Belief/Hope
Sorry for my silence on SFT these last few weeks. We've been moving house, and I have taken up a post as Assistant Pastor at Bishopbriggs Community Church in Glasgow. In fact, I'm sitting in my new office right now. Yes I have finally left studentdom and entered a brave new world of gainful employment! It's quite a time of changes for us at the moment - a new house (and a new world of DIY) a new city, a new job, and a baby on the way any day now (see his/her blog here). But I hope I'll be able to continue posting my thoughts on the trail.Here's one that occurred to me today as I was reading some comments on Universalism (yes, I'm still bouncing that one around!) on the Generous Orthodoxy Thinktank.
Do we need a distinction between "Belief" and "Hope"? How are these two things defined, anyhow? Is belief more certain than hope? Is it just me being postmodern and questioning certainty? (are you sure about that? ;) ... Then again, Titus 1:2 says that knowledge rests on hope. And Romans 5 seems to put hope at the center of the Christian life. Or am I just prooftexting? (and yes, I did use a concordance!)
Jurgen Moltmann says that "From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionising and transforming the present." (Theology of Hope, p. 2). My guts tell me that this Belief/Hope dichotomy is either unneccessary or at least overplayed. What do you reckon?
Jurgen Moltmann says that "From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionising and transforming the present." (Theology of Hope, p. 2). My guts tell me that this Belief/Hope dichotomy is either unneccessary or at least overplayed. What do you reckon?
Image: "Hope" by Christina Saj (www.christinasaj.com)
posted by Jamie at Tuesday, July 25, 2006
3 Comments:
Having not read the article, it seems obvious to me. I believe something if I am more than 50% certain that it is the case. I can hope something providing its chances of being so are not 0%.
I have now read the article! Still, don't quite get his point on the belief/accept difference. We talk about strong beliefs and weak beliefs, and I think this is intelligible. Accepting something, to the extent that it is instrumental, requires a strength of belief, ceteris paribus.
When acting rationally, I accept things I believe relatively strongly. Of course, I often also accept things that, when pushed on, I don't believe strongly, if at all. But I'm working on that.
My position on universalism, for what it's worth, is pretty much as close to 50/50 as it gets. I suppose I believe, weakly, that it is not the case.
I know that the last bastion of humanity will be named : HOPE .
Post a Comment
<< Home