Description
Communal Narcissism in Church: Matthew 23 and the Need for Praise
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Transcript
Communal narcissism is a, an interesting one. It’s where you have somebody who is seeking adulation from others through acts that look like they are altruistic. So they are doing good works and in that act of doing good works, they’re looking for the group to give them praise. So you can see how this might be the kind of thing that we would see in church. It’s common, in fact, in church context.
Let’s look at Matthew chapter 23, verses five to seven. “They do all their deeds to be seen by others, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honour at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by others.”
Jesus is describing narcissistic religious leaders. This is not a new, modern 21st century phenomenon.
