Ambition
AMBITION
A desire of excelling, or at least of being thought to excel, our neighbours in any thing. It is generally used in a bad sense for an immoderate or illegal pursuit of power or honour.
See PRAISE.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
ambition
(Latin: ambire, to go about) Excessive or inordinate seeking of honors, so named from the practise of candidates for office in early Rome going about the city to procure votes.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Ambition
The undue craving for honour. Anciently in Rome the candidates for office were accustomed to go about (ambire) soliciting votes. This striving for popular favour was spoken of as ambitio. Honour is the manifestation of a certain reverence for a person because of the worth or assemblage of good qualities which that person is deemed to have. The excessive desire of distinction is of course a sin, not because it is wrong in itself to wish to have the respect or consideration of others, but because it is assumed that this quest is conducted without proper regard to the mandates of sound reason. This deordination in the desire of, or search for, honour may come about chiefly in three ways. One may want this exhibition of homage for some merit which he really does not possess. A man may permit himself to forget that the thing or things, whatever they may be, which are thought to deserve the testimony of others, are not his in fee simple, but God’s, and that the credit therefore belongs primarily to God. A person may be so absorbed in the display of esteem for, or deference towards, himself as to fail to employ the particular degree of excellence which has evoked it for the welfare of others (St. Thomas, Summa Theol., II-II, Q. cxxxi, Art. 1). Ambition as such is not accounted a mortal sin; it may become such either because of the means it uses to compass its object, as for instance, the simoniacal endeavour to obtain an ecclesiastical dignity, or because of the harm done to another. Ambition operates as a canonical impediment in the following circumstances. Those who take their elevation to a church dignity for granted, and, before receiving the requisite formal enabling notice of it, by some overt act demean themselves as if their election were an accomplished fact, are held to be ineligible. The bestowal of the office in this case is likewise considered invalid. Those who accept an election brought about by an abuse of the secular power are also declared ineligible (Corp. Jur. Can. in VI Decret., Bk. I, tit. vi, ch. v).
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JOSEPH F. DELANY Transcribed by W.S. French, Jr. Dedicated to Adrian W. Harmening, O.S.B.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Ambition
AMBITION.The word ambition is not found in the Authorized Version or Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 , but the propensity signified is, of course, represented in the New Testament. Its derivation is Latin [ambi, about, and ire, itum, to go], meaning a going about in all directions, especially with a view to collecting votes. It thus means to have such a desire as to make one go out of ones way to satisfy it, and, in a secondary sense, denotes the object which arouses such desire and effort. As a psychological fact, Ambition may be defined as a natural spring of action which makes for the increment of life. Ethically speaking, it takes its colour from the object towards which it is directed. In ordinary use it implies blame; but in true Christianity, where the utmost is given for the highest, it is otherwise.
In the Epistles the verbs , , are used figuratively for this propensity (Php 3:12, 2Pe 3:14, Rom 10:3); but perhaps a nearer synonym is with its corresponding substantive (as in 1Co 14:1; 1Co 14:12; 1Co 14:39, cf. Weymouths NT in Modern Speech), though in a good sense is generally translated zeal, and in a bad sense jealousy, both words being of rather broader significance than ambition.
It is in accordance with the literary characteristics of the Gospel narratives that such an abstract idea as ambition can be found only under some picturesque phrase, e.g. lamp of the body (Mat 6:22-23), food (Joh 4:34). To cut off the right hand or to pluck out the right eye is the expression used by our Lord for destroying ones dearest ambition, whether it is controlling ones energies or directing ones imagination (Mar 9:43 f., cf., as Trench points out, the use of [Mat 6:23, Mar 7:22] for envy).
But although there is no explicit reference to Ambition in the NT, it is so characteristic a fact of human nature that a large part of the teaching of Christ might be exhibited in relation to it. And because it is capable of being bent towards lofty as well as sinister, or at least selfish ends, Christian ethics seems from one point of view to be the exaltation of Ambition, from another its deposition.
1. For Ambition.Christs method was to use the fact of Ambition and purify it by exercising it on the highest objective. The call to the first disciples was an appeal to their ambition for a higher life: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Mat 4:19). He gave primacy to an ambition for the ends of the Kingdom over all worldly ambitions in the words: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mat 6:33). He compared the earnestness of true followers with the ambition of a pearl-merchant (Mat 13:45), and encouraged the religious ambition of the young ruler by trying to turn it into a new and deeper channel (Mat 19:21): If thon wouldest be perfect, sell give and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. It was part of His teaching to set before His disciples a prize to aim at (Luk 22:29-30, Mat 5:13-14, Joh 12:26); and He expected them to go out of their way in devotion, and to all lengths in fidelity (Luk 9:62; Luk 14:26 f., Luk 19:15-19, Mat 25:14-23), in order to win the truest praise and most lasting success. The Christian moral reformation may indeed be summed up in thishumanity changed from a restraint to a motive (Ecce Homo).
2. Against Ambition.But it may with equal truth be said that the aim of the life and teaching of Christ was to depose Ambition from its ruling place. He was always rebuking (1) inordinate desires for any kind of selfish satisfaction, whether they were associated with greed (Joh 6:27 food that perisheth; Luk 6:24, and esp. Luk 12:15-21) or with pride (Mat 6:1-4 glory of men, Mat 20:25-28 lord it, Mat 23:5-12 seen of men and called Rabbi); or (2) even a high-placed desire if it was held thoughtlessly and without counting the cost (Luk 14:28-33 the builder and the king who failed in their ambition; Mar 10:35-40 the sons of Zebedee who knew not what they asked). Moreover, Christ cut away the very tap-root of Ambition by turning self out of its place at the seat of the motives of life, in favour of a living trust in the Father and an undivided allegiance to Himself. The virtues which are most prominent in the Christian ideal leave no room at all for Ambition in the generally accepted use of the word. For Christianity demands humility (Mat 5:3 etc., Luk 14:7-11 etc., Joh 13:12-15), generosity (Mar 12:43-44, Luk 6:30-31; Luk 12:33 etc.), and self-renouncement (Mat 10:38-39, Mar 10:29-30, Joh 12:24-26).
On the whole, the influence of Christs teaching and inspiration on Ambition has been not to extirpate it, but to control and chasten it by the discovery and establishment of other standpoints, such as the outlook of other-worldliness, the sense of brotherhood, and personal allegiance to Himself.
Literature.Lightfoot (J. B.), Cambridge Sermons, 217; Moore (A. L.), Advent to Advent, 239; Shedd (W. G. T.), Sermons to the Spiritual Man, 371; Mozley (W. B.), University Sermons, 262.
A. Norman Rowland.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Ambition
Falsely charged against Moses
Num 16:13
Parable of the thistle, illustrating
2Ki 14:9
Unclassified scriptures relating to
– General references
Job 20:6-7; Psa 49:11-13; Isa 5:8; Hab 2:5-6; Hab 2:9; Mat 4:8-10; Luk 4:5-8; Mat 16:26; Luk 9:25; Mat 23:5-7; Mar 12:38-39; Luk 11:43; Mat 23:12; Mar 9:33-37; Luk 22:24; Mat 18:1; Luk 9:46; Mar 10:35-45; Mat 20:20; Luk 22:26; Joh 5:44; 1Ti 3:1; Jas 4:1-2; 1Jn 2:16 Pride
Instances of:
– Instances of:
Isa 14:12-15
– Eve
Gen 3:5-6
– The builders of Babel
Gen 11:4
– Aaron and Miriam
Num 12:2-10
– Korah and his co-conspirators
Num 16:3-35
– Abimelech
Jdg 9:1-6
– Absalom
2Sa 15:1-13; 2Sa 18:18
– Ahithophel
2Sa 17:23
– Adonijah
1Ki 1:5
– Sennacherib
2Ki 19:23
– Haman
Est 5:9-13; Est 6:6-9
– Diotrephes
3Jn 1:9-10