The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse
May 2025 · Baker Books
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208
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About this ebook
New York Times bestselling author Miroslav Volf on why striving for superiority is at odds with the Christian faith
"[A] smart take on a world obsessed with forward motion."--Publishers Weekly
Many people believe that ambition--striving to be better than others--improves us and advances society. But what if it actually makes us worse?
In The Cost of Ambition, world-renowned theologian and award-winning author Miroslav Volf argues that striving for superiority has negative consequences in all domains of life. Instead, we should strive for excellence. Volf explores:
● what Søren Kierkegaard, John Milton, and the apostle Paul say about the cost of ambition
● how we can achieve excellence rather than strive for superiority
● how to stop being plagued by our own sense of inferiority to others
● why Christians must retrieve a humbler way of life
Volf also examines what the teachings of Jesus and the stories in Genesis say on the matter. Volf explains how striving to be better than others devalues our achievements, surroundings, and relationships by turning them into mere means to an empty goal. This pursuit, though widely accepted in modern life, is at odds with key Christian convictions.
After exposing the toxicity of ambition, Volf uses contemporary examples to guide us toward striving for excellence.
"[A] smart take on a world obsessed with forward motion."--Publishers Weekly
Many people believe that ambition--striving to be better than others--improves us and advances society. But what if it actually makes us worse?
In The Cost of Ambition, world-renowned theologian and award-winning author Miroslav Volf argues that striving for superiority has negative consequences in all domains of life. Instead, we should strive for excellence. Volf explores:
● what Søren Kierkegaard, John Milton, and the apostle Paul say about the cost of ambition
● how we can achieve excellence rather than strive for superiority
● how to stop being plagued by our own sense of inferiority to others
● why Christians must retrieve a humbler way of life
Volf also examines what the teachings of Jesus and the stories in Genesis say on the matter. Volf explains how striving to be better than others devalues our achievements, surroundings, and relationships by turning them into mere means to an empty goal. This pursuit, though widely accepted in modern life, is at odds with key Christian convictions.
After exposing the toxicity of ambition, Volf uses contemporary examples to guide us toward striving for excellence.
About the author
Miroslav Volf (DrTheol, University of Tübingen) is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and founding director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture in New Haven, Connecticut. He has written or edited more than two dozen books, including the New York Times bestseller Life Worth Living, A Public Faith, Public Faith in Action, and Exclusion and Embrace (winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion and selected as among the 100 best religious books of the 20th century by Christianity Today). Educated in his native Croatia, the United States, and Germany, Volf regularly lectures around the world.
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