Divine Modesty and Maximal Greatness

Abstract

This article argues that maximal modesty, understood as an expressive orientation away from one’s own good qualities and toward the flourishing of others, is entailed by maximal goodness within perfect being theology. Drawing on Nicolas Bommarito’s attention-based account of modesty, it develops an explicit account of divine self-expression and contends that maximal modesty is the uniquely best expressive orientation for a maximally good being. It then applies this criterion to both the Christian and Islamic conceptions of God, arguing that the exaltation of Jesus and the dyadic devotional pattern identified by Larry Hurtado exemplify maximally modest divine self-expression, whilst the Qur’anic pattern of direct divine self-declaration, the theology of the Ninety-Nine Names,and the structural prohibition of shirk render the Islamic conception unable to satisfy the same criterion. The article concludes that, within perfect being theology, the Christian conception satisfies the criterion of maximal modesty in a respect that the Islamic conception does not, and that this asymmetry contributes to the philosophical assessment of competing Abrahamic conceptions of God.