Bernadette McNARY-ZAK.  Humble Aspiration: Constructing an Early Christian Ideal.  Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2020.  pp. 192.  ISBN 9780814684061.  Reviewed by Maureen Beyer MOSER, Harvey School, Katonah, NY 10536.

Bernadette McNary-Zak’s book Humble Aspiration presents a thoughtful look at concepts of humility in the Christianity of late antiquity.  Because the status of women in both secular and religious worlds was that of second-class citizens, McNary-Zak turns to the humility of Christian ascetic women to find a key to Christian humility as a value.  Her book explores theological, social, and intellectual humility as exemplified in the lives of women in the early church.

Theological humility helps the Christian become a true person, dependent on Christ.  This theological humility leads to social humility, i.e., humility expressed in relationships with others.  Intellectual humility is related to both theological and social humility, found in some cases, in pilgrimages and in encounters with others, showing an openness to learning from the humility of others and in prayer with them.  This leads to the formation of monastic communities with rules for mutual humility, communities set up specifically for women as well as for men.

Humble Aspiration’s readings of a number of early Christian texts are helpful for anyone who is looking for the stories of early Christian women.  Syncletica, Thais, Theodora, Egeria, Shirin, Domnina, and a number of others provide examples of a Christian humility that transcends their gender.  Rather than an oppressive view of womanly humility, McNary-Zak finds something countercultural in these women, who depend so radically on Christ that they move beyond traditional understandings of gender.  These women served as examples of Christ to their Christian contemporaries.

In the book’s final chapter, McNary-Zak connects her larger discussion of Christian humility to growing Marian devotion in the post-Chalcedonian world, with a particular look at the work of Leander of Seville.  In this view, both Jesus and Mary served as models for humility, with Mary providing the model for an ascetic woman to birth virtues in her own life. 

Feminist theologians are often understandably concerned about an over-emphasis on the virtue of humility in preaching to women.  This book does not speak to the history of women in Christianity overall, simply looking, as it does, at one aspect of spirituality in one time period.  However, McNary-Zak puts forward the stories of women from early Christian texts and shows clearly that these women were respected models for others in their world.  She points out, again and again, that the stories of ascetic women showed them transcending their gender, as it was understood in their world.  As she says, “The use of ascetic women was simultaneously affirmative of biblical precedent and subversive of societal norms.”  Most importantly, she shows these women pointing others towards the incarnate Christ, both with their words and with their lives.