Time for Hope

Book excerpt: Time for Hope re-imagines hope in today's world. It begins with the premise that there is a crisis of hope, especially in the West. Global conflicts, ecological threats, economic distress, and political disillusion are eroding optimism about the future. Often the religious response to historical despair is to turn away from hope in history and to focus on a better afterlife or to forego ethical action in a search for pleasure and beauty. This book seeks instead to change thinking about hope in history by exploring the narratives of time that shape and determine how human beings understand their lives. The goal of the book is to offer a remedy for the crisis of hope. It not only proposes alternative narratives of time, but also presents specific practices and habits that will lead to thinking and living differently. The book outlines a theology of hope appropriate for the historical, social and theological challenges of life today. It tells a life-giving story.