There has been an interesting discussion recently about what our fundamental values are, and from whence they come. Tom Holland and Theo Hobson are both onto something rather important, namely the realisation that if we try to deny our Christian heritage, then we risk losing much of value. Let me not count the ways, but at least give a few pointers, to what we have inherited that is uniquely Christian.

First of all, humility. The idea of being self-effacing, not boastful, but modest, is a uniquely Christian idea. It is something that we inherit from Jesus Christ Himself who told us that the first would be last and the last first, and who, moreover, was meek and mild, even when mocked by His tormentors. The idea of humility was anathema to the Greeks and the Romans, who believed in magnificentia, that is, making a show of your virtues, and showing off your talents for the edification of your fellow citizens. Just walk around an ancient city like Rome, Palmyra and Pompeii and see the monuments that great men built to themselves, or consider Virgil’s paean of praise to Augustus in The Aeneid. No, the ancients did not believe in hiding your light under a bushel, and they would not have found anything to dislike in braggarts like Donald Trump.