Editing Pride (section)

=== Sin and self-acceptance ===
{{See also|Self-esteem#Contingent vs. non-contingent}}
[[File:Pride, Jacob Matham.png|thumb|180px|''Pride, from the Seven Deadly Sins'' by [[Jacob Matham]] {{Circa|1592}}]]

Inordinate self-esteem is called "pride".<ref name="oed-151185">{{cite web |title=pride|at= n.1 |url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/151185 |website=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] Online |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |access-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907090311/https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/151185 |archive-date=7 September 2015 |quote=A high, esp. an excessively high, opinion of one's own worth or importance which gives rise to a feeling or attitude of superiority over others; inordinate self-esteem.}}</ref> Classical Christian theology views pride as being the result of high self-esteem, and thus{{non sequitur|reason=|text=|date=September 2023}} high self-esteem was viewed as the primary human problem, but beginning in the 20th century, "[[humanistic psychology]]" diagnosed the primary human problem as low self-esteem stemming from a lack of belief in one's "true worth." [[Carl Rogers]] observed that most people "regard themselves as worthless and unlovable." Thus, they lack self-esteem.<ref name=Cooper2003>{{cite book|first=Terry D.|last=Cooper|title=Sin, Pride & Self-Acceptance: The Problem of Identity in Theology & Psychology|publisher=InterVarsity Press|location=Chicago|year=2003}}</ref>{{rp|40, 87, 95}}

In the [[King James Bible]], people exhibiting excess pride are labeled with the term, [[:wikt:haughty|"Haughty"]].

{{quote|[[:wikt:pride comes before a fall|Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.]]|[[King James Version of the Bible]] (1611), [[Book of Proverbs]], [[:wikisource:Bible (King James)/Proverbs#Chapter 16|16:18]]}}

Terry Cooper describes excessive pride (along with low self-esteem) as an important framework in which to describe the human condition. He examines and compares the [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustinian]]-[[Reinhold Niebuhr|Niebuhrian]] conviction that pride is primary, the feminist concept of pride as being absent in the experience of women, the [[humanistic psychology]] position that pride does not adequately account for anyone's experience, and the humanistic psychology idea that if pride emerges, it is always a false front designed to protect an undervalued self.{{r|Cooper2003}}

He considers that the work of certain [[Neo-Freudianism|Neo-Freudian]] psychoanalysts, namely [[Karen Horney]], and offers promise in addressing what he describes as a "deadlock between the overvalued and undervalued self."{{r|Cooper2003|pages=112–13}}

Cooper refers to their work in describing the connection between religious and psychological pride as well as sin to describe how a neurotic pride system underlies an appearance of self-contempt and low self-esteem:
<blockquote>
The "idealized self," the "tyranny of the should," the "pride system," and the nature of self-hate all point toward the intertwined relationship between neurotic pride and self-contempt. Understanding how a neurotic pride system underlies an appearance of self-contempt and low self-esteem.{{Sentence fragment|date=September 2023}}{{r|Cooper2003|pages=112–13}}
</blockquote>

Thus, [[hubris]], which is an exaggerated form of self-esteem, is sometimes actually a lie used to cover the lack of self-esteem the hubristic person feels deep down.