble man."
Joe Holland, Pastor, Christ Covenant Presbyterian Church, Culpeper, VA; Assistant Editor, Tabletalk magazine
"How do you properly recommend a book on humility when blurbs seem consciously designed to hype and pander? How best to commend its author for a job well done? Perhaps with Farmer Hoggett's words to Babe after the pig carefully and confidently accomplished an equally unlikely feat and made it seem easy: 'That'll do.'"
Joel White, Lecturer in New Testament, Giessen School of Theology, Germany
"As a woman in a church, I worry sometimes that the voices of the lowly are too often dismissed without a good listen. It takes a robust humility for leaders to not merely tend to the needs, but also attend to the thoughts of those on the margins. Chris Hutchinson's intelligent, often funny, and truly accessible treatise on the central virtue of humility ought to be required reading for all of us."
Paige Britton, Curator of the Grass Roots Theological Library
"Humility? We know we should desire this Christian virtue, but it comes at a steep cost to self-love, self-fulfillment, self-promotion. Informed by much wisdom from the church's past and fueled by careful interaction with Scripture, in this helpful book Chris Hutchinson reminds us that pride is idolatry. Humility, by contrast, is essential to the gospel, for it accompanies God's grace shown to us in Christ. If you are Christian, you need this book. Take up and read."
Shawn D. Wright, Author; Professor of Church History, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Pastor of Leadership Development, Clifton Baptist Church, Louisville, KY
"In his timely new book, Hutchinson not only helps readers understand humility from a biblical perspective, he shows us our urgent need for it. In particular, he demonstrates why, in this culture that so cavalierly rejects truth, we need humility to discover it, embrace it, and then graciously declare it."
Richard Doster, Author; editor of byFaith, the magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America
"My first thought in reading this book is that I haven't read much like it for a long time. I've come to value books on the Christian life based on how much they're immersed in the Scriptures. As it's filled with biblical wisdom, this book delivers. It's also steeped in the practical theology of earlier generations who gave great credence to the value of corporate humility in the life of the church. We would do well to heed the same counsel today, and this book is a good start."
David V. Silvernail, Jr., Senior Pastor, Potomac Hills Presbyterian Church, Leesburg, VA
"I had the amazing privilege of sitting under Pastor Hutchinson's faithful and humble preaching in college. Rediscovering Humility is a uniquely thorough and challenging appeal on the nature of corporate humility as God's people. With each page, I found myself saying, 'we need this.' In reading Rediscovering Humility may we remember that in Christ the way up is down and the beautiful joy that comes with bold self-forgetfulness."
SharDavia Walker, Author; Regional Women's Director, Campus Outreach Lynchburg, VA
"Humility is the bedrock of Christian maturity. It is not a spiritual gift, though it is a mark of the presence of the Holy Spirit in life. Instead it is the product of gratitude. Here this truth is both endorsed and explored. With careful exegesis allied to practical understanding our minds are expanded and our hearts challenged. In this slender volume humility is restored to the place reserved for it by Jesus."
Robert M. Norris, Teaching Pastor 4th Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, MD
"Chris Hutchinson offers a compelling case that humility is the chief of all virtues and at the center of God's plan of redemption. Basing his expositions on Scripture and guided by some of the great expositors of the past, he provides rewarding practical expositions of what it means to make this often neglected ideal the central paradigm of the Christian life."
George M. Marsden, Author; Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
"How could someone write a book on humility without becoming puffed up and self-congratulatory? You would write it as Chris Hutchinson has done by not pointing to yourself and your achievements, but by pointing and submitting to the precepts and exhortations in Scripture. We know the drill: If you want to be great in the kingdom of God you must become a servant of all; you must go the end of the line; you must wash the feet of others. The words come easily enough, but in actual practice true humility lags way behind. We readily see the application for others, but we fail to see it for ourselves. So admit the reality of your pride and humbly read Rediscovering Humility. You will be challenged to desire what Paul, the once proud Pharisee, deeply desired: 'God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Galatians 6:14)."
Dominic Aquila, President, New Geneva Theological Seminary, Colorado Springs, CO
"Christopher Hutchinson's Rediscovering Humility fixes our eyes on Christ and the cross, arguing that, as we drink more deeply of Christ and Him alone, humility becomes our defining feature. Like the gospel itself, this seems at first almost too simple and unadorned to be true, but as Hutchinson ponders humility's beauty and logic, its ethics and witness, our eyes indeed turn from ourselves and toward God's glory. I pray this would be so, for all who pick up this book and for their churches."
Thomas Gardner, Author; Alumni Distinguished Professor of English, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
"In the chest-thumping, opposition-shaming, attention-grabbing ethos of today's popular culture, poverty of spirit is despised, meekness is confused with weakness, and humility is associated with losers. Chris Hutchinson's detailed study of humility is just what the church needs if Christians are to avoid 'losing our virtue,' borrowing David Wells' phrase, in the tsunamis of self-promotion that is our contemporary world."
Terry L. Johnson, Author; Senior Minister, Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, GA
"I need all the help I can get in cultivating humility. I am, therefore, glad for this book that helps me better understand it, want it, and apply it. Chris Hutchinson has mined Scripture, church history, and his own soul to find nuggets to share with proud, struggling Christians in the twenty-first century. 'It takes one to know one,' and because he knows himself well, he helps us a lot."
David A. Bowen, Assistant Minister, Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN; founding pastor, The Church of the Good Shepherd, Durham, NC
"Having worked in pastoral ministry with Chris Hutchinson for seven years, I observed in his life much of what he has written in this book. Pride and self-exaltation grow naturally out of man's fallen condition. Genuine humility is the by-product of grace. Chris has done us a great service by reminding us that God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Roland S. Barnes, Senior Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Statesboro, GA
"My brother has been working on this book for close to thirty years, and I have seen the beauty and impact its truths and themes have had on Chris' family, friends, congregations, and I hope myself, for decades now. This book helps us to see that where there is humility there is kindness, courage, and integrity. And laughter. Lots of joy and laughter, even in suffering."
Jeffrey D. Hutchinson, Coordinator of Church Planting, Mission Anabaino; Assistant Minister, Christ Presbyterian Church, New Haven, CT
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This book was an absolute delight to read. Chris touches on all of the major points of why humility is so important in the Christian life, as well as talks about the balances and tensions one has to deal with and acknowledge to avoid being vain and boasting in one's "humility". The death of the ego is paramount in Christianity, and we are seeing many people today refusing to achieve this, I am not sure if this was ever the case to be honest, but humility is definitely lacking in our polarized, violent, environment. Humility would do us some good and save us a lot of pain. I love how Christ does nuance humility with still being strong in ones deeply held convictions. It's not about falling into the trap of virtue signalling culture wars, it's about focusing on what really matters, carrying one's cross daily in service to others and dealing with real moral failures in society. We can't let our entire identity be in what we aren't in culture. What a great book overall
Convicting yet gentle, thorough yet simple. Helpful for believers at every level of maturity.
It has become, in large part through this book, my firm conviction that true humility is nothing more or less than the dogged commitment to faithfulness in light of what may well be the single most difficult Christian truth there is: That things are not as they appear, and thus that we are not what we shall be. All hinges on this one question: “Did Jesus in fact rise from the dead?” If He did, there are people at the little church I attend in Staunton, Virginia who would not make it onto anyone’s list of power or prestige but will be honored in eternity like Lewis's very ordinary Sarah Smith from Golders Green, as a thousand liveried angels lackeyed her (actually a quote from Milton's Comus, one of my favorites). If He did not rise from the dead, we have hope in Him only for this life, and we are of all men most to be pitied. The brutal experiences that can come with serving in Christian ministry, if in fact we care about people and/or tell the truth, can make us forget that. We do not see what goes on in people's hearts or behind the scenes. The Alexander coppersmiths and the Diotrephes of this world often run the church, and the threefold pursuit of a) looking good to others, b) being successful by the numbers, and c) amassing financial rewards can make us forget what we were really called to. Christ said woe to us if all men speak well of us; almost all his ministry following left Him when He spoke the truth; and He did not have a place to lay His head. He ended His ministry alone and betrayed, a failure by anyone's reckoning, forsaken by all with nothing apparent to show for His work. I think back with sorrow to how many times I have forgotten these truths in my own ministry, and I watch people being faithful for no other reason than that God said to do it (as Hebrews 11:8), and I know that there are ordinary people I see every Sunday whose shoelaces I am not worthy to untie because of their faithfulness in the sight of God. They have found the heart of Christian humility. In the face of unscrupulous church leaders who will lie to you, betray you, and use/discard you to get what they want in life, it is still worth it to tell the truth, be faithful to God and others, and offer ourselves up as living sacrifices pure and pleasing. At the Revelation of Jesus Christ - and only then - will we perceive that despite our disenchantment with the idea of humility as it has been purveyed to us by so many spiritual hucksters and cheats, it truly does exist as a Christian virtue exemplified by Jesus Christ Himself, and God will honor those who have stuck to it in the face of indifference and persecution with glory imperishable. This vision of humility as one of the most important Christian virtues was restored to me by my good friend and fellow elder Chris Hutchinson, with this book. Buy it, read it, take comfort in it, believe it, let the Spirit change you through it. I have lost count of how many people I have recommended this book to, but I trust they have been blessed through it as deeply as I have. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
I only came across this book because I know Chris Hutchinson through Twitter. When several of the people who follow him started talking with enthusiasm about his book, I bought a copy. I'm glad I did. You might feel Hutchinson has only one point to make, that humility is the centre of the Christian life as it's practiced, and we lead to understand this and work it into our lives. Pride, boasting and the like are its antithesis, and God frequently talks throughout the Bible about hating the proud, or warning those who are proud to change their ways. We think that pride and arrogance and boasting are the modus operandi of celebrities and the like. Hutchinson shows how they're at the centre of even the most ordinary person's life too, and that they will lead to our downfall if not dealt with. This is a great book, and deserves to be frequently read. I've already snaffled some parts of it and put them in a place where I can read them daily. It helps!
Great book. I have to read it in small chunks because I'm so convicted by every chapter.
This little book on humility explores this quiet, but important virtue for all believers in Christ. There may be deeper explorations elsewhere, but this one is accessible and helpful.
This book was transformative. Not because it had any new revelation, but because it reminds us of the most basic truth of the old revelation. The gospel is a message of undeserved grace, one that does not leave room for our own conceit and vanity, yet these are constant companions. Pride manifests in so many ways, and here Chris reminds us to search the corners of our hearts and hand them over. He isn't offering quick soundbites or small morsels. This is a journey that isn't meant to end, an invitation to remind ourselves to come to the table with the proper posture. I spent two years reading this book off and on since it was released (including a restart partway through). Filled with wisdom from the saints who came before, personal stories from Chris' pastoral experience, and practical advice, there's a lot to chew on. Some parts were more filling or easier to read than others, and some parts were specific to practical advice for pastors and church order, but all of it was good. Humility is a hard subject to write on without betraying yourself, but even so Chris approaches the subject with a humble honesty, readily admitting where his experience has revealed his own pride. As a personal disclosure, I was a member of Chris' congregation for a number of years, during which time he preached faithfully and embodied the word shepherd, helping guide my wife and I through some difficult years in our young marriage. I believe the concepts in this book are vital for any Christian and the pastoral care and personal humility that I have seen Chris demonstrate reinforce my recommendation.
This book was transformative. Not because it had any new revelation, but because it reminds us of the most basic truth of the old revelation. The gospel is a message of undeserved grace, one that does not leave room for our own conceit and vanity, yet these are constant companions. Pride manifests in so many ways, and here Chris reminds us to search the corners of our hearts and hand them over. He isn't offering quick soundbites or small morsels. This is a journey that isn't meant to end, an invitation to remind ourselves to come to the table with the proper posture. I spent two years reading this book off and on since it was released (including a restart partway through). Filled with wisdom from the saints who came before, personal stories from Chris' pastoral experience, and practical advice, there's a lot to chew on. Some parts were more filling or easier to read than others, and some parts were specific to practical advice for pastors and church order, but all of it was good. Humility is a hard subject to write on without betraying yourself, but even so Chris approaches the subject with a humble honesty, readily admitting where his experience has revealed his own pride. As a personal disclosure, I was a member of Chris' congregation for a number of years, during which time he preached faithfully and embodied the word shepherd, helping guide my wife and I through some difficult years in our young marriage. I believe the concepts in this book are vital for any Christian and the pastoral care and personal humility that I have seen Chris demonstrate reinforce my recommendation.
I found this book refreshing in its simple approach to the christian life and it's reordering of humility as a primary virtue for a christian. The book will help you see some practical ways you and the church as a whole can better reflect its savior through an honest, simple display of humility.
The author notes early on that there really aren't too many Christian books out there on humility ... and he's absolutely right. I only knew of Andrew Murray's (and hadn't read it)! Hutchinson's addition to the short-list is an absolute gem -- and not just because he quotes Tolkien. :) (And C.S. Lewis. And Augustine. And Jonathan Edwards. ... Okay, you get my point. He quotes a lot of my favorite theologians -- an automatic win.) But thankfully, he does more than quote other people. He constantly points readers back to the Bible, and even more importantly, to Christ -- the pinnacle of humility. After all, "There can be no humility without Christ and what He did upon the Cross" (eARC location 668). The world we live in (and Paul, and Christ, and the prophets lived in) doesn't make a humble life easy. But thankfully, Christ makes it possible at all. Hutchinson extrapolates on how to live out humility -- through faith, hope, and love. Scripture is presented at every turn, as is heartfelt prayer, both Hutchinson's own and various collected prayers. Sometimes the text's nuances go a bit over my head, I'll admit. But I appreciated the challenge, especially being 1 or 2 or 14 years out of college -- it was nice to find a meatier, yet still approachable, read than my usual fiction pursuits (and even many of my "Christian living" reads of late). Absolutely recommended, and one I'll revisit for sure over the course of my Christian walk.
