A Modest God: A New Argument for the Christian God

This article examines the concept of divine modesty as a criterion for evaluating the coherence of Abrahamic monotheistic conceptions of God. Utilising Nicolas Bommarito's attention-based account of modesty and applying it to the framework of perfect being theology, the article formulates a rigorous philosophical argument termed the ‘Modesty Argument’, which argues that modesty is an essential attribute of a maximally great being, with the Christian conception of God, as evidenced by the exaltation of Jesus and early Christian devotional practices described by Larry Hurtado, being shown to align with this understanding of divine modesty. However, in contrast, both the Islamic conception of God (particularly as expressed through the 99 Names of Allāh, as authoritatively taught by the Qurʾān, Prophet Muhammad, and authoritative individuals such as Imām Alī, Al-Ghazālī and Mullā Ṣadrā) and the Rabbinic Judaic conception of God (as expressed through liturgical traditions such as the Shema, the Amidah, and various other formulations, and theologians such as Moses Maimonides, and other rabbinic authorities) are argued to be inconsistent with this attribute. This analysis thus provides a novel philosophical basis for favouring the Christian conception of God over both the Islamic and Rabbinic Judaic ones, thus addressing a key question in comparative theology and philosophy of religion.