Rightwising humility: Reviewing Jesus' parable of the pharisee and the tax agent in Luke 18:9-14

Introducing her book, 'Reclaiming Humility', Jane Foulcher poses a question aligned with her concern to recover a conception of humility integral to human thriving: "How might we understand humility as foundational for human wellbeing and for right relationships?" This study composes a footnote to 'Reclaiming Humility' by reviewing Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Agent for insight into the centrality-indeed, cruciality-of humility to Christian faith and to social life more generally. As such, it underscores certain emphases found by Foulcher to emanate from the early Christian transvaluation of humility from something shameful to something honourable, emphases such as: humility's christological grounding (albeit here in the teaching of Jesus rather than in his example); its integral association with divine grace and mercy; and its positive, indeed, life-enhancing relational ramifications, especially with respect to God but with inherent ripple effects for social life.