The church has never been shy about talking about hope. In several ways hope is one of the core aspects of our faith. The word “hope” appears 187 times in the NRSV translation of the Bible, so it would seem that we should be accustomed to the idea. This leads us to ask the important questions; what does hope mean to the Christian? How does the Bible define hope? How is hope essential to the faith? In this section I will address these questions and in doing so will illustrate how hope is a theological concept.
I wish to begin by once again imitating the apophatic approach to defining Christian hope; that is to say to define it by pointing out what it is not. Christian hope is not “I hope my team wins the championship” or “I hope I get a raise this year.” It is not simply wishing for the best outcome. It is not waiting to see what happens and hope that it turns out as you want. If someone says to you that “I hope you have a good day,” there is no guarantee that the day will go well. That is not so much hope as it is wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is a nice …show more content…
On the contrary, there are several areas in which these two principles from two different fields meet and interact with each other. Hunsinger first notes the similarities in how both reasonable and Christian hope are expressed and vocalized in community and relationship. Drawing on the work of numerous mental professionals Weingarten understands human identity as not occurring in a vacuum, but in community and relationship with others. Hunsinger notices that this aspect of reasonable hope fits nicely with the Christian corporal identity that makes up the worshipping body. Hunsinger draws on the example given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 to illustrate this concept. Paul employs an extended metaphor relating the various parts of the human body to the various roles of the individuals that make up the worshipping
I wish to begin by once again imitating the apophatic approach to defining Christian hope; that is to say to define it by pointing out what it is not. Christian hope is not “I hope my team wins the championship” or “I hope I get a raise this year.” It is not simply wishing for the best outcome. It is not waiting to see what happens and hope that it turns out as you want. If someone says to you that “I hope you have a good day,” there is no guarantee that the day will go well. That is not so much hope as it is wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is a nice …show more content…
On the contrary, there are several areas in which these two principles from two different fields meet and interact with each other. Hunsinger first notes the similarities in how both reasonable and Christian hope are expressed and vocalized in community and relationship. Drawing on the work of numerous mental professionals Weingarten understands human identity as not occurring in a vacuum, but in community and relationship with others. Hunsinger notices that this aspect of reasonable hope fits nicely with the Christian corporal identity that makes up the worshipping body. Hunsinger draws on the example given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 to illustrate this concept. Paul employs an extended metaphor relating the various parts of the human body to the various roles of the individuals that make up the worshipping