The contemporary discussion concerning virtues has so far been heavily tilted towards philosophy and psychology. Theologians engaged in this debate have typically focused on certain historical thinkers or trajectories, Aquinas and Aristotle typically being the central figures. There are very few explicitly biblical approaches to virtue and therefore MacAskill's work fills a dire need, which supplements the ground-breaking work of, for example, Alasdair MacIntyre, Martha Nussbaum, and Linda Zagzebski.

The first chapter offers a concise overview of the rise of virtue theories in the recent academic discourse with some historical turning points. This is all very helpful for those who are not already familiar with the theme. The second chapter goes though the central Old Testament passages and stories concerning humility. There humility is often portrayed as something that is essential for those wishing to live in the covenant with God. The lack of humility is something portrayed by the enemies of God, especially the Pharaoh. The humble position themselves correctly in front of God and acknowledge their dependence on others and deny the ideal of autonomy. The example of this attitude in the Old Testament was, of course, Moses.

The following chapters discuss humility from a variety of biblical perspectives. The identity of the Christian believer is tied to the identity of Christ, which makes it ‘extrinsic’: the believer is constantly receiving his or her identity from the outside. This entails that one's identity is tied to apocalyptic revealing of the true nature of things, which is never finished in this age. Moreover, sin will remain a major hindrance to knowledge acquisition. Summarizing his position, MacAskill argues that:

In keeping with the virtue-theoretical approach, the emphasis is on the agent, the one who believes and acts, not on formal requirements for knowledge or justification. As MacAskill skilfully demonstrates, this is actually a very congenial approach to knowledge in the Bible and the virtue-theoretic framework actually helps to make sense of many central features in the canonical texts, which are related to knowing.

In the latter part of the book, patience and gratitude are singled out as central Christian practices that both require and generate a humble attitude. The sacraments underline the aforementioned Christocentric identity and the mutual dependence of the members of the spiritual body of Christ. Also, how one approaches the Bible is dependent on the virtue of humility. The Bible should not be approached with arrogance since it is not a thing that can be tamed or controlled.

A lingering question concerns the applicability of this notion of humility, which is unashamedly Trinitarian and Christocentric. Because humility is formulated as an ideal, which is never actualized fully in our societies, and in the end it is dependent on God's action in and through human agents, a critic could say that this is an interesting but ultimately futile thought experiment. Even if it is granted that the full extent of this form of humility is not accessible to all, I find it useful how MacAskill's exegesis punctures the ideals of autonomy and complacency, which is something that can be useful to anyone regardless of one's world-view. The Enlightenment ideal of autonomy is exposed as the idol it always was, and by raising the bar high enough, in fact to the level of the Divine, we humans can slowly start finding our proper place in relation to the world and other beings.

MacAskill also poses tacit, but serious, questions for philosophical and analytic theologians. The way the New Testament describes religious knowledge acquisition differs greatly from the methods of analytic epistemology. Of course, this is not to say that no one has acknowledged this before or that those engaged in, for example, natural theology are blind to this biblical framework. Nonetheless, MacAskill offers a masterful and clearly argued exposition of the biblical material, which should adjust and renew the work of anyone working in the field of theological epistemology, and I, for one, am excited to see where this will take us.