The Cost of Ambition

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Miroslav Volf is the founder & director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. Join us for a discussion of his most recent book, The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse.

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Meet the Speaker: Miroslav Volf

Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and is the founder and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. He was educated in his native Croatia, the United States, and Germany, earning doctoral and post-doctoral degrees (with highest honors) from the University of Tübingen, Germany.

He has written or edited more than 20 books, over 100 scholarly articles, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, Christianity Today, Christian Century, Sojourners, and several other outlets, including NPR’s Speaking of Faith (now On Being with Krista Tippett) and Public Television’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.

After receiving a B.A. from the Evangelical-Theological Faculty in Osijek, Croatia, Miroslav received his M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary and both his Dr. theol. and Dr. theol. habil. from the University of Tübingen, Germany, studying under theologian Jürgen Moltmann. Prior to his appointment at Yale Divinity School in 1998, he taught at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek, Croatia (1979–80 and 1983–90) and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California (1990–1998).

A member of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. and the Evangelical Church in Croatia, Professor Volf has been involved in international ecumenical dialogues (for instance, with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) and interfaith dialogues (on the executive board of C-1 World Dialogue), and is active participant in the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum. In October 2007, Prof. Volf was the lead author of the Christian response to “A Common Word Between Us and You,” the historic open letter signed by 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals, which identified some core common ground at the heart of the Christian and Muslim faiths (the complete text can be found online at http://www.acommonword.com). The “Yale response,” as this response to “A Common Word” has become known, was published in November 2007 as a full-page advertisement in the New York Times, signed by more than 130 prominent Christian leaders and scholars.

Miroslav regularly teaches and lectures in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and across North America. He has given over 30 prestigious lectureships at universities around the world, including the Dudleian Lecture at Harvard University; the Chavasse Lectures at Oxford University; the Waldenstroem Lectures at Stockholm School of Theology; the Gray Lectures at Duke University, the Stob Lectures at Calvin University, and the Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham.

The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse

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; and

● 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.

For more information, click here.

Interview: The Cost of Ambition with Miroslav Volf By the John Templeton Foundation

The story of Cain and Abel is the perfect cautionary tale for ambition, according to theologian Miroslav Volf, as it illustrates the difference between striving for excellence and striving for superiority. Volf explores how our constant comparison to others can lead to a sense of inadequacy and even destructive behavior. It’s a powerful reminder that true ambition comes from within, not from the need to be better than someone else.

To watch the interview, click here.

Yale Center for Faith and Culture: Volf and “The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse”

Miroslav Volf unpacks the core themes of his 2025 book, The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others Makes Us Worse. In this book, Volf offers a penetrating critique of comparison culture, diagnosing the hidden moral and spiritual wounds caused by competition and superiority.

To read the full article, click here.