The Cost of Ambition

How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse

by: Miroslav Volf

series: Theology for the Life of the World

• Format

  Hardcover

  ISBN

  9781587434815

  Dimensions

  5.5 x 8.5

  Pub. Date

  May 2025

  SRP

  $24.99

  Carton Quantity

  40

  Number of pages

  208

  Buy

About

Many people believe that ambition, understood as striving to be better than others, improves us as individuals and advances society. But what if the opposite is true?

In The Cost of Ambition, world-renowned theologian and award-winning author Miroslav Volf argues that striving for superiority actually makes us worse.

Working his way backward in time, Volf explores what three influential thinkers--Søren Kierkegaard, John Milton, and the apostle Paul--say about the cost of ambition. He also explores what the teachings of Jesus and the stories in Genesis say on the matter. Volf explains that striving to be better than others, though widely accepted as part of modern life, devalues our achievements, the things that surround us, and our relationships because it makes them into mere means to an empty goal. He reveals ambition's negative consequences in all domains of life, showing that it is at odds with the key convictions of Christian faith.

After unpacking the toxicity of ambition, Volf uses contemporary examples to guide readers to a better goal: striving for excellence.

Contents
1."O Solomon, I Have Outdone You!"
2. The Worry of Comparison (Kierkegaard)
3. Satan's Aspiration (Milton)
4. "Outdo One Another in Showing Honor" (Paul)
5. "What Do You Have That You Did Not Receive?" (Paul)
6. From Jesus to Genesis: On Biblical Discomfort with Striving for Superiority
Conclusion: Against Striving for Superiority--Twenty-Four Theses

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Endorsements

"This book does not disappoint. Miroslav Volf has always written compellingly and convincingly as he diagnoses the human condition. In his latest, The Cost of Ambition, he guides the reader through the origins of the pervasive yet misguided need to prove one's superiority and the multitude of problems that such striving creates. Simultaneously humane and scholarly, psychologically astute and theologically sound, Volf suggests that deliverance from this predicament can only come from the proper recognition of the generosity of the glorious and gifting God, ultimately exchanging the enslaving and empty striving for superiority with freedom and fullness in Christ's accomplishments for us and God's superiority in relation to us."

Robert Emmons, editor in chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology; author of Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier and The Little Book of Gratitude

"Scholarly but readable, and combining moral clarity with compassion, this book is essential on a defining temptation of our times."

Elizabeth Oldfield, author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times; host of The Sacred podcast

"A beautifully written, deeply necessary account of the dangers of mimetic ambition in a world that seems to prize it above all else. Volf manages to render the familiar texts he covers startling and new, and in so doing, challenges us to think through some of modern life's most urgent questions."

Tara Isabella Burton, author of Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians

"Miroslav Volf shows us how our built-in, always-on, hard-to-see preference for superiority over others--as old as human history yet never more relevant than today--works against the well-being of ourselves and our societies. As a business leader, I've seen the destruction caused by teammates who are motivated by one-upping one another to promote their personal interest over the collective goals. The good news is that The Cost of Ambition offers a reliable way out . . . if we are willing to hear and see it."

Scott Stephenson, former chairman, president, and chief executive officer, Verisk Analytics

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