Humility across Times and Cultures: Concepts, Practices, Artifacts
The conference aims significantly to broaden both the geographical and chronological scope of the inquiry into historical conceptions and practices of humility. The focus spans the period from 250 CE to 1500 CE and draws on sources from a wide geographical area, including Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Middle East. By centering these regions, we seek to map humility within a space that, for all its cultural diversity, was shaped in significant ways by the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While we do not assume that humility was exclusively or primarily a religious value, there is reason to believe that within the Abrahamic traditions, it was indeed upheld as a virtue, frequently positioned in opposition to pride, which was often viewed as the most dangerous and diabolical of vices.
Conference panels will be organized along both chronological and thematic lines, encompassing European Christian regions, Byzantium, Jewish communities, and Islamic territories. Special attention will be given to the physical and social spaces in which humility was conceived and enacted, as well as to the interplay between humility and gender.
The conference is organized by Silvia Negri (Universität Zürich, Historisches Seminar) and James Weaver (University of Oxford), within the framework of the project “Humility in theory and practice. Historical approaches across cultures”.
Date: 23–25 September 2026
Location: UZH, RAA-G-01, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zürich
Evening lectures
- Beth Williamson (University of Bristol)
Making Humility Visible: The Madonna Seated on the Ground, the Sacred Reimagined
23 September 2026, 18.15–19.45, RAA-G-01 - Christopher Melchert (University of Oxford, ret.)
The Humility of the Ideal Muslim Scholar in the Earlier Middle Ages
24 September 2026, 18.15–19.45, RAA-G-01
